A two-year longitudinal study of gender differences in responses to positive affect and depressive symptoms during middle adolescence

Journal of Adolescence 56 (2017) 11e23

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A two-year longitudinal study of gender differences in responses to positive affect and depressive symptoms during middle adolescence Diego Gomez-Baya a, *, Ramon Mendoza b, Susana Paino c, Jane E. Gillham d a

Psychology Department, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Campus Sevilla, C/ Energía Solar, 1. Building G, 41014, Sevilla, Spain Social, Developmental and Educational Psychology Department, Universidad de Huelva, Av. Fuerzas Armadas, 21007, Huelva, Spain c Clinical and Experimental Psychology Department, Universidad de Huelva, Av. Fuerzas Armadas, 21007, Huelva, Spain d Psychology Department, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave, Swarthmore, PA, 19081-1397, USA b

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 25 April 2016 Received in revised form 28 December 2016 Accepted 16 January 2017

This study aimed to analyze the prospective associations during adolescence between depressive symptoms and response styles to positive affect and to examine gender differences. A longitudinal study was conducted with three waves separated by 1 year each to assess a non-clinical sample of 622 Spanish adolescents who were 13 and 14 years old (50.2% boys, 49.8% girls). The participants completed self-report measures of depressive symptoms and responses to positive affect (emotion-focused positive rumination, selffocused positive rumination and dampening of positive emotion). The results showed that the increase in depressive symptoms was associated with an increase in dampening and decreases in emotion-focused and self-focused positive rumination. Furthermore, girls presented more depressive symptoms, as well as higher dampening and lower self-focused positive rumination, than boys. The conclusions highlight the need to consider responses to positive affect in explaining gender differences in depressive symptoms during midadolescence, as well as in designing prevention programs. © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Depressive symptoms Positive affect Response styles Dampening Gender Adolescence

The rate of clinical depression increases dramatically from childhood to late adolescence (Abela & Hankin, 2008; Allen & Sheeber, 2008; Costello, Mustillo, Erkanli, Keeler, & Angold, 2003; Lewinsohn & Essau, 2002). Furthermore, it is also during adolescence when gender differences in depression emerge. Between the ages of 13 and 15, there is a sharp increase in the presence of depressive symptoms and depressive disorders in girls, while depression remains relatively stable in boys (Costello, Copeland, & Angold, 2011; Galambos, Leadbeater, & Barker, 2004; Hankin & Abramson, 2001; Hilt & NolenHoeksema, 2008; Strauman, Costanzo & Garber, 2011). The Response Styles Theory is one of the most well-supported theories regarding the emergence of and gender differences in depression (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2004, 2012). The Response Styles Theory postulates that the way in which individuals respond to depressive symptoms determines both the severity and the duration of the symptoms (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991). Two types of response styles were initially proposed in this theory: depressive rumination and distraction. Depressive rumination is a style of response to negative affect that is characterized by repetitive and passive thinking about negative emotions and the causes and consequences of these emotions. In contrast,

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Gomez-Baya). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.01.005 0140-1971/© 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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distraction is characterized by the diversion of attention away from a depressed mood by turning to neutral or pleasant thoughts or activities to alleviate the current mood state. Thus, individuals who engage in depressive rumination when they feel sad are more likely to experience increases in the severity and duration of depressive symptoms, while those who are distracted from their sadness experience relief in their symptomatology (for a review, see Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco, & Lyubomirsky, 2008). Gender differences in response styles to negative affect appear in adolescence: girls ruminate more € gels, on their negative affect and begin to present higher rates of depressive symptoms (Hankin, 2008; Rood, Roelofs, Bo Nolen-Hoeksema, & Schouten, 2009). Most research on response styles has focused on the regulation of negative affective states, and little attention has been paid to the regulation of positive affective states (Carl, Soskin, Kerns, & Barlow, 2013; Davis & Suveg, 2014; Gilbert, NolenHoeksema, & Gruber, 2013). Although anhedonia (i.e., the loss of pleasure or enjoyment) is a cardinal symptom of depression, it has received considerably less research attention than dysphoria. Because depression is characterized by a decrease in positive affect as well as an increase in negative affect (Lonigan, Phillips, & Hooe, 2003), according to the tripartite model of depression (Clark & Watson, 1991; Watson et al., 1995), it is also important to study the strategies that people use in response to positive affect. An increased understanding of the relationship between depression and responses to positive affect may help to illuminate the mechanisms involved in the development of anhedonia and depression. This understanding may strengthen current treatment approaches, which are often less successful in reducing anhedonia than dysphoria (Dunn, 2012). Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory (1998, 2001) suggests that cultivating positive emotions helps to build resources that boost well-being and increase the likelihood of reawakening positive emotions, in addition to enhancing resilience to negative emotions. Tugade and Fredrickson (2007) argued that positive states, such as calmness and contentment, promote effective coping by facilitating positive reinterpretation, the exploration of alternative behavioral approaches, and the search for meaning and benefit. These authors conducted three studies using a multi-method approach with undergraduates from the USA and predicted that resilient people use positive emotions to recover from stressful events. They found that the experience of positive emotions was linked to the efficient regulation of emotion, which is demonstrated by accelerated cardiovascular recovery after negative experiences and the identification of positive meaning in adverse circumstances (Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). Thus, the development of adaptive strategies for regulating positive emotion may be associated with subsequent well-being (Bryant, Chadwick, & Kluwe, 2011). Recent work on responses to positive affect has focused on dampening and two types of positive rumination: emotionfocused positive rumination and self-focused positive rumination (Feldman, Joormann, & Johnson, 2008). In the framework of Gross's emotion regulation theory (Gross, 1998), positive rumination and dampening reflect cognitive responsefocused emotion regulation strategies that modify an emotion once it has begun to be experienced. Dampening decreases the presence and intensity of positive affect; it involves considering the ephemeral nature of positive emotions and expecting the possibility of contending with negative emotions in the future or believing that one does not deserve to feel so positively. In contrast, positive rumination maintains and amplifies positive affect. Emotion-focused positive rumination involves focusing on the positive emotional state and its somatic experience, while self-focused positive rumination involves attributing the positive affect to positive self-qualities or to the achievement of personally relevant goals. These positive attributions are especially relevant during adolescence, a developmental period in which self-concept, which becomes more differentiated across domains and contexts and composed of more abstract descriptions of self, experiences substantial changes (Harter, 2012). In a cross-sectional study by Feldman et al. (2008) with US undergraduates, the results from selfreport measures indicated that higher dampening (i.e., greater inhibition of the experience of positive affect) was associated with lower self-esteem and with more depressive symptoms. In addition, emotion-focused and self-focused positive rumination were associated with higher self-esteem, while emotion-focused positive rumination was associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. In a study with Australian undergraduates, Werner-Seidler and colleagues found that greater dampening and lower positive rumination were associated with higher levels of anhedonia. In addition, compared with nondepressed participants, depressed participants reported that they more frequently engaged in dampening in response to positive affect (Werner-Seidler, Banks, Dunn, & Moulds, 2013). Few studies have investigated the role of positive affect regulation in depressive symptoms; most have used cross sectional designs and have focused on undergraduate samples. Although cross-sectional research has shed light on the associations between these variables, longitudinal research is needed to determine the temporal order of the relationships between responses to positive affect and depressive symptoms, and whether changes in one variable are linked to changes in another variable over time. The longitudinal design also does not allow for causal inferences since, for that purpose, an experimental control is required. In addition, most existing studies have focused on undergraduate samples. Few studies have addressed the associations between responses to positive affect and depression in adolescence (Gilbert, 2012). This is an important gap in the literature given the increase in depressive symptoms and disorders that occurs during this developmental period and given that individuals who develop depressive disorders frequently experience their first episode during adolescence. The few existing studies suggest that the regulation of positive affect is related to depression. A longitudinal study found that high levels of dampening of positive affect predicted an increase in depressive symptoms among Belgian adolescents (and among Belgian university students) after a follow-up period of 3 and 5 months, even when the baseline depression and depressive rumination scores were controlled (Raes, Smets, Nelis, & Schoofs, 2012). In another study with adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14 in Belgium, Bijttebier, Raes, Vasey, and Feldman (2012) found that low levels of positive rumination combined with higher levels of stress predicted increases in depressive symptoms over a 3-month follow-up period.

