Affective Updating Ability and Stressful Events Interact to Prospectively Predict Increases in Depressive Symptoms Over Time

Previous research has emphasized the critical role of negative cognitions as a vulnerability factor in predicting depressive symptoms. Here, the authors argue that processes that function to maintain negative cognitions may serve as a catalyst for the development of depressive symptoms in the context of negative circumstances, and they suggest that poor updating of affective information in working memory is 1 such process. Thus, they posit that under high levels of stress, individuals with poor affective updating are hindered in changing the negative content in working memory associated with stressful events and, therefore, are more likely to experience increased depressive symptoms over time. To examine this hypothesis, the authors assessed affective updating ability, stress, and depressive symptoms in 200 students who were entering their first year of tertiary education. They assessed levels of depressive symptoms again both 4 months and 1 year later. Under high levels of stress, poor affective updating ability was associated with an increase in depressive symptoms at both 4 months and 1 year later. These results demonstrate that affective updating ability is an important cognitive vulnerability factor that interacts with stressful events to accelerate the development of depressive symptoms, and underscore the importance of designing early prevention or intervention approaches for individuals with this cognitive vulnerability.