Divorce, Depression, and Biobehavioral Dysregulation

描述（由申请人提供）：离婚一直被认为是人生中最痛苦的心理经历之一。婚姻破裂后，患重度抑郁症的风险增加了三到十倍，其中一部分成年人会陷入精神疾病的道路上。每年大约有250万成年人受到婚姻结束的新影响，了解风险和保护机制的努力对国家具有重要意义，对制定治疗和预防措施至关重要。这项拟议的研究考察了自我调节功能的两个领域（认知组织和自主反应模式），以阐明婚姻破裂、抑郁严重程度和身体健康结果之间的联系。在一项实验室研究中，将收集105名最近分离的成年人的自我报告、生理和认知处理反应时间数据，其中三分之二报告轻度至中度抑郁症，以检验三个具体目标。目的1通过比较自我报告的对丧失相关的注意和记忆任务的调整，探讨认知组织的外显和内隐测量之间的联系；目的2检验在控制自我报告调整和其他协变量后，这些信息处理措施是否能预测抑郁严重程度；并且，Aim 3研究了在离婚特定心理激活任务和标准化急性应激挑战期间，抑郁严重程度影响心率变异性、收缩性和皮电反应的认知过程。相关分析和多元回归分析，包括统计中介和调节的正式检验，将用于分析研究的目的和假设。预计这种性质的综合研究可以帮助阐明基本的自我调节机制，这些机制会增加离婚后情感障碍和身体健康状况不佳的风险。公共卫生相关性：离婚是一个人所能经历的压力最大的生活事件之一，很大一部分成年人在婚姻破裂后患上了可诊断的重度抑郁症。这项研究探讨了离婚后抑郁的预测因素，以及这些情绪障碍如何对身体健康产生负面影响。更好地了解离婚、抑郁和健康之间的关系，对于制定更好的预防和治疗方案至关重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Divorce is consistently rated among life's most distressing psychological experiences. Following marital dissolution, the risk for Major Depressive Disorder onset is increased by three to tenfold, and a subset of these adults will become stuck on pathways toward mental illness. With approximately 2.5 million adults newly impacted by the end of marriage each year, efforts to understand risk and protective mechanisms are of national import and critical for developing treatments and preventions. The proposed research examines two domains of self-regulatory functioning (cognitive organization and autonomic response patterning) in order to shed light on the association between marital dissolution, depression severity, and physical health outcomes. In a laboratory study, self-report, physiological, and cognitive processing reaction time data will be collected from 105 recently separated adults, two-thirds of whom report mild to moderate depression, to examine three specific aims. Aim 1 explores the association between explicit and implicit measures of cognitive organization by comparing self-reported adjustment to loss-related attention and memory tasks; Aim 2 examines whether these information processing measures predict depression severity after controlling for self-reported adjustment and other covariates; and, Aim 3 examines the cognitive processes through which depression severity impacts heart rate variability, contractility, and electrodermal responses during a divorce-specific mental activation task and a standardized acute stress challenge. Correlation and multiple regression analyses, including formal tests of statistical mediation and moderation, will be used to analyze the study aims and hypotheses. It is anticipated that integrative research of this nature can help elucidate the basic self-regulatory mechanisms that heighten risk for or protect against affective disorders and poor physical health outcomes in the aftermath of divorce. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Divorce is among the most stressful life events a person can experience, and a significant proportion of adults develop diagnosable Major Depression following marital dissolution. This research examines the predictors of post-divorce depression and how these mood disturbances can negatively impact physical health outcomes. A better understanding of the associations between divorce, depression, and health is critical for developing improved prevention and treatment programs.