Heterotyic and Homotypic Continuity: The Moderating Effects of Age and Gender

Abstract

The longitudinal relationships between depression, anxiety, conduct problems, and inattention were investigated. The present study attempted to overcome the methodological limitations of prior research on childhood co-occurring syndromes by using continuous measures of constructs, controlling for multiple symptoms at baseline, and considering the role of age and gender. Using a community sample of 6-11 year-old children, we found evidence of homotypic and heterotypic continuity in baseline characteristics and their symptoms 5 years later. Notably, inattention and conduct problems were stable over time regardless of age or gender. Additionally, inattention predicted subsequent depression, a relationship unaffected by overlapping psychopathology. With attention problems considered, conduct problems did not predict future depression as others have predicted. Instead, depression in young children was a unique risk factor for subsequent conduct problems. Similarly, most other relationships were moderated by age or gender. The implications for understanding childhood psychopathology and for designing prevention and treatment programs are discussed.

Associations of Lifetime Depression with Trauma Exposure, Other Environmental Adversities, and Impairment in Adolescents with ADHD

“…However, no differences were noted within the current ADHD sample, comparing participants with and without Lifetime Depression regarding previous and current ADHD severity, age of onset of ADHD and subtype of ADHD. These results echo findings from two studies of ADHD samples (Biederman et al 1998;Blackman et al 2005), but contrast with a study in a clinical sample with ADHD (Connor et al 2003), a study in a clinical sample with ADHD and normal controls (Biederman et al 1996), and studies in community samples enriched with ADHD youth (Herman et al 2007;Reinke and Ostrander 2008). Differences in findings across studies may be related to differences in samples, as most other studies were not exclusively in clinical samples with ADHD.…”

“…Yet, studies regarding the link between the ADHD severity and depression have yielded contradictory findings. Some in community samples have reported an association between depressive and inattentive symptoms (Herman et al 2007;Reinke and Ostrander 2008). Some in clinical samples have noted an association between comorbid depression and general ADHD symptom severity (Biederman et al 1996;Connor et al 2003), while others have found no associations between comorbid depression and ADHD symptom severity (Blackman et al 2005), or ADHD subtypes (Crystal et al 2001;Power et al 2004).…”

Dimensions of Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Young Children: Heterotypic Continuity with Anxiety and Depression

“…Second, while some attention has been paid to the role that the ODDNA component of ODD may play in subsequent depression (Burke et al, 2010; Burke & Loeber, 2010), and to emotional problems that included symptoms of anxiety and depression jointly (Stringaris & Goodman, 2009a), only one study (Rowe et al, 2010) has examined whether the irritability or the NA dimension of ODD is related to subsequent anxiety. While there is a high level of comorbidity between anxiety and depressive disorders when assessed as categorical constructs, and moderate-to-high correlations between anxiety and depression measured dimensionally (Brady & Kendall, 1992; King, Ollendick, & Gullone, 1991; Seligman & Ollendick, 1998), studies of the latent structure of anxiety and depression suggest that they should be considered to be separate, but correlated constructs (Chorpita, Albano, & Barlow, 1998; Cole, Peeke, Martin, Truglio, & Serczynski, 1998; Cole, Truglio, & Peeke, 1997; Snyder et al, 2009; Strickland et al, 2011). These studies also indicate that the association of different ODD components should be examined separately for both anxiety and depression.…”

Bidirectional Influences of Anxiety and Depression in Young Children

“…Results from the few studies using confirmatory factor analysis to examine the latent factor structure of anxiety and depression suggest that viewing them as separate, but correlated, constructs is preferable (Chorpita et al 1998; Cole et al 1997, 1998; Snyder et al 2009; Strickland et al 2011). …”

“…In a third set of studies (Lewinsohn et al 1995; Reinherz et al 1989; Reinke and Ostrander 2008; Sanford et al 1995) with samples of older children and adolescents, anxiety and depression were examined dimensionally rather than categorically. The categorical approach considers traits or disorders to be dichotomous, (i.e., present or not).…”