"Cognitive vulnerability" refers to a tendency or weakness in our thinking patterns that makes us more likely to develop mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression. It means that our thoughts and beliefs are often skewed or negative, which can impact how we view ourselves and the world around us.
Full definition
In just a month of arriving on campus, they answered an online set of questions which
included cognitive vulnerability assessments as well as symptoms of depression.
The adolescents completed self - report measures
evaluating cognitive vulnerabilities and depressive symptoms at an initial assessment, and then completed three follow - up assessments, each spaced about 7 months apart.
In sum, the present study examines theoretically - driven models
of cognitive vulnerability to depression in Canadian and Chinese adolescents.
This study investigated the buffering effects of psychological well - being on the relationships
between cognitive vulnerabilities (fear of anxiety and negative beliefs about worry) and GAD symptoms among 297 Japanese undergraduates (female = 62 %, age = 18.91 ± 1.61) in a two - wave prospective cohort study.
To date, there has been a preponderance of research
supporting cognitive vulnerability models of depression using a diathesis - stress framework amongst adolescent samples (for a review see Abela and Hankin 2008).
As well, children of depressed mothers usually 1) show less advanced language development, 2) have lower academic skills, 3) have a lower self - esteem, and 4) show
other cognitive vulnerabilities to depression or other disorders.
At the same time, less research with adolescent samples has examined
whether cognitive vulnerability factors contribute to stress generation (for exceptions see Shahar and Priel 2003; Shih et al. 2009).
A three - step, hierarchical regression analysis was performed to predict change in generalized anxiety
from cognitive vulnerabilities, sub-dimensions of psychological well - being, and their interaction (as well as T1 generalized anxiety).
The findings from these studies converge on the theme that attachment theory has considerable utility in potentially extending and refining
current cognitive vulnerability models through a consideration of interpersonal context and the cognitive mechanisms by which negative interpersonal experiences may confer increased risk to later anxious and depressive symptoms.
It states that pre-existing vulnerabilities on different levels (genetic, personality and environment),
affect cognitive vulnerabilities and the experience of negative life events.
Cognitive vulnerability theories posit that in the absence of stress, maladaptive cognitions do not arise, suggesting that such factors only contribute to depression in the presence of stress.
One possibility for these inconsistent prospective findings is that research has not examined perceived control within a diathesis - stress framework which may better examine the process with which a
given cognitive vulnerability leads to depression.
Given such a methodological shortcoming, future research would benefit from
assessing cognitive vulnerability and symptoms with more sophisticated assessment techniques including semi-structured interviews, peer or parent ratings, and direct behavioral assessments.
Theoretically, the introduction of SR - rumination is novel and contributes to existing research
on cognitive vulnerability in youth.
While children are prone to experience depressive symptoms as a direct consequence of negative events (Nolen - Hoeksema et al. 1992), Turner and Cole (1994) posit that adolescents» ability to utilize abstract reasoning increases the likelihood of developing
stable cognitive vulnerabilities that are activated in the presence of stress.
The
transactional cognitive vulnerability to stress model Hankin & Abramson (Psychological Bulletin, 127:773 — 796, 2001) extends the traditional diathesis - stress model by proposing that the relationships among cognitions, depressive symptoms, and stressors are dynamic and bidirectional.
The current study extended past research by examining the effects of two theoretically and empirically
supported cognitive vulnerabilities to depression (negative cognitive style and rumination) as predictors of dependent interpersonal and achievement events, independent events, and relational peer victimization.
Results suggest that higher levels of attachment insecurity were associated with increased psychological symptoms, higher levels
of cognitive vulnerabilities, and greater general and relationship impairments.
Research in adolescent samples is particularly scarce, but preliminary evidence provides support for the role of
cognitive vulnerability factors in transactional models via stress generation processes.
While diathesis - stress frameworks are a useful tool to
understand cognitive vulnerability to depression, such models make the assumption that individuals are passive respondents to stress, with stress activating depressogenic perceptions in vulnerable individuals (e.g., Shih et al. 2009).
Those who exhibited an increase
in cognitive vulnerability in the 1st 3 months of college had almost twice the level of symptoms of depression at 6 months than students who did not exhibit such an increase.
As expected, teens who reported higher levels of interpersonal dependent stress showed higher levels of negative cognitive style and rumination at later assessments, even after the researchers took initial levels of
the cognitive vulnerabilities, depressive symptoms, and sex into account.
These depression and anxiety symptoms add to
those cognitive vulnerabilities, but can be treated,» says senior author and NAMS Board of Trustees President - Elect Pauline M. Maki, PhD, from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
They speculated that
cognitive vulnerability may well be contagious at the time of important transitions in life, when our social environments are changing.
This kind of
cognitive vulnerability is such a strong depression risk factor that it could be made use of to foresee which people are likely to have a depressive episode in the future, whether or not they have ever had a depressive episode in the past.
Individual differences in
this cognitive vulnerability appear to manifest in early teenage years and remain constant throughout adulthood, but the researchers believed that it might still be controllable under certain circumstances.
The findings revealed that freshmen who had been randomly assigned to a roommate having higher
cognitive vulnerability levels were most likely to «catch» the cognitive style of their roommate and develop high cognitive vulnerability levels; those who had been assigned to roommates with low initial cognitive vulnerability levels had a decrease in their own levels.
[PMID 20455953] Serotonin transporter gene, childhood emotional abuse and
cognitive vulnerability to depression.
Two studies are presented that examine the links between
cognitive vulnerability to anxiety (i.e., the Looming Maladaptive Style: LMS) and parental bonding (Study 1) and perceived parental attachment orientations during childhood (Study 2).
Developmental origins of
cognitive vulnerability to depression: Parenting, cognitive, and inferential feedback styles of the parents of individuals at high and low cognitive risk for depression.
The articles in this special issue address empirically the application of attachment theory to
cognitive vulnerability models of anxiety and depression.
The cognitive vulnerability - transactional stress model (Hankin and Abramson 2001) describes the onset of depressive symptoms in which different pathways to depressive symptoms might be identified for boys and girls.
To improve our understanding of the development of depressive symptoms, future research could test hypotheses in which factors from different levels interact, i.e., cognitions, genetics, environment, affect, negative life experiences, as suggested by
the cognitive vulnerability - transactional stress model (Hankin and Abramson 2001).
Among the books he has authored are Interpersonal Process in Cognitive Therapy,
Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression, and Mindfulness - Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A new approach for preventing relapse.
The moderating role of pubertal status instead of age in the testing of
cognitive vulnerability - stress models has not yet been examined to our knowledge.