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The p factor outweighs the specific internalizing factor in predicting recurrences of adolescent depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2024

Yinuo Shu
Affiliation:
Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
Na Ao
Affiliation:
Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
Xue Wen
Affiliation:
Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Zaixu Cui*
Affiliation:
Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
Diyang Qu*
Affiliation:
Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China Institute for Healthy China, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Runsen Chen*
Affiliation:
Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China Institute for Healthy China, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
*
Corresponding authors: Runsen Chen, Diyang Qu, and Zaixu Cui; Emails: runsenchen@tsinghua.edu.cn; diyangqu@outlook.com; cuizaixu@cibr.ac.cn
Corresponding authors: Runsen Chen, Diyang Qu, and Zaixu Cui; Emails: runsenchen@tsinghua.edu.cn; diyangqu@outlook.com; cuizaixu@cibr.ac.cn
Corresponding authors: Runsen Chen, Diyang Qu, and Zaixu Cui; Emails: runsenchen@tsinghua.edu.cn; diyangqu@outlook.com; cuizaixu@cibr.ac.cn

Abstract

Background

The early prediction of adolescent depression recurrence poses a significant challenge in the field. This study aims to investigate and compare the abilities of the general psychopathology factor (p) and the specific internalizing factor, in predicting depression recurrence over a 2-year course, as well as identifying remitted depressed adolescents from healthy adolescents. Longitudinal changes of these two factors in different trajectory groups were also tracked to examine their sensitivity to sustained remission and relapse.

Methods

We included 255 baseline-remitted depressed adolescents and a healthy control group (n = 255) matched in age, sex, and race, sourced from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. The linear mixed model was employed for the statistical analysis.

Results

The p factor not only effectively discriminated between remitted depressed adolescents and healthy controls but also robustly predicted the depression recurrence over a subsequent 2-year course. The specific internalizing factor could only differentiate remitted depressed adolescents from healthy controls. Additionally, a noteworthy longitudinal decline of the p factor in the sustained-remission group was observed.

Conclusions

Psychopathology factors serve as the inherent and enduring measurement of long-term mental health aberrations. Longitudinal results indicate that the p factor is more sensitive to respond to sustained remission than the internalizing factor. The ability of the overall p factor to anticipate depression relapse, unlike the specific internalizing factor, suggests the clinical interventions should monitor and mitigate the coincident symptoms across all dimensions to preempt relapse of adolescent depression, rather than an exclusive focus on internalizing symptoms.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Psychiatric Association
Figure 0

Figure 1. Flowchart of participant selection criteria and group allocation. DDs, depressive disorders, including major depressive disorder, dysthymia, and unspecified depressive disorders; Y, yes; N, no; n, the number of participants.

Figure 1

Figure 2. Results of the p factor and internalizing factor distinguishing between remitted depressed adolescents and healthy controls at baseline and 2-year follow-up. (A) The distribution of the p factor in each subgroup at both baseline and 2-year follow-up measurements. (B) The distribution of the specific internalizing factor in each subgroup at both baseline and 2-year follow-up measurements. HC, healthy group; G1, remission group; G2, recurrence group. ***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01.

Figure 2

Table 1. Generalized linear mixed modeling results for using psychopathology factors to distinguish depressed adolescents from HC and predict future depression trajectories after controlling for age, sex, race, and site

Figure 3

Figure 3. Results of the p factor predicting depression trajectories and mirroring sustained remission over a 2-year course. (A) The results that baseline p factor in the recurrence group were significantly higher than baseline p factor in the remission group. (B) The longitudinal decrease of the p factor in the remission group from baseline to 2-year follow-up. G1, remission group; G2, recurrence group. ***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01.

Figure 4

Table 2. Linear mixed modeling results of longitudinal analysis after controlling for age, sex, race, and site

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