Mapping the Frequency and Severity of Depressive Behaviors in Preschool-Aged Children

Abstract

Depressive emotions and behaviors, such as sadness, irritability, and sleep difficulties, are often early-emerging, impairing, and persistent. However, these behaviors are normative in early development, so it is critical to identify the spectrum of behaviors that may be relevant to the development of depression. This study characterizes the frequency and severity of depressive behaviors and impairment in preschool-aged children using a novel daily diary method with 291 parents. A coherent depression dimension was identified, and the specific frequency at which individual behaviors were identified as severe is reported. Behaviors such as sadness, irritability, and tearfulness/sensitivity were found to be relatively normative, whereas other behaviors (e.g., low interest/pleasure, low self-worth) were less normative. These are the first known data to delineate empirical information about the frequency and severity of behaviors that may be relevant to the development of depression; such data provide quantitative information for child practitioners to make distinctions between developmentally typical and problematic behavior, which is essential for improving assessment and minimizing impairing developmental trajectories.

Toward a Developmental Nosology for Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder in Early Childhood

“…In addition, our findings support that cross-domain impairment, ie, pervasive difficulty, yields better predictive validity for the EC-DMDD profile than impairment in a single domain. Again, this highlights the need for developmentally specified approaches to reduce the rate of false positives in this early childhood period where tantrums are very common 13,33,34 but do not typically impair functioning in a sustained manner. 15 Importantly, these assessments consisted of relatively brief parent surveys that could be administered online and made even more efficient via computer adaptive testing.…”

The Development of Latent Dimensions of Psychopathology across Early Childhood: Stability of Dimensions and Moderators of Change

“…Our finding of moderate-strong homotypic continuity from an early age is encouraging regarding the likely success of early screening and prevention/early interventions, as it encourages downward extension of existing assessment approaches and treatments. In addition, preschool psychopathology is often regarded as reflecting developmental normative behaviors (Wakschlag & Danis, 2004) or transient responses to the immediate environment (Bufferd, Dougherty, & Olino, in press). These findings are consistent with evidence that preschool psychopathology is often persistent, highlighting the importance of early detection and intervention.…”

“…Similarly, there is greater persistence of internalizing pathology in women (Essau, Lewinsohn, Seeley, & Sasagawa, 2010) and externalizing in men (Hicks et al, 2007). Temperament reflects individual differences in emotional reactivity and regulation (Rothbart, Ahadi, Hershey, & Fisher, 2001) and is well-documented as a risk factor for psychopathology in youth (e.g., Caspi, Moffitt, Newman, & Silva, 1996; Dougherty, Klein, Durbin, Hayden, & Olino, 2010) and an influence on the course of disorders (e.g., Bufferd, Dougherty, Olino, et al, in press; Chassin, Flora, & King, 2004). Parent-to-child transmission of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology is also well-established (e.g., Hicks, Krueger, lacono, McGue, & Patrick, 2004; Klein, Lewinsohn, Rohde, Seeley, & Olino, 2005) and influences persistence of child psychopathology (e.g., Weissman et al, 2016).…”

Using Item Response Theory to Compare Irritability Measures in Early Adolescent and Childhood Samples

“…The third sample was obtained from a longitudinal study examining early childhood internalizing symptoms (Bufferd, Dougherty, & Olino, 2017). At baseline, 299 preschool-age children were recruited from the surrounding communities near the University of Maryland and California State University San Marcos.…”