Stress Generation and Vulnerability in Adolescents in Mainland China

The current study examined enduring vulnerability factors and depression as predictors of stress generation in Chinese adolescents. Participants included 622 adolescents aged 15 to 18 years in both urban and rural mainland China. Participants completed self-report measures of vulnerability factors and depressive symptoms and participated in interviews that assessed lifetime depression and negative life events over the previous 6 months. In addition, high dependency, self-criticism, neuroticism, and low self-perceived competence were associated with stress generation, independent of the effect of depressive symptoms and lifetime diagnosis of depression. Of note, no gender-by-vulnerability interactions were found in the present sample of youth. The findings suggest that the stress generation process may be generalizable to Chinese youth.