Stability of self-referent encoding task performance and associations with change in depressive symptoms from early to middle childhood

Abstract

Depressed individuals exhibit memory biases on the self-referent encoding task (SRET), such that those with depression exhibit poorer recall of positive, and enhanced recall of negative, trait adjectives (referred to as positive and negative processing biases). However, it is unclear when SRET biases emerge, whether they are stable, and if biases predict, or are predicted by, depressive symptoms. To address this, a community sample of 434 children completed the SRET and a depressive symptoms measure at ages 6 and 9. Negative and positive processing exhibited low, but significant, stability. At ages 6 and 9, depressive symptoms correlated with higher negative, and lower positive, SRET processing. Importantly, lower positive processing at age 6 predicted increased symptoms at age 9. However, negative processing at age 6 did not predict depressive symptoms at age 9, and depressive symptoms at age 6 did not predict SRET processing scores at age 9. This suggests that less positive processing may reflect vulnerability for future depressive symptoms.

Keywords:

• Self-referent encoding
• Depression
• Children
• Biases
• Vulnerability

This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health [grant number R01 MH069942 (Klein)].

This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health [grant number R01 MH069942 (Klein)].

Notes

¹ Studies differ in how they administer the SRET, and how they calculate and report SRET processing scores. The SRET is typically scored by dividing the number of recalled and endorsed (i.e., self-referent) adjectives by the number of endorsed words of the same valence (e.g. Derry & Kuiper, 1981) or by the total number of endorsed words (e.g. Prieto et al., 1992), but a number of other approaches have also been used (e.g., Alloy et al., 2012; Gençöz et al., 2001). In the present review, we consider studies of youth that included some measure of adjective recall, regardless of how the recall measure was calculated.

² Although data suggest a mood induction may be a crucial component in activating negative cognitive schemas relevant to depression (Evraire, Dozois, & Hayden, in press), studies vary in whether or not they used a negative mood induction procedure (MIP). In the current review, the following SRET studies that did use a MIP include: Black & Pössel, 2013; Fritzsche et al., 2010; Hayden, Olino, Mackrell, et al., 2013; Kircanski, Mazur, & Gotlib, 2013; Moulds et al., 2007; Taylor & Ingram, 1999; Timbremont & Braet, 2004.

³ None of the regression models were moderated by an interaction between CDI scores and sex; therefore, the interaction term was not included in the above analyses.