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Despite the vast body of research on gender differences in response to negative affect, few studies have examined gender differences in response to positive affect during adolescence. Existing studies suggest gender differences in response to positive affect, especially dampening. For example, in a study with 10- to 14-year-old adolescents from the USA, Gentzler, Ramsey, Yi, Palmer, and Morey (2014) found that girls reported higher positive affect than boys, although they also engaged in greater dampening of positive affect than boys. Boys and girls did not differ significantly in their amplification of positive affect. In a sample of Chinese adolescents, Li, Wang, and Lin (2012) also found that girls dampened positive affect more frequently than boys. In addition, gender moderated the association of dampening and depression, such that higher dampening was associated with more depressive symptoms only in adolescent girls. Furthermore, the positivity bias in girls' attributions of positive events significantly declines at age 12, whereas no such changes were found for boys (Mezulis, Abramson, Hyde, & Hankin, 2004). Thus, the tendency to make more internal attributions for positive events were reduced for girls during middle adolescence, and this reduced positivity bias was associated with depression. In summary, to date, few studies analyze the role of responses to positive affect in depressive symptoms, and very few of these use longitudinal designs or focus on adolescence. Furthermore, in studies that have used longitudinal designs, the follow-up periods were less than 6 months. Importantly, very few studies to date have examined gender differences in responses to positive affect and whether such gender differences might explain gender differences in depressive symptoms in adolescence. Moreover, no study to date has examined the changes in responses to positive affect and the changes in depressive symptoms during middle adolescence, taking into account gender moderation. Therefore, our study had two main objectives. Our first objective was to examine, during a more extensive follow-up period, how responses to positive affect and depressive symptoms change during middle adolescence and whether changes differ by gender. Our second objective was to examine whether the changes in responses to positive affect are associated with changes in depressive symptoms during adolescence and whether this relationship differs by gender. Concerning the first aim, we expected an increase in depressive symptoms during mid-adolescence in girls and not in boys, in line with previous studies (e.g., Costello et al., 2011; Galambos et al., 2004). We expected to find more dampening in girls than boys and no gender differences in emotion-focused positive rumination, consistent with research by Gentzler et al. (2014). Moreover, in line with Mezulis et al. (2004), lower self-focused positive rumination is hypothesized in girls. Our examination of longitudinal changes in responses to positive affect was exploratory. No study of which we are aware has examined whether responses to positive affect change during adolescence. Because depression and maladaptive responses to negative affect increase during adolescence (Rood et al., 2009), we expected that maladaptive responses to positive affect may increase as well. Regarding our second objective, we expected that changes in responses to positive affect would be associated with changes in depressive symptoms. Specifically, we expected that increases in depressive symptoms would be associated with increases in dampening, in line with the results by Raes et al. (2012), and decreases in positive rumination (both emotion-focused and self-focused), in line with prospective associations found by Bijttebier et al. (2012).

1. Methods 1.1. General design of the study and data collection procedure A longitudinal design was used with three assessments points separated by 1-year intervals following indications by Willett, Singer, and Martin (1998). A period of two years passed between the first assessment and the third. A pencil-andpaper self-report packet was completed anonymously and individually by the participants at their desks during normal class time. To allow a follow-up assessment of the participants, a code was created using the number of the school (1e17), their birth date and gender. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants and their parents.

1.2. Participants A non-clinical sample of 622 Caucasian Spanish adolescents participated in this three-wave longitudinal research. The participants were initially enrolled in the first (54%) or the second (46%) year of compulsory secondary education in 17 schools (grades 7 and 8 in the USA educational system). After the first assessment, the participants were tracked through all academic grades and classroom. The study used a convenience sample of secondary schools. The process of selecting schools was controlled to include different types (5 schools were public and 12, private), environments (23.5% rural, 23.5% semi-urban and 52.9% urban) and neighborhoods with different socio-economic levels (35.3% low, 35.3% medium and 29.4% high social class). All invited schools agreed to participate in the study. Two classrooms were then randomly selected in each secondary school (one for each academic grade). Given the compulsory nature of schooling in secondary education (until the age of 16 in Spain), secondary schools are an excellent place to conduct a follow-up study during adolescence. In this sample, 50.2% of participants were boys and 49.8% were girls. They were 13 and 14 years old (45.5% aged 13 and 54.5% aged 14). Regarding the parental level of educational attainment, the adolescents indicated that 11.8% of fathers and 12.1% of mothers had completed primary studies, 44.2% of fathers and 46.5% of mothers completed secondary studies, whereas 27.1% of fathers and 27.9% of mothers had attended or completed higher education. Some adolescents indicated that they did not know the paternal (16.9%) or maternal (13.5%) educational level.

