Cognitive, behavioral, and family factors in the differentiation of depressive and anxiety disorders during childhood.

Contribution of cognitive, behavioral, and family environment variables to the differentiation of depressive and anxiety disorders in children was explored. Fifty-nine children from Grades 4-7 (14 diagnosed with a depressive disorder, 16 diagnosed with depressive and anxiety disorders, 11 diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and 18 nondisturbed controls) completed measures of the depressive cognitive triad, depressive cognitions, social skills, family