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284 EFFECTS OF STRESSChapter 13The Adolescent Surge in Depression andEmergence of Gender DifferencesA Biocognitive Vulnerability-StressModel in Developmental ContextLauren B. Alloy and Lyn Y. AbramsonDepression is one of the most common forms of psychopathology (Kessler,2002). Moreover, depression is highly recurrent (Judd, 1997) and associated withsignificant impairment (Greenberg et al., 1996; Gotlib & Hammen, 2002; Roy,Mitchell, & Wilhelm, 2001; Sullivan, LaCroix, Russo, & Walker, 2001). Indeed,due to depression’s unique combination of high lifetime prevalence, early age ofonset, high chronicity, and great role impairment (Kessler, 2000), the World HealthOrganization Global Burden of Disease Study ranked depression as the single mostburdensome disease (Murray & Lopez, 1996).Depression also is one of the most prevalent and serious problems faced by manyadolescents. In contrast to the earlier belief that it could not occur in childhood oradolescence, it is now recognized that depression is a major mental health problemin adolescence (Compas, Connor, & Hinden, 1998; Kessler, Avenevoli, &Merikangas, 2001; Weissman et al., 1999). Not only is depression itself a majorhealth problem for adolescents, it also is comorbid with and contributes to a widerange of other adolescent maladaptive outcomes and risk behaviors, includingsuicide, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, substance abuse, teen pregnancy andsexual risk-taking, and impairment in academic performance and family and socialrelationships (see Alloy, Zhu, & Abramson, 2003, for a review).284