Apply the concept of the developmental cascade to adolescent depression.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The ideal answer should include:
1. According to the developmental cascade approach to understanding adolescent depression, genes and early adversity can impact three systems (stress, reward, and mentalizing) that adolescents use to meet the demands of their changing environments and social relationships.
2. Environmental stress taxes the capacity of the three systems, and this impacts adolescents' ability to exercise autonomy and separate from parents and form close relationships with other people.
3. When adolescents are not successful in these areas, it creates further stress, which then leads to problems in the reward and mentalizing systems. This creates even more stress, which leads to depression.
4. Adolescents who have a genetic vulnerability to stress sensitivity or poor stress tolerance are particularly likely to develop depression. Additionally, adolescents who encountered adversity early in life are also likely to experience depression, as early adversity appears to impact development of the stress response system.
5. Adolescents who fall into this category are at heightened risk on the whole because all three systems (stress, reward, and mentalizing) undergo reorganization in adolescence.