Age and Gender as Determinants of Stress Exposure, Generation, and Reactions in Youngsters: A Transactional Perspective

Abstract

The present study used a contextual and transactional approach to examine age and gender differences in the experience and consequences of life stress in clinic-referred preadolescents and adolescents. Eighty-eight youngsters and their parents completed the Child Episodic Life Stress Interview, a detailed semistructured interview assessing the occurrence of stressful events in multiple life domains. Interviews were coded using a contextual threat rating method to determine event stressfulness and dependence. Youngsters also completed the Children's Depression Inventory and the Revised Child Manifest Anxiety Scale to assess self-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety. Consistent with predictions, age- and gender-related patterns of life stress varied across the type and context of stressors. Most notably, adolescent girls experienced the highest levels of interpersonal stress, especially stress and conflict that they generated within parent-child and peer relationships. Preadolescent girls experienced the highest levels of independent stress and conflict in the family context. Adolescent boys experienced the highest levels of noninterpersonal stress associated with self-generated events. Girls demonstrated particular vulnerability to depressive responses to dependent stress. The results build on and extend previous theory and research on age and gender differences in close relationships and stress, and illustrate the value of more refined conceptual models and more sophisticated methodologies in child life stress research.

Inventorying stressful life events as risk factors for psychopathology: Toward resolution of the problem of intracategory variability.

“…LEDS has been used more frequently abroad than in the United States (e.g., Brown & Harris, 1989), but it, or variations of it, have been adopted by a number of U.S. investigators in recent years (Duggal et al, 2000;Frank, Anderson, Reynolds, Ritenour, & Kupfer, 1994;Garber, Keiley, & Martin, 2002;Goodyer & Altman, 1991a, 1991bHammen, 1991;Kendler, Hettema, Butera, Gardner, & Prescott, 2003;McQuaid, Monroe, Roberts, Kupfer, & Frank, 2000;Monroe, Kupfer, & Frank, 1992;Rudolph & Hammen, 1999). Starting with its introduction over 25 years ago (Brown & Harris, 1978), the focus of LEDS has usually been on relatively recent events, that is, those occurring within the past year or less.…”

Developmental Trajectories of Perceived Friendship Intimacy, Constructive Problem Solving, and Depression from Early to Late Adolescence

“…Further, girls' emotional states may be more affected by the quality of their friendship than boys' emotional states are (Prinstein et al 2005a;Rudolph 2002;Rudolph and Hammen 1999). For example, adolescent girls were found to report more depressive symptoms after experiencing interpersonal stress than boys (Rudolph 2002) and are suggested to be more sensitive to changes in friendship quality compared to boys (Rose et al 2007).…”

A diathesis-stress model of engagement in risky behaviors in Chinese adolescents

“…In the present study, adaptive coping strategies did not serve as a protective factor prospectively; however, higher levels of adaptive coping strategies were cross-sectionally associated with both lesser engagement in risky behaviors (r ¼ À0.21, po0.001) and fewer negative events (r ¼ À0.47, po0.001). As individuals possessing adaptive coping strategies generate less negative events in their lives (Hammen, 1991;Rudolph & Hammen, 1999), this may decrease the likelihood of opportunities where they desire to engage in risky behaviors. At the same time, future research is needed to examine this alternative model.…”