Citation

Joiner TE, Blalock JA, Wagner KD. J. Clin. Child Psychol. 1999; 28(2): 211-219.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306-1270, USA. joiner@psy.fsu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1207/s15374424jccp2802_8

PMID

10353080

Abstract

Assessed the emerging view that generalized negative affect and anxious symptoms are important in understanding sex differences in depressive symptoms. Sixty-three adolescent psychiatric inpatients (32 boys, 31 girls), ages 12 to 16 (M = 13.87, SD = 1.36), completed measures of positive and negative affect and anxious and depressive symptoms.

RESULTS demonstrated, as predicted, that depressive and anxious symptoms were more highly associated in adolescent girls than boys. Furthermore, girls with depressive symptoms were more likely to have comorbid anxious symptoms than boys with depressive symptoms. Sex differences were not found for adolescents with specific depressive symptoms and specific anxious symptoms (i.e., the absence of comorbidity). Our findings supported the possibility that sex differences in pure forms of depression are overestimated and that comorbid internalizing conditions may be more prevalent in adolescent girls than boys.

Language: en