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1.3. Instrument and variables The self-report packet included two scales to measure depressive symptoms and responses to positive affect, respectively, as well as demographic questions (gender, age and maternal and parental level of education). 1.3.1. Depressive symptoms The short version of the Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1992), adapted to Spanish by Del Barrio, Roa, Olmedo, n (2002), was used. This short scale of 10 items has demonstrated good psychometric properties for assessing the and Colodro presence and intensity of depressive symptoms among child and adolescent populations in previous studies (Del Barrio et al., 2002; Joormann, Talbot, & Gotlib, 2007). In addition, the validity of this instrument for research purposes in place of the longer version is supported (Kovacs, 1992). In the present study, this short scale had good internal consistency reliability (reaching values of Cronbach's a ¼ 0.76 at time 1, a ¼ 0.77 at time 2 and a ¼ 0.76 at time 3). 1.3.2. Responses to positive affect The short version of the Responses to Positive Affect Questionnaire (Feldman et al., 2008), adapted for Spanish adolescents by Gomez-Baya (2014), was administered. In that validation, the original questionnaire was translated and back-translated from English to Spanish and was reduced to 12 items from the 17 items of the original measure by Feldman et al. (2008) (for more details, see Gomez-Baya, 2014). The scale presents a series of statements about what someone might do when he or she feels cheerful, happy or content. Like the adult questionnaire, the adolescent scale includes three subscales: emotion-focused positive rumination subscale (items 1 to 4, e.g., “I think about how happy I feel”, “I think how strong I feel”, “I think about how I feel up to doing everything” and “I notice how I feel full of energy”), dampening subscale (items 5 to 8, e.g., “I think, ‘My streak of luck is going to end soon’”, “I think about things that could go wrong”, “I remind myself that these feelings won't last” and “I think, ‘This is too good to be true’”), and self-focused positive rumination subscale (items 9 to 12, e.g., “I think, ‘I am achieving everything’”, “I think, ‘I am living up to my potential’”, “I think about how proud I am of myself” and “I think, ‘I am getting everything done’”). For each statement, four response options are proposed according to how often the participants engage in the actions described (almost never, sometimes, often or almost always). These options are scored from 1 to 4, and these scores are added to calculate the total score for each subscale. In the present study, the internal consistency was good for all three subscales: for emotion-focused positive rumination, a ¼ 0.86 in wave 1, a ¼ 0.89 in wave 2, and a ¼ 0.87 in 3; for dampening, a ¼ 0.88 in waves 1 and 2 and a ¼ 0.86 in wave 3; and for self-focused positive rumination, a ¼ 0.90 in waves 1 and 2 and a ¼ 0.89 in wave 3. Confirmatory factor analyses showed the same 3-factor structure as the adult measure: at time 1, Satorra-Bentler c2 (48, N ¼ 622) ¼ 124.96, p < 0.001, c2/df ¼ 2.60, CFI ¼ 0.98, RMSEA ¼ 0.05, 90% CI RMSEA ¼ 0.04 - 0.06; at time 2, c2 (48, N ¼ 622) ¼ 99.85, p < 0.000, c2/df ¼ 2.08, CFI ¼ 0.99, RMSEA ¼ 0.04, 90% CI RMSEA ¼ 0.03 - 0.06; and at time 3, c2 (48, N ¼ 622) ¼ 137.85, p < 0.001, c2/df ¼ 2.87, CFI ¼ 0.96, RMSEA ¼ 0.07, 90% CI RMSEA ¼ 0.06 - 0.08. Thus, the factors corresponded to each theoretical dimension of responses to positive affect and were composed of their respective 4 items, reaching saturations of over 0.74 for all time points. 1.4. Data analytic strategy Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality was conducted for all study variables. Attrition analyses were performed to compare the participants who completed all three waves of the study and the participants who missed one assessment on baseline scores of the study variables and demographics. The Little test was also conducted to explore whether the missing values are distributed completely at random. Then, a multiple imputation procedure was performed to address the missing values, using an MCMC algorithm that imputes incomplete variables one at a time, following recommendations by Kristman, Manno, and Cote (2005) and Peugh and Enders (2004). Using the command PROC MIANALYZE of SAS 9.2 (SAS Institute Inc., 2008), a total of 50 imputed datasets were calculated and were combined in a pooled dataset, in accordance with Yuan (2000). Furthermore, to examine whether the study variables differed by school and class, age cohort and parental educational level after the follow-up, multilevel mixed model analyses were conducted. These analyses were carried out with the statistical package SPSS 21.0 (IBM Corp, 2012). Regarding the first aim of this research, we used latent growth curve modeling to examine whether the responses to positive affect and depressive symptoms changed over the two-year follow-up period. Latent growth curve modeling allows for the estimation of the trajectory of growth or change in variables over time (Bollen & Curran, 2006; Preacher, Wichman, MacCallum, & Briggs, 2008). First, the unconditional models of change in each variable were tested to identify the statistical model that best described their trajectory. Each growth model was composed of two factors, intercept and slope, in which the three assessment points were included. The analyses tested whether the slope was best described as linear (with factor saturations following a linear time scale: 0, 1 and 2) or non-linear (only two factor saturations were set at 0 and 1, while the third was freely estimated), according to the procedure used by Reitz, Prinzie, Dekovic and Buist (2007). Following the identification of the models that best described the growth of the study variables, multi-group analyses were conducted to test gender moderation, similar to Dekovic, Buist and Reitz (2004). In these multi-group analyses, latent growth curve models for each variable were compared by gender. The free estimated parameters were expected to be different by group in the unconstrained models and equal in the constrained models. To test the overall goodness of fit in each model, a Satorra Scaled c2 statistic was calculated, which is robust to nonnormality. However, given that this indicator is very sensitive to the sample

