Theses and Dissertations

Advisor

McKinney, Cliff

Committee Member

Winer, E. Samuel

Committee Member

Oliveros, Arazais

Committee Member

Dozier, Mary E.

Date of Degree

8-13-2024

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Applied Psychology (Clinical Psychology)

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Symptoms associated with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) have become a source of distress and disability throughout the world, and MDD is among the most common disorders diagnosed annually in the United States. Despite this growing epidemic, scientists and practitioners continue to conceptualize MDD using a common-cause model, which suggests MDD is a result of a latent depression entity that gives rise to symptoms. This is particularly problematic in African American populations where some symptoms associated with depression (i.e., irritability and pain or numbness in the body) are different than those listed in the DSM. The current study examined depressive symptoms in African Americans using network theory, a novel theoretical and analytic approach that conceptualizes psychopathology as an inter-related system rather than one powered by an underlying entity that gives rise to manifest symptoms. Data collected via the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES) was used to examine current symptoms (within the past week) of depression via the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) as well as symptoms within the past month, the latter analysis including otherwise excluded somatic symptoms often reported by African Americans. The goal of this study was to examine how these symptoms relate to each other in the African American population, which has yet to be investigated via network analysis. Results demonstrated that depressive networks of symptoms in African Americans are not as different from typical networks as previously indicated. Rather, psychological symptoms appear to be reported differently and focus on hopelessness and interpersonal relationships rather than sadness. Furthermore, physiological symptoms and those associated with anger did not prove to be more central within these networks.

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