Examination of the relationship between cognitive vulnerability factors and social-environmental vulnerability factors in non-clinical adolescents

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between depressive symptoms and dysfunctional attitudes, cognitive flexibility, social problem solving skills, generalized autobiographical memory, perceived social support and negative life events, and also to examine sex differences and to test the diathesis-stress model. The sample consisted of 706 high school students (431 women, 273 men) who are studying at public schools in Aydın. Data were collected using the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), the Negative Life Events List (NLE), the Perceived Social Support Inventory (PSSI), the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS), the Social Problem Solving Inventory (SPSI), the Cognitive Flexibility (CF) and the Minimal Instructions Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). According to the results, CDI was positively correlated with NLE, DES and generalized AMT; and negatively correlated with PSSI, SPSI and CF. Depressive symptoms were predicted by SPSI, PSSI, DES, NLE and CF in women. Similarly, depressive symptoms were predicted by SPSI, PSSI, DES, generalized AMT and CF in men. When NLE was analyzed as a stress factor and all other independent variables as diathesis factors, it was found that women with more severe negative life events who also showed low levels of problem solving skills, perceived social support and cognitive flexibility and high levels of dysfunctional attitudes and generalized autobiographical memory had a higher risk for depression. On the other hand, more severe negative life events accompanied by low levels of perceived social support, problem solving skills and cognitive flexibility increased the risk for depression in men. The results were discussed in the light of the current literature and limitations of the present study were taken into consideration.