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size, the ratio of the value of c2 and the degrees of freedom (df) were analyzed (Kline, 1998). Furthermore, the comparative goodness of fit index (CFI) was calculated (Hu & Bentler, 1999). The differences in the Satorra Scaled c2 and CFI were calculated in addition to the c2 tests for the differences in each constrained parameter (Bryant & Satorra, 2012; Cheung & Rensvold, 2002). Moreover, gender differences in the study variables were explored at each assessment time. Regarding the second aim of the study, the prospective associations between the responses to positive affect and depressive symptoms were also examined by latent growth curve modeling (Duncan, Duncan, & Strycker, 2013). The associations between the models for each type of response to positive affect (i.e., emotion-focused rumination, dampening, selffocused positive rumination) and the model of depressive symptoms were separately studied by conducting three multivariate latent growth models, which examined the associations among the initial values and the rates of change in these variables, in accordance with Rogosa and Willett (1985). Global fit indexes were reported following indications by Hu and Bentler (1999), and standardized solutions of the associations were calculated. Multi-group analyses were also conducted to test gender moderation in the associations. All these latent growth curve analyses were conducted with the program EQS 6.1, which assesses the model fit based on covariance matrices using the maximum likelihood estimation method (Byrne, 2013). 2. Results 2.1. Attrition analyses and imputation Only participants who completed the first assessment were tracked. Thus, seventy-six percent of the participants completed all three assessments, whereas 17.5% only completed the assessments at times 1 and 2 and 6.4% at times 1 and 3. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality indicated that all study variables (i.e. depressive symptoms, emotion-focused positive rumination, dampening and self-focused positive rumination) were not normally distributed in each assessment time (p < 0.001). The results of the three Kruskal-Wallis H tests showed no significant differences between participants who remained in the study for all assessments and participants who did not complete the second or third assessment in the baseline scores of emotion-focused positive rumination, H(2) ¼ 0.13, p ¼ 0.937, dampening, H(2) ¼ 5.58, p ¼ 0.061, selffocused positive rumination, H(2) ¼ 3.68, p ¼ 0.158, and in the baseline scores of depressive symptoms, H(2) ¼ 4.59, p ¼ 0.101. No differences were found between the participants who completed the assessments and those who did not complete all three assessments for any of the demographic variables assessed: gender: c2(2, N ¼ 622) ¼ 0.02, p ¼ 0.989; age cohort: c2(2, N ¼ 622) ¼ 0.60, p ¼ 0.739; maternal academic level: c2(16, N ¼ 622) ¼ 19.68, p ¼ 0.236; paternal academic level, c2(12, N ¼ 622) ¼ 14.78, p ¼ 0.253. The Little test was consistent with the conclusion that missing values in variables were distributed completely at random, c2(467, N ¼ 622) ¼ 512.04, p ¼ 0.073. A multiple imputation procedure was conducted to address the missing values of participants who did not participate in waves 2 or 3. 2.2. Multilevel analyses to examine the effects by school and class, age cohort and parental educational level The results of the multilevel mixed models are presented in Table 1. These analyses revealed no significant differences in each assessment in the scores of depressive symptoms nor in the scores in the dimensions of responses to positive affect by school and class of enrolment, age cohort or parental educational level. 2.3. Longitudinal changes in depressive symptoms and responses to positive affect The linear model of depressive symptoms presented a better global fit to the data than the nonlinear model, Dc2 ¼ 4.85, Ddf ¼ 1, p ¼ 0.028, and no differences between the linear and non-linear models were observed in emotion-focused positive rumination, Dc2 ¼ 0.70, Ddf ¼ 1, p ¼ 0.403; dampening, Dc2 ¼ 0.37, Ddf ¼ 1, p ¼ 0.543; or self-focused positive rumination, Dc2 ¼ 0.80, Ddf ¼ 1, p ¼ 0.371. Thus, because the nonlinear model did not improve the fit of the linear model, the linear representation of change over time (i.e., straight-line growth) was retained for the subsequent analyses because of its greater simplicity.

Table 1 Multilevel analyses of the effects by school and class, age cohort and parental educational level on depressive symptoms and responses to positive affect after the follow-up.

School and class Age cohort Paternal educational level Maternal educational level

Depressive symptoms

Emotion-focused positive rumination

Dampening

Self-focused positive rumination

F(16, 588) ¼ 0.53, p ¼ 0.934 F(1, 620) ¼ 1.94, p ¼ 0.165 F(8, 603) ¼ 1.29, p ¼ 0.244 F(8, 603) ¼ 1.40, p ¼ 0.192

F(16, 588) ¼ 1.01, p ¼ 0.440 F(1, 620) ¼ 2.13, p ¼ 0.145 F(8, 603) ¼ 0.43, p ¼ 0.901 F(8, 603) ¼ 0.84, p ¼ 0.568

F(16, 588) ¼ 0.86, p ¼ 0.620 F (1, 620) ¼ 1.41, p ¼ 0.235 F(8, 603) ¼ 0.38, p ¼ 0.933 F(8, 603) ¼ 1.71, p ¼ 0.093

F(16, 588) ¼ 0.88, p ¼ 0.590 F (1, 620) ¼ 0.01, p ¼ 0.910 F(8, 603) ¼ 0.40, p ¼ 0.920 F(8, 603) ¼ 0.96, p ¼ 0.470

