School of Public Health

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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.

Note: Prior to July 1, 2007, the School of Public Health was named the College of Health & Human Performance.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.depression

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 15
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    The Presence of Playfulness in the Context of Couple Relationship, Relationship Satisfaction and its Associations With Symptoms of Depression
    (2018) Herrick, Pamela; Barros, Patricia; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The present study investigated the associations between playfulness in the context of couple relationship, relationship satisfaction, and symptoms of depression. Research suggests the potential for play to help improve relationship quality and decrease the symptoms of depression. However, the empirical evidence is limited in the literature. This study was a secondary analysis of data from 294 individuals seeking couple therapy at a university based family clinic. Two significant main effects were found in this study. Both the increase in relationship satisfaction is associated with decreased depressive symptoms and the increase of play, above and beyond relationship satisfaction, is associated with decreased depressive symptoms. Gender as a moderator was not established between playfulness and depression. Implications of these findings are discussed.
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    EXERCISE AND PREVALENCE AND FIRST ONSET DEPRESSION IN WOMEN OF CHILDBEARING AGE
    (2017) Kinsey, Celena; Slopen, Natalie; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Background: Major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability disproportionately affecting women of reproductive age. Prior research suggests that exercise may be an effective preventative measure. Objective: To examine the association between exercise and current and first onset major depressive episodes (MDE) among women 20-45 years (n=8175) participating in National Epidemiologic Study of Alcohol and Related Conditions II (2004-2005). Methods: Logistic regression models were used to examine the relationship between exercise and MDE prevalence and incidence. Results: Some exercise was associated with elevated odds of first onset MDE, compared to no exercise, but this association was not significant after controlling for covariates (adjusted odds ratio = 0.87, 95% confidence interval:0.75-1.01). No other associations were observed. Conclusion: This study did not find evidence of an association between exercise and prevalence or incidence of MDE in reproductive-aged women. Future research with prospective study designs and objective exercise measures needed.
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    The Role of Self-Esteem in the Relationship Between Sexual Minority Status and Depressive Symptoms
    (2015) Ng, Diane; Lee, Sunmin; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Sexual minority (SM) youth have been found to experience higher rates of depression and depressive symptoms compared with heterosexual youth. It has been suggested that there are mediators in the pathway between stigma-related stress and psychopathology, such as self-esteem. This study was interested in investigating whether self-esteem is a mediator between SM status by romantic attraction and the outcome depressive symptoms during the transition from adolescence to adulthood, and whether sex moderated this mediation. Results showed that those who were both-sex attracted had significantly higher depressive symptoms than their opposite-sex attracted counterparts (β=0.04,p=0.049). Further, findings showed that self-esteem is a mediator in the pathway between both-sex attraction and depressive symptoms (p=0.007). Although females were found to have higher depressive symptoms than males, no significant interaction with sexual minority status was found. These results can have implications for possible interventions to reduce depressive symptomatology for sexual minority groups transitioning into adulthood.
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    The Association between Literacy and Work Performance as Mediated by Depression
    (2015) Foss, Lindsey E.; Epstein, Norman B.; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Approximately 90 million Americans are functionally illiterate, meaning that they cannot accomplish basic tasks such as interpreting a bus schedule or filling in an order form (Lincoln et al., 2008). Low levels of literacy have been associated with poor health outcomes, including anxiety and depression, in addition to poor work performance. This study examined the possible mediating role of depression in the association between literacy and work performance, using a nationally representative sample of young adults from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth - 1997. The results indicated that after controlling for race and gender there was a significant association between emotional distress and the degree to which emotional problems limited work performance. The trend toward an association between literacy and the degree to which emotional distress affects work did not hold once race and sex were controlled. Suggestions are provided for future research that can more thoroughly test the effects of literacy on work performance.
