Session: Prevention of Adolescent Depressive & Internalizing Symptoms: How and for Whom Do Interventions Work? (Society for Prevention Research 23rd Annual Meeting)

A number of evidence-based preventive interventions have been found to reduce the risk of adolescent depressive and internalizing symptoms. This symposium session will present findings from three analyses examining mediators and/ or moderators of intervention effects in these preventive interventions. The goal of the symposium is to better understand for whom, under what circumstances, and by which mechanisms these interventions work so that they can be better targeted to adolescents who are most likely to benefit from them.

The first paper, “Variations in Impact of Prevention Programs on Adolescent Depression: An Integrative Data Analysis Approach” presents synthesis analyses of the effects of 19 prevention intervention trials on youth depressive symptoms. Findings show an overall effect in improving the depressive symptoms trajectory, as well as variation in impact based on certain variables, including baseline levels of symptoms. Implications of these findings for improving population-level impact will be discussed. The second paper, "Reducing the Risk of Depressive Symptoms among Vulnerable Youth: The Role of Adversity in Intervention Response” presents findings of synthesis analyses across 18 prevention intervention trials and examines whether intervention response in terms of depressive symptoms is influenced by levels of adversity experienced by the youth, including: socioeconomic disadvantage, parental unemployment, limited parental education, single parent households, and ethnic or racial minority status. Understanding the degree to which these preventive interventions work for these vulnerable youth may further inform the extent to which these preventive interventions can be part of a comprehensive strategy to address disparities in youth depression. The third and final paper, “Mechanisms by which the Familias Unidas Intervention Influences Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms” examines how the Familias Unidas intervention operates to reduce internalizing symptoms (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms)  in a high-risk group of Hispanic youth (i.e., youth with elevated externalizing behaviors). This intervention was not originally designed to target internalizing symptoms. However, findings indicate that the intervention did reduce internalizing symptoms directly as well as indirectly, through intervention-targeted improvements in parent-adolescent communication and subsequent reductions in externalizing problems.

 At the conclusion of these presentations, the discussant will summarize the presentations and provide integrative comments. This will include the implications of the findings for public policy. The discussant will then moderate a discussion between the presenters and the symposium participants.