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Table 2 presents the results of the multi-group analyses to examine gender moderation in the latent growth models of depressive symptoms and responses to positive affect. Table 3 presents the results from Mann-Whitney U tests that examine the differences between boys and girls in each study variable at each assessment point. Depressive symptoms increased in time among girls but not boys. Specifically, significant differences in overall fit were observed between the constrained and unconstrained model, although both models had good data fits. The results of the differences in constraints showed that there were significant gender differences in the mean of the intercept, in which the girls showed higher initial levels of symptoms than boys. In Table 3, the results showed that girls presented more depressive symptoms than boys at each assessment time. Furthermore, the gender differences were also found in the depressive symptoms slope since there was significant growth only in girls. Emotion-focused positive rumination decreased over time. This decrease was not moderated by gender. Specifically, no differences were observed in the overall fit of the constrained and unconstrained models, which both presented a good fit to the data. No substantial differences were detected in constraint comparisons, indicating that no gender differences were found in this response. Thus, the results in the constrained model indicated a decrease in emotion-focused positive rumination in both boys and girls. Dampening decreased in boys but increased in girls over time. Specifically, the results indicated substantial differences in the overall fit of the constrained and unconstrained models, and only the unconstrained model had a good data fit. There were gender differences in the slope for dampening with a significant decrease in boys and a significant increase in girls. The results from the Mann-Whitney U tests (Table 3) indicated that at time 1, the boys showed more dampening than the girls, whereas at the end of the study, the girls reported higher scores. Self-focused positive rumination decreased in both boys and girls. Specifically, differences in overall fit were found between the constrained and unconstrained model, although both models had a good fit. The differences in constraints showed that the boys reported more self-focused positive rumination than the girls. The boys reported higher self-focused positive rumination in assessments 1 and 2, although the differences did not reach significance in the third assessment (see Table 3). In both boys and girls, a decrease in self-focused positive rumination was observed. 2.4. Relationships between responses to positive affect and depressive symptoms Table 4 presents the results of these multivariate models, indicating the differences in constraints and overall fit after multi-group analyses by gender. Although differences in overall fit were observed in the multivariate models for emotionfocused positive rumination and dampening, no differences in constraints were detected, and the gender differences were only presented in each unconditional latent growth model (previously described). Thus, no gender differences in the associations between responses to positive affect and depressive symptoms were found. 2.4.1. Relationships at baseline At baseline, depressive symptoms were associated with higher levels of dampening and lower levels of emotion-focused and self-focused positive rumination. Specifically, the depressive symptom intercept was positively associated with the dampening intercept and was negatively related to the intercepts of emotion-focused and self-focused positive rumination. 2.4.2. Relationships between changes in depression and changes in responses to positive affect Increases in depressive symptoms over the follow-up period were associated with increases in dampening. Specifically, the analyses of slope associations indicated that the rate of change for depressive symptoms was positively related to the dampening slope. The increases in depressive symptoms were also associated with decreases in positive rumination over the follow-up period. Specifically, the analyses of slope associates indicated that the rate of change for depressive symptoms was negatively related to the slopes for emotion-focused and self-focused positive rumination. 2.4.3. Baseline responses to positive affect and changes in depressive symptoms The participants' responses to positive affect at the baseline were associated with changes in depressive symptoms over time. The dampening intercept was negatively related to depressive symptoms' slope over time in both boys and girls. Thus, adolescents who reported lower initial levels in dampening presented a greater rate of change, i.e., increases in depressive symptoms, whereas adolescents who reported higher initial levels in dampening maintained greater and more stable levels of depressive symptoms over time. Moreover, in boys but not girls, the intercepts of both emotion-focused and self-focused positive rumination were positively associated with the rate of change in depressive symptoms. Consequently, a greater increase in depressive symptoms after the follow-up was observed in boys who reported higher initial levels in positive rumination, whereas boys who indicated lower initial levels in positive rumination presented greater and more stable means in depressive symptoms in each assessment time. 2.4.4. Baseline depressive symptoms and changes in responses to positive affect Baseline levels of depressive symptoms predicted changes in responses to positive affect over time. Specifically, the depressive symptoms' intercept was negatively related to the dampening slope in girls, indicating that lower initial levels of depressive symptoms were related to greater rates of change in the dampening response in this subsample. Girls with higher

Table 2 Unconditional model of growth in depressive symptoms and responses to positive affect by gender. Unconditional model (linear)

DS

Difference in constraints

Overall Fit satorra scaled c2

Difference in overall fit

E1-E1: c2 ¼ 0.01, p ¼ 0.985 E2-E2: c2 ¼ 0.04, p ¼ 0.838 E3-E3: c2 ¼ 0.38, p ¼ 0.538 D1-D1: c2 ¼ 0.97, p ¼ 0.326 D2-D2: c2 ¼ 0.95, p ¼ 0.331 D1-D2: c2 ¼ 0.46, p ¼ 0.497 F1-1: c2 ¼ 24.117, p < 0.001 F2-1: c2 ¼ 14.552, p < 0.001

c2(10, N ¼ 622) ¼ 19.40, p ¼ 0.035, c2/df ¼ 1.94, CFI ¼ 1

Dc2 ¼ 18.91, Ddf ¼ 8 p ¼ 0.015, DCFI ¼ 0.000

E1-E1: c2 ¼ 0.97, p ¼ 0.324 E2-E2: c2 ¼ 0.04, p ¼ 0.848 E3-E3: c2 ¼ 0.15, p ¼ 0.697 D1-D1: c2 ¼ 3.79, p ¼ 0.052 D2-D2: c2 ¼ 0.02, p ¼ 0.904 D1-D2: c2 ¼ 1.62, p ¼ 0.203 F1-1: c2 ¼ 0.01, p ¼ 0.945 F2-1: c2 ¼ 0.44, p ¼ 0.506

c2(10, N ¼ 622) ¼ 8.25, p ¼ 0.605, c2/df ¼ 0.825, CFI ¼ 0.999

E1-E1: c2 ¼ 4.45, p ¼ 0.035 E2-E2: c2 ¼ 5.19, p ¼ 0.023 E3-E3: c2 ¼ 0.41, p ¼ 0.523 D1-D1: c2 ¼ 1.43, p ¼ 0.231 D2-D2: c2 ¼ 1.11, p ¼ 0.292 D1-D2: c2 ¼ 2.73, p ¼ 0.098 F1-1: c2 ¼ 0.22, p ¼ 0.637 F2-1: c2 ¼ 14.52, p < 0.001

c2(10, N ¼ 622) ¼ 37.55, p < 0.001, c2/df ¼ 3.76, CFI ¼ 0.963

E1-E1: c2 ¼ 1.000, p ¼ 0.317 E2-E2: c2 ¼ 0.06, p ¼ 0.803 E3-E3: c2 ¼ 0.24, p ¼ 0.622 D1-D1: c2 ¼ 5.34, p ¼ 0.021 D2-D2: c2 ¼ 0.37, p ¼ 0.542 D1-D2: c2 ¼ 5.03, p ¼ 0.025 F1-1: c2 ¼ 7.80, p ¼ 0.005 F2-1: c2 ¼ 0.18, p ¼ 0.671

