Uncovering cognitive and metacognitive factors that influence onset of adolescent depression

来自世界卫生组织的世界精神健康调查的证据表明，一生中大约一半的精神疾病在患者达到十几岁左右时开始，四分之三在25岁左右开始(世卫组织，2001年；凯斯勒等人，2008年)。在我的研究计划中，我的目标是探索低自尊发展的认知机制，在以前的纵向研究中，低自尊已经被证明可以预测抑郁发作的发生(Sowislo和Orth，2013)。我的研究方案依赖于两个(或许不是完全不同的)结构：元认知，思考自己的思维，以及心理化，思考他人的思维。这些概念与自尊有关，因为建立一个自我概念可能首先依赖于从记忆中抽象出对过去事件和经历的反应和决定(利用元认知)，其次依赖于对他人对我们的看法的评估(利用精神化；Sebastian等人，2008)。我的目标是使用不同的认知任务，利用纵向设计来研究这些结构的发展。我还将测量抑郁症状，特别是自我价值和自尊的测量。通过这一点，我的目标是发展我们的理解，即个体在元认知洞察力、精神化和对负面社会反馈的敏感度方面的差异如何预测青春期抑郁的发生。

Evidence from the World Health Organisation's World Mental Health surveys shows that about half of all lifetime mental illness starts by the time patients reach their mid-teens and three-quarters by the mid-20s (WHO, 2001; Kessler et al., 2008). During my research programme, I aim to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying development of low self-esteem, which has been shown to predict onset of a depressive episode in prior longitudinal studies (Sowislo and Orth, 2013). My research proposal relies on two (perhaps not entirely distinct) constructs: metacognition, thinking about one's own thinking, and mentalising, thinking about others' thinking. These constructs are relevant to self-esteem because creating a concept of the self may rely on, firstly, abstractions from memory about previous reactions to and decisions about past events and experiences (utilising metacognition) and, secondly, appraisals about what others' think of us (utilising mentalising; Sebastian et al., 2008). I aim to investigate the development of these constructs using various cognitive tasks, utilizing longitudinal designs. I will also measure depressive symptoms, with a particular focus on measures of self-worth and self-esteem. With this, I aim to develop our understanding of how individual differences in metacognitive insight, mentalising and sensitivity to negative social feedback may predict onset of depression during adolescence.