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    DEPRESSION AND EMOTIONAL DISTRESS IN YOUNG, LOW-INCOME AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEN AND FATHERS
    (2013) Fitzgerald, Megan E.; Roy, Kevin; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Depression is a debilitating mental illness that in its most serious form, major depression, has affected between 3.6% to 12.7% of men in the United States (Cochran & Rabinowitz, 2000; Jonas, Brody, Roper, & Narrow, 2003; Kessler, McGonagle, Zhao, & Nelson, 1994). It has consistently been found to be twice as prevalent in women as in men, and yet the suicide rate of men is four to five times that of women (Singh, Kochanek, & MacDorman, 1996; World Health Organization, 2005). Despite this, little is known about the experience and expression of the full range of depression in men, and specifically, young, low-income men of color who are fathers. When young fathers suffer from depression, there are enormous consequences for young families, both financial and emotional (Ansseau et al., 2008; Mirowsky & Ross, 2002; Montgomery, Cook, Bartley, & Wadsworth, 1999; Patten et al., 2006; Rehman, Gollan, & Mortimer, 2008; Soares, Macassa, Grossi, & Viitasara, 2008). It is possible that the risk for depression increases when fatherhood includes the challenges of nonresidential parenting and financial stress (Cochran & Rabinowitz, 2002; Roy, 2004). This has implications for their co-parenting relationships, and shapes their identities and roles as parents and providers (Bouma, Ormel, Verhulst, & Oldehinkel, 2008; Kim, Capaldi, & Stoolmiller, 2003). However, fatherhood also brings many opportunities for young men; it is a chance for them to be generative for the first time in their lives and to experience the joys that accompany the challenges of parenthood (Palkovitz, Copes, & Woolfolk, 2001). I conducted research guided by a combination of symbolic interaction theory and the cognitive theory of depression to answer the following questions: how does depression emerge in toxic environments, how do young men experience and express the full range of depression in those environments over time, and, what was the reciprocal relationship between depression and fatherhood? I conducted in-depth interviews with 40 at risk, low-income young African-American men and fathers. Growing up in high crime neighborhoods meant that many had strained and fractured relationships with law enforcement, teachers, peers, and families. Young men engaged in identity work while trying to avoid problems at school and with law enforcement. They also reported substantial substance abuse, usually starting recreationally, but moving to daily self-medication for stress and anger. Depression was expressed at multiple points, through depressive language, extensive anger histories, fatigue, protracted cycles of avoidance, and episodes of major depression. Young men who were also young fathers found that fatherhood brought added responsibilities, which added to stress, but also found great joy and motivation in their children.
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    THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL PARTNER AGGRESSION AND DEPRESSION: SOCIAL SUPPORT AS A MODERATING VARIABLE
    (2012) Rivero, Stephanie Christine; Epstein, Norman B; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The association between psychological aggression within heterosexual couples and the level of depression symptoms was explored in addition to whether or not that association was moderated by the level of perceived social support from friends. Secondary analyses were conducted on assessment data from both males and females in 406 heterosexual couples who sought conjoint therapy at the Center for Healthy Families, a university-based marriage and family therapy clinic. Psychological aggression was assessed using the Multidimensional Measure of Emotional Abuse Scale (MMEA; Murphy and Hoover, 1999); depression was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Steer & Brown, 1996); and social support was assessed using the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSS; Procidano & Heller, 1983). Findings support the hypothesis that the more psychological aggression the individual received, the higher their symptoms of depression were; however there was not a significant finding that social support served as a moderator of that association. Furthermore, there were no significant findings for the research questions, which addressed gender-based differences in the degree to which social support moderates the effects of depression and psychological aggression.
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    THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COUPLE PSYCHOLOGICAL AGGRESSION AND PARENTING BEHAVIOR
    (2012) Duffy, Katelyn; Epstein, Norman; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study examined the relationship between received couple psychological aggression and use of authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting practices. Previous research examining couple aggression and parenting ignored psychological aggression and fathering, and found depression to be a mediator of the relationship. The current study aimed to determine the relationship between received psychological aggression and parenting (compared by gender), and to identify whether the relationship between received aggression and parenting is mediated by depression. Secondary analyses were conducted on pre-treatment data collected from couples seeking therapy at the Center for Healthy Families at University of Maryland, College Park. Results revealed a significant relationship between received aggression and authoritarian parenting for fathers, but not for permissive or authoritative behaviors. No relationship was found between mothers' received aggression and any parenting dimension. Depression partially influenced the relationship between received aggression and authoritarian parenting for both mothers and fathers, but not permissive or authoritative parenting.