c2(10, N ¼ 622) ¼ 18.33, p ¼ 0.050, c2/df ¼ 1.83, CFI ¼ 1

M

s

M

s

5.29a

0.20a

0.89a

0.28a

Unconstrained Boys

3.10a

4.06a

0.12

0.49

0.14

6.31a

0.29a

1.14a

0.39a

a

1.06

0.43a

2

a

a

2

a

5.36

0.22

12.84a

3.96a

0.28a

0.94a

0.33

12.71a

6.75a

0.17a

1.17a

0.51a

a

5.95

0.17

a

0.53

0.34

4.26a

0.50a

0.01

0.12

7.72a

0.17a

1.09a

0.46a

a

2.05

0.49a

2.27a 1.83a

0.53a 0.44a

12.77

Unconstrained Boys

a

Constrained

8.10

Unconstrained Boys

8.46a

7.75a a

Constrained

10.98

Unconstrained Boys Girls

11.44a 10.51a

a

a

8.29

0.33

7.60 a 8.61a

0.46a 0.19a

c2(2, N ¼ 622) ¼ 0.99, p ¼ 0.611, c2/df ¼ 0.49, CFI ¼ 1

Dc2 ¼ 7.09, Ddf ¼ 8 p ¼ 0.527, DCFI ¼ 0.001

c2(2, N ¼ 622) ¼ 1.16, p ¼ 0.560, c2/df ¼ 0.58, CFI ¼ 1

Dc2 ¼ 37.01, Ddf ¼ 8 p ¼ 0.011, DCFI ¼ 0.037

c2(2, N ¼ 622) ¼ 0.46, p ¼ 0.794, c2/df ¼ 0.23, CFI ¼ 1

Dc2 ¼ 17.11, Ddf ¼ 8 p ¼ 0.029, DCFI ¼ 0.000

D. Gomez-Baya et al. / Journal of Adolescence 56 (2017) 11e23

3.86a

Constrained

Girls SF

Covariance b

3.47a

Girls DA

Slope

Constrained

Girls EF

Intercept

c2(2, N ¼ 622) ¼ 1.22, p ¼ 0.542, c2/df ¼ 0.61, CFI ¼ 1

Note. DS: Depressive Symptoms; EF: Emotion-focused positive rumination; DA: Dampening; SF: Self-focused positive rumination. E1-E1: Variance of the measurement error at time 1 of the variable; E2-E2: Variance of the measurement error at time 2 of the variable; E3-E3: Variance of the measurement error at time 3 of the variable; D1-D1: Variance of the intercept of the variable; D2-D2: Variance of the slope of the variable; D1-D2: Covariance between the intercept and slope; F1-1: Relationship between the constant and the intercept, or intercept mean; F2-1: Relationship between the constant and the slope, or slope mean. a Statistically significant at level p < 0.05.

17

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D. Gomez-Baya et al. / Journal of Adolescence 56 (2017) 11e23

Table 3 Descriptive statistics of study variables by gender. Variable

Time Sample

Gender differences

Boys (N ¼ 312)

Depressive Symptoms

Emotion-focused positive rumination

Dampening

Self-focused positive rumination

Girls (N ¼ 310)

Total

Mean rank

M

SD

Range Mean rank

M

SD

Range M

SD

Range

1 2 3 1

279.78 282.53 270.30 313.36

3.06 3.27 3.32 12.85

2.72 2.64 2.56 3.11

0e18 0e18 0e18 4e16

343.43 340.66 352.97 309.62

3.88 4.08 4.44 12.75

2.84 2.94 2.77 3.21

0e17 0e17 0e18 4e16

3.47 3.67 3.88 12.80

2.81 2.82 2.72 3.16

0e18 0e18 0e18 4e16

2 3 1 2

313.71 306.13 326.95 314.83

12.56 12.29 8.40 8.06

2.99 2.8 3.70 3.54

4e16 4e16 4e16 4e16

309.28 316.90 295.95 308.14

12.42 12.41 7.74 7.92

3.24 2.95 3.54 3.45

4e16 4e16 4e16 4e16

12.49 12.35 8.07 7.99

3.11 2.88 3.66 3.49

4e16 4e16 4e16 4e16

3 1

294.14 335.51

7.43 2.91 4e16 328.97 11.50 3.67 4e16 287.34

8.06 3.17 4e16 7.75 3.05 4e16 10.52 3.71 4e16 11.01 3.72 4e16

2 3

326.74 322.44

10.85 3.37 4e16 296.16 10.54 3.17 4e16 300.49

10.29 3.59 4e16 10.57 3.49 4e16 10.13 3.44 4e16 10.33 3.31 4e16

U ¼ 58,258, z ¼ 4.46, p < 0.001 U ¼ 57,398.5, z ¼ 4.06, p < 0.001 U ¼ 61,215.5, z ¼ 5.76, p < 0.001 U ¼ 47,778.5, z ¼ 0.26, p ¼ 0.792 U ¼ 47,671, z ¼ 0.31, p ¼ 0.756 U ¼ 50,035.5, z ¼ 0.75, p ¼ 0.452 U ¼ 43,541, z ¼ 2.16, p ¼ 0.030 U ¼ 47,319.5, z ¼ 0.47, p ¼ 0.640 U ¼ 53,776, z ¼ 2.43, p ¼ 0.015 U ¼ 40,869.5, z ¼ 3.36, p ¼ 0.001 U ¼ 43,606, z ¼ 2.13, p ¼ 0.033 U ¼ 44,945.5, z ¼ 1.53, p ¼ 0.127

initial levels of depressive symptoms showed more stable and higher means in dampening at each time of the study. Furthermore, the depressive symptom intercept was positively associated with both emotion-focused and self-focused positive rumination slopes in both boys and girls; thus, a decrease in positive rumination was found in adolescents who reported less initial depressive symptoms, whereas adolescents who initially reported more depressive symptoms showed more stable but lower levels of positive rumination in each assessment of the study. Table 4 Multivariate models of associations between changes in depressive symptoms and responses to positive affect by gender. Multivariate model EF Constrained Unconstrained Boys

Girls DA Constrained Unconstrained Boys

Girls SF Constrained Unconstrained Boys Girls

Covariances b

Difference in constraints

Overall Fit satorra scaled c2

Difference in overall fit

D1-D3: c2 p ¼ 0.211 D1-D4: c2 p ¼ 0.572 D2-D3: c2 p ¼ 0.883 D2-D4: c2 p ¼ 0.072

¼ 1.57,

c2(34, N ¼ 622) ¼ 77.53, p < 0.001, c2/df ¼ 2.28, CFI ¼ 0.962

Dc2 ¼ 35.49, Ddf ¼ 20

DA DA DA DA D1-D3: c2 Intercept (D3) Slope (D4) Intercept (D3) Slope (D4) p ¼ 0.818 D1-D4: c2 0.66* 0.30* 0.51* 0.69* p ¼ 0.201 D2-D3: c2 0.69* 0.26 0.78* 0.60* p ¼ 0.402 D2-D4: c2 p ¼ 0.369 0.68* 0.36* 0.39* 0.72*

¼ 0.05,

SF SF SF SF D1-D3: c2 Intercept (D3) Slope (D4) Intercept (D3) Slope (D4) p ¼ 0.077 D1-D4: c2 0.64* 0.35* 0.15* 0.38* p ¼ 0.294 D2-D3: c2 0.74* 0.40* 0.30* 0.51* p ¼ 0.627 0.53* 0.29* 0.07 0.31* D2-D4: c2 p ¼ 0.555

¼ 3.12,

DS intercept (D1)

DS slope (D2)

