Relation of Depressive Symptoms to Mood-Congruent Memorial Bias in Young Children: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

The current study examines whether children show evidence of adult-like depressive cognitive schemas and when such schemas emerge. Mood-congruent cognitive schemas have been strongly associated with adult depression (Ingram, 1984; Ingram et al., 1998). Findings suggest that a processing bias emerges in early childhood and adolescence (Neshat-Doost et al., 1998; Taylor & Ingram, 1999). The current study extends the current literature of mood-congruent memorial bias to 5- and 6-year old children. Controlling for prior depressive symptoms, results indicated that both biased recall and recognition are significant predictors of depressive symptoms from wave 2 to 3 but not from wave 1 to 2. Our results have narrowed the age range at which we first see evidence of biased memory and depressive symptoms.