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    LONGITUDINAL ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN METHAMPHETAMINE USE AND DEPRESSION AMONG YOUNG ADULTS IN THE UNITED STATES: A SECONDARY ANALYSIS
    (2012) Hemberg, Jordana Lynn; Desmond, Sharon M; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Methamphetamine is a powerful, highly addictive central nervous system stimulant that is associated with deleterious health outcomes. In particular, there is evidence from clinical treatment samples and criminal justice populations that methamphetamine use is associated with depression, however this association has yet to be investigated in a nationally representative sample. Given that young adults are the group most prone to methamphetamine use, this study used a total of 8,688 respondents from Waves III (2001-02; ages 18-28) and IV (2007-08; ages 24-34) of the National Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine whether methamphetamine use (past year use at Wave III) was associated with depression, as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). This study also evaluated whether gender, functional poverty status, polydrug use, and childhood maltreatment moderated the association between methamphetamine use and depression. Logistic regressions were used to determine the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) in unadjusted and adjusted analyses (controlling for gender, age, race/ethnicity, US region, functional poverty status, childhood maltreatment, polydrug use, and depression at Wave III). Results indicated that in the general population, methamphetamine users have increased odds of becoming depressed (OR: 2.13, 95% CI: 1.38-3.27) and controlling for covariates, including Wave III depression, methamphetamine use independently predicted later depression (OR: 1.81, 95% CI: 1.12-2.92). None of the potential moderator variables tested had an effect on the association. These findings indicate that longitudinally, methamphetamine users are at an increased risk for depression, regardless of other factors and perhaps drug prevention and treatment programs for methamphetamine use should focus more on decreasing depression in this population. This study provides a broader understanding of the relationship between methamphetamine use and depression in a nationally representative sample, though further investigation into potential mediators and moderators is warranted.
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    Exercise and Depression: Causal Sequence Using Cross-Lagged Panel Correlation Analysis
    (2009) Scott, Virginia Anne; Andrews, David L; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study sought to determine what kind of causal relationship, if any, exists between exercise and depression. A university student population (N = 178) was given the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory-II at two time points separated by approximately one month. Cross-lagged panel correlation was used to make causal inferences based on the strength of the temporal relationships. After meeting the assumptions of synchronicity and stationarity, there was no significant difference between the cross-lagged correlations (ZPF = -0.4599, p = 0.65). Thus, no single causal pathway was dominant. While equal cross-lagged correlations can indicate spuriousness, it can also signify reciprocal causation. Exercise was not clearly the cause of reductions in depression, but neither was depression clearly the cause of physical inactivity. More complex causal pathways, such as reciprocal causation, warrant further investigation.
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    The Prevalence and Role of Avoidance Coping Methods for Latinos in the United States
    (2009) Stevenson, Tiffani Debra; Leslie, Leigh A; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Current research concerning Latinos in the United States has indicated that they are at a higher risk for mental illness (e.g., PTSD) than other racial/ethnic groups. The purpose of this study was to understand the possible function a culturally normative coping style plays in the occurrence of depression for Latinos when compared to other racial/ethnic groups. The prevalence of avoidance coping methods and the relationship of depression and avoidance coping was examined for a sample (N=429) of Latino (n=129) White (n=150) and Black (n=150) clients. Results indicated that the frequency with which Latinos engaged in avoidance coping was no different than other groups. However, Black participants were significantly more likely to use avoidance coping that White participants. Furthermore, the use of defensive avoidance coping was linked to high depression; however there was no race/ethnicity by avoidance coping interaction. The empirical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.