EF Intercept (D3) 0.57*

EF Slope (D4) 0.62*

EF Intercept (D3) 0.22*

EF Slope (D4) 0.68*

0.77*

0.81*

0.47*

0.79*

0.43*

0.47*

0.06

¼ 0.32, ¼ 0.02, ¼ 3.23,

c2(14, N ¼ 622) ¼ 42.04, p < 0.001, c2/df ¼ 3.00, CFI ¼ 0.962

p ¼ 0.018, DCFI ¼ 0.000

0.37*

¼ 1.64, ¼ 0.70, ¼ 0.81,

¼ 1.10, ¼ 0.24, ¼ 0.35,

c2(34, N ¼ 622) ¼ 91.63, p < 0.001, c2/df ¼ 2.69, CFI ¼ 0.960 c2(14, N ¼ 622) ¼ 37.54, p < 0.001, c2/df ¼ 2.68, CFI ¼ 0.968

c2(34, N ¼ 622) ¼ 77.79, p < 0.001, c2/df ¼ 2.29, CFI ¼ 0.969 c2(14, N ¼ 622) ¼ 48.88, p < 0.001, c2/df ¼ 3.49, CFI ¼ 0.959

Dc2 ¼ 54.09, Ddf ¼ 20

p < 0.001, DCFI ¼ 0.008

Dc2 ¼ 28.91, Ddf ¼ 20

p ¼ 0.089, DCFI ¼ 0.010

Note. DS: Depressive Symptoms; EF: Emotion-focused positive rumination; DA: Dampening; SF: Self-focused positive rumination; D1-D3: Covariance between DS intercept and response to positive affect intercept; D1-D4: Covariance between DS intercept and response to positive affect slope; D2-D3: Covariance between DS slope and response to positive affect intercept; D2-D4: Covariance between DS slope and response to positive affect slope. *p < 0.05.

D. Gomez-Baya et al. / Journal of Adolescence 56 (2017) 11e23

19

3. Discussion The study's first aim was to examine how depressive symptoms and responses to positive affect change during middle adolescence. The findings indicated that depressive symptoms increased over the two-year follow-up period in adolescent girls but not in boys. Moreover, girls reported more depressive symptoms than boys at each assessment. These results are consistent with previous studies that found dramatic increases in depressive symptoms in girls between the ages of 13 and 15. (Costello et al., 2011; Galambos et al., 2004) and with the large literature documenting higher prevalence of depressive symptoms in girls than in boys during adolescence (Hilt & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2008; Strauman et al., 2011). Regarding responses to positive affect, emotion-focused and self-focused positive rumination decreased over the followup period. Researchers have suggested that increases in maladaptive responses to negative affect may account for the increase in depression that occurs during adolescence (Rood et al., 2009). Our findings suggest that changes in responses to positive affect may also be involved (Rood et al., 2009). Substantial gender differences were also detected in responses to positive affect. Boys were more likely than girls to engage in self-focused positive rumination, suggesting that girls were less likely than boys to attribute their positive affect to themselves or to the achievement of their personal goals, in line with our hypothesis and with the findings reported by Mezulis et al. (2004). However, no gender differences were found in emotionfocused positive rumination, which is consistent with the findings from Gentzler et al. (2014). Furthermore, the results indicated that dampening of positive emotion changed over time but in ways that differed by gender. Dampening of positive emotion decreased in boys but increased in girls. At the beginning of the study, boys engaged in greater dampening than girls. After the two-year follow-up, however, these gender differences changed and girls engaged in greater dampening than boys. These findings at two-year follow-up are consistent with our expectations and with the conclusions by Gentzler et al. (2014) and Li et al. (2012). This increase in the inhibition of positive affect among girls during adolescence could be a consequence of girls' heightened awareness of the social consequences of emotional expression and their heightened sensitivity to others' evaluation (Chaplin, 2015). It coincides with changing relationships with parents and peers and the increasing influence of the gender-role stereotypes that characterize the cultural context (Zeman, Cassano, Perry-Parrish, & Stegall, 2006). The literature to date has explained gender differences in responses to positive affect on the basis of gendered emotion socialization within the family environment (Schwartz, Sheeber, Dudgeon, & Allen, 2012). Yap, Allen, and Ladouceur (2008) reported that maternal dampening of adolescents' positive affect is associated with depressive symptoms only in girls through the development of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies for both negative and positive affect. Girls' who reported higher depressive symptoms were more likely to have mothers who punished their displays of positive emotion on interaction tasks and who reported more invalidating socialization of their daughter's positive affect. These relationships held even when the maternal depressive symptomatology was controlled. Yap et al. (2008) argued that girls are more sensitive to the maternal invalidation of their positive affect than are boys because of the greater intensity of the mother-daughter relationship and the increasing societal demands to maintain cordial interpersonal relationships. Thus, mothers' invalidation of their daughters' positive affect and girls' dampening of positive emotion may contribute to a negative family climate that hinders the development of healthy response styles to positive affect, which in turn increases the risk of depression in girls. The second aim was to examine the prospective associations between responses to positive and depressive symptoms. The findings revealed significant bidirectional associations between responses to positive affect and depressive symptoms. These relationships were not moderated by gender. Specifically, higher dampening or inhibition of positive affect was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms at each assessment point, and the increase in dampening was related to the increase in depressive symptoms. The positive relationship between dampening and depressive symptoms is consistent with our hypothesis. Although no study to date has addressed the associations between changes in these variables during adolescence, our results are in line with the previous research by Raes et al. (2012), who found longitudinal associations of dampening and depressive symptoms in Belgian adolescents, although after shorter follow-up periods (i.e. 3 and 5 months). Furthermore, both emotion-focused and self-focused positive rumination were negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Consequently, the amplification of positive affect by focusing on the emotion or by attributing to personal values or goal achievement was related to fewer depressive symptoms in each assessment. Additionally, the decrease in both styles of positive rumination was prospectively associated with an increase in depressive symptoms. These results are consistent with our expectations and with findings from Bijttebier et al. (2012) who reported prospective negative associations between positive rumination and depressive symptoms, although after a shorter follow-up. No study to date has analyzed the relationship between the changes in responses to positive affect and the change in depressive symptoms after a two-year follow-up during middle adolescence, and this is an important contribution of this work. Furthermore, no study to date has jointly examined gender differences in the changes in responses to positive affect and depressive symptoms during middle adolescence. Girls reported more depressive symptoms than boys, and experienced a significant increase in these symptoms during the two-year follow-up during mid-adolescence. Our findings also indicated that there was an increase in dampening in girls and a decrease in this inhibition in boys. At the end of the study, girls inhibited their positive affect more frequently than boys, and that inhibition of positive affect was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Moreover, girls presented lower levels of self-focused positive rumination than boys, and these lower scores in self-focused positive rumination were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Consequently, this evidence is consistent with our hypothesis and suggests that adolescent girls do not only respond to negative affect differently from boys, in line with Response Styles Theory (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991), but also respond differentially to

