Dr. Alison Papadakis, who will join the Psychological & Brain Sciences Department this fall, gave a lecture on Wednesday evening titled “Adolescent Angst: Self and Peer Factors Related to Depression and Social Anxiety in Adolescents.”
The talk, held in Hodson Hall and sponsored by the Psi Chi Honor Society in Psychology, focused on how research regarding the way adolescents deal with stress determines their likelihood of developing major depressive disorder and social anxiety disorder.
“It’s important [to talk about this subject] because of the prevalence rates,” Papadakis, an associate professor of psychology at Loyola University Maryland, said. “We see this issue in adolescents but also [a lot with] college students.”
Freshman Maria Hazbon said that Papadakis’ presentation was highly applicable to college life.
“We’re all social beings so we all have to deal with problems like this,” Hazbon said.
One of Papadakis’ points that made a strong impression on some audience members was the difference between co-rumination, which is venting to friends about a past event in a manner that promotes negativity and seeking social support with a more positive, recuperative tone.
“I thought that speaking to friends about what’s going on is always a positive thing,” senior Vania Green said. “It turns out the way you’re talking with your friends actually makes a difference.”
Papadakis also presented research concerning how romantic relationships affect adolescent mental health. The research showed that girls are more likely to co-ruminate with other girls while having issues with their heterosexual romantic relationships.
“[Girls’] co-rumination with their same-sex best friend predicts increases in their depressive symptoms,” Papadakis said.
Additionally, the research showed that girls react similarly to problems with fellow female friends.
“For girls, it increases the amount of co-rumination they have with their romantic partner, and that increases their depressive symptoms,” Papadakis said.
According to her research, teenage boys typically do not co-ruminate with male friends about relationship problems and can keep their issues with other male friends from affecting their heterosexual romantic relationships.
“When something bad happens with their girlfriend, they don’t go talking to their best guy friend and then don’t get depressed as a result,” Papadakis said.
Despite this discrepancy, Papadakis did note that teenage boys are still more likely to become depressed if they are having problems with their girlfriend.
The research that Papadakis presented did not include any teens who identify as LGBT but said that they would cope in a similar manner. After sharing her research, Papadakis offered stress-relieving strategies that she believes should be used when dealing with adolescents. These strategies include cognitive reframing and increasing positive social support.
“People think rumination is a good thing [because they’re] thinking about the problem, but they don’t realize they’re getting stuck in a negative cycle,” Papadakis said. “We all carry around a toolbox and we all have different coping strategies that are tools. What we want to do for these adolescents is add more tools but also help them figure out when to use particular tools.”
Papadakis also cited the mixed messages that the media sends as an unnecessary stress for teenage girls. As an example, she talked about how many have attacked Anne Hathaway for seeming too perfect while praising Jennifer Lawrence for her perceived flaws.
Currently, Papadakis is working on a yoga and mindfulness project in conjunction with researchers at the School of Public Health, which teaches yoga to kids in Baltimore public schools.
“From other research, we see that mindfulness can give people fundamental emotional regulation skills that they would need for higher-level coping skills,” Papadakis said. “We’re hoping to see both mental health effects and also effects on academic functioning.”
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