| This study examined whether negative emotion reactivity operates as a trait vulnerability to depression among adolescents and whether disturbance in emotion is specific to depression compared with externalizing disorders (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Conduct Disorder (CD), or Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)). Adolescents (N= 52; ages 11-17) with a remitted episode of pure depression, an externalizing diagnosis, or no psychiatric diagnosis, completed a frustrating puzzle task designed to elicit negative emotion, and a no-emotion control task. Results from observational coding of adolescents' emotion reactivity while completing the frustration task indicated that formerly depressed adolescents demonstrated a significantly greater increase in negative emotion reactivity compared to no diagnosis control adolescents. Second, adolescents' emotion reactivity demonstrated diagnostic specificity: negative emotion reactivity was significantly associated with remitted depression, but not with externalizing diagnoses or no psychiatric disorder. Taken together, results highlight the specific role of negative emotion reactivity in depression and suggest that negative emotion reactivity functions as a trait vulnerability to depression in adolescence. |