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D. Gomez-Baya et al. / Journal of Adolescence 56 (2017) 11e23

positive affect. These results contribute to the understanding gender differences in depressive symptoms in adolescence and suggest that these differences may be, in part, due to differential responses to positive affect d specifically, a greater dampening of positive affect and lower self-focused positive rumination in girls. Thus, higher dampening and lower positive rumination could reduce the presence and intensity of positive emotions in girls. This could lead to difficulties in an adaptive cognitive processing, because the presence of positive emotions enables a broadening of attentional scope and thought-action repertoires, according to the broaden-and-build theory (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005). Recently, Xu et al. (2015) observed in Chinese undergraduates that positive affect promotes well-being and alleviates depression through the mediational effect of more positive attentional bias and less negative attentional bias. Attention to positive stimuli (i.e., happy faces) predicted mood repair after a negative mood induction in Spanish undergraduates (Sanchez, Vazquez, Gomez, & Joormann, 2014). Thus, a reduced cognitive processing in turn would hinder emotional well-being and resilience to negative emotions (Garland et al., 2010). Furthermore, higher depressive symptoms in girls would make it difficult to maintain positive emotions (McMakin, Santiago, & Shirk, 2009), which would in turn make cognitive processing even more difficult and lead to further emotional maladjustment (Kuppens et al., 2012). Despite these contributions, some limitations should be described. Since there was no experimental manipulation of the variables, it is not possible to draw conclusions about causal relationships. One key issue for future research is to examine to the extent to which the current findings can be generalized to a clinical sample. Another limitation that deserves attention is the rate of attrition, although attrition analyses indicated no significant differences between participants who completed all three assessments and the participants who did not regarding demographics, baseline responses to positive affect and baseline depressive symptoms. Finally, another possible limitation may come from the use of self-reports, which offer a subjective measure of the adolescents' emotions and what they tend to do most often when they feel happy. In previous studies, self-report measures of depressive symptoms have shown significant correlations with clinician-rated diagnoses and good psychometric properties (Joormann et al., 2007; Kovacs, 1992). The scale for measuring the responses to positive affect was based on an adult measure that has already shown excellent psychometric properties (Feldman et al., 2008). The use of self-report measures for all study variables raises concerns about shared-method variance. Some studies have provided empirical support for a multi-method assessment using performance measures of positive emotion regulation dynamics, indicating that reduced experience and expression of positive affect were associated with depression symptoms, but only in a context that elicited negative emotions (Fussner, Luebbe, & Bell, 2015; Sheeber et al., 2009). Furthermore, variables such as intelligence, academic achievement, current level of stress or parental depression should be considered in future research. Moreover, the assessment of positive affect could also be necessary for exploring the directionality of the association between trait affectivity and responses to positive affect, in line with Nelis, Bastin, Raes, Mezulis, and Bijttebier (2016). Some practical applications may be derived from this study for the design of programs aimed at preventing depression or promoting well-being in adolescence. These programs could focus not only on coping with negative emotional states but also on healthy ways of experiencing positive emotions (Wood & Tarrier, 2010). Furthermore, these programs should consider the gender differences in emotional regulation and include specific interventions for girls (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2012). First, some family-based and parenting interventions could be encouraged, because of the potential negative effects of gendered emotion socialization within family and mother's invalidation of their daughters' positive affect. Cottrell (2003) described a systemicbehavioral family therapy, which includes skill-building in communication, reinforcement and cognitive restructuring, to reduce child and adolescent depressive symptoms. Diamond, Siqueland, and Diamond (2003) suggested that attachmentbased family therapy reduces adolescent depressive symptoms by building bonds based on trust and respect, reducing blame and criticism, developing mutual responsibility and increasing autonomy. Moreover, some family-based interventions have been conducted in adolescents at risk, such as those preventive programs with families of depressed parents (Beardslee, Gladstone, Wright, & Cooper, 2003; Compas et al., 2010). Our results could suggest that family-based interventions to prevent adolescent depressive symptoms should also focus on the development of adaptive responses to positive affect. Second, positive psychology interventions have revealed that cultivating positive feelings enhances well-being and reduces depressive symptoms (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009). In this line, the approach of positive education (Seligman, Ernst, Gillham, Reivich, & Linkins, 2009), which focuses on the development of psychological strength and the promotion of psychological well-being within the school context, may be of interest. Quoidbach, Berry, Hansenne and Mikolajczak (2010) have shown a variety of strategies that allow for the amplification or dampening of positive emotions. The school environment may be an appropriate setting to implement interventions that teach adolescents different ways of amplifying their positive emotional experiences and prevent the use of different ways to dampen these experiences. Some authors have already emphasized the importance of developing strategies for enjoying positive emotions (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Recently, Hurley and Kwon (2012) tested a “savoring the moment” intervention following naturally occurring positive events over the next 2 weeks and they found that it is effective for reducing the presence of depressive symptoms. Preliminary evidence has been reported for the benefits of a positive affect stimulation and sustainment intervention in reducing depressed moods in young people (McMakin, Siegle, & Shirk, 2011). This intervention consisted of writing about a positive experience with as much emotion as possible, after which participants were asked to replay the event to recall specific details and re-experience the associated feelings. These steps allowed the participants to consider how these previous events could lead to other positive events in the future, to identify their contributions to that positive event and to make positive self-attributions of that event. Quoidbach, Mikolajczak, and Gross (2015) have reviewed the efficacy of positive interventions to increase positive emotions and concluded that situation selection (activities such as socializing, exercising, and being in nature tend to increase positive emotions) and attentional deployment (imagining future positive events) present greater long-term benefits.

D. Gomez-Baya et al. / Journal of Adolescence 56 (2017) 11e23

21

Thus, the present study has provided prospective evidence for the role of the response to positive affect in adolescent depressive symptoms, underlining that the increase in depressive symptoms is associated with a decrease in (self-focused and emotion-focused) positive rumination and an increase in dampening. Moreover, substantial gender differences have been highlighted: girls reported lower self-focused positive rumination, higher dampening and more depressive symptoms than boys. These findings suggest the potential importance of considering strategies for regulating positive affect, in addition to negative affect, in explaining the development of depression in adolescence and in efforts to treat and prevent it. Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements This study was funded by Spanish Ministry of Education's University Lecturer Training Program (AP2009-4621), awarded to Diego Gomez-Baya. The authors also thank Antonia Rubio and Gloria Lopera for their help in the data collection.

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