Zheng Mufan, Ma Ziran, He Jin
Department of Psychology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jun 25;16:1519595. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1519595. eCollection 2025.
Adolescence is a critical period for moral development, and depression significantly impacts this process by altering cognitive and emotional processing, affecting the resolution of moral dilemmas. Rumination, closely linked to depression, also influences emotional and cognitive processing during moral judgments.
Study 1 examined 34 depressed adolescents and 36 healthy controls who completed the Beck Depression Inventory-Short Form and Beck Anxiety Inventory, followed by 20 moral dilemmas from the Process Dissociation (PD) procedure. Study 2 ( = 568) explored subclinical depressive symptoms and their antecedent role of rumination on moral judgments. The SCL-90 scale measured depression, paranoid ideation, and hostility, while the Positive and Negative Rumination scales assessed rumination levels.
Clinically depressed adolescents showed significantly reduced reliance on both utilitarian [(65) = -3.90, < 0.001, Cohen's = 0.95, 95%CI(-0.18, -0.06)] and deontological tendencies [(65) = -3.03, = 0.004, Cohen's = 0.74, 95%CI (-0.25, -0.05)], compared to control group. Subclinical depressive symptoms predicted lower deontological tendencies [β = -0.13, (566) = -3.09, = 0.02, 95%CI (-0.05, -0.01)]. Sequential mediation analyses revealed: (a) Negative rumination → depression → paranoid ideation → deontological decline [Indirect effect: = -0.003, 95%CI (-0.005, -0.001)]; (b) Negative rumination → depression → hostility → deontological decline [Indirect effect: = -0.003, 95%CI (-0.005, -0.0004)]. Negative rumination exacerbated depressive symptoms, which sequentially increased paranoid ideation and hostility, ultimately lowering deontological judgments.
Clinical depression decreases deontological and utilitarian moral reasoning, while negative rumination exacerbated depressive symptoms, which sequentially increased paranoid ideation and hostility, ultimately lowering deontological judgments. These findings highlight depression's nuanced impact on adolescent moral development and underscore transdiagnostic mechanisms requiring targeted intervention.
青春期是道德发展的关键时期，而抑郁症通过改变认知和情绪加工，显著影响这一过程，进而影响道德困境的解决。反刍思维与抑郁症密切相关，在道德判断过程中也会影响情绪和认知加工。
研究1对34名抑郁青少年和36名健康对照者进行了研究，他们完成了贝克抑郁量表简版和贝克焦虑量表，随后进行了来自过程解离程序的20个道德困境测试。研究2（n = 568）探讨了亚临床抑郁症状及其反刍思维对道德判断的先行作用。症状自评量表90评估抑郁、偏执观念和敌意，而正负性反刍思维量表评估反刍思维水平。
与对照组相比，临床抑郁的青少年在功利主义倾向[F(1,65) = -3.90，p < 0.001，科恩d = 0.95，95%置信区间(-0.18, -0.06)]和道义论倾向[F(1,65) = -3.03，p = 0.004，科恩d = 0.74，95%置信区间(-0.25, -0.05)]上的依赖程度显著降低。亚临床抑郁症状预示着较低的道义论倾向[β = -0.13，t(566) = -3.09，p = 0.02，95%置信区间(-0.05, -0.01)]。序列中介分析显示：(a) 负性反刍思维→抑郁→偏执观念→道义论倾向下降[间接效应：β = -0.003，95%置信区间(-0.005, -0.001)]；(b) 负性反刍思维→抑郁→敌意→道义论倾向下降[间接效应：β = -0.003，95%置信区间(-0.005, -0.0004)]。负性反刍思维加剧了抑郁症状，进而依次增加了偏执观念和敌意，最终降低了道义论判断。
临床抑郁症会降低道义论和功利主义的道德推理能力，而负性反刍思维会加剧抑郁症状，进而依次增加偏执观念和敌意，最终降低道义论判断。这些发现凸显了抑郁症对青少年道德发展的细微影响，并强调了需要针对性干预的跨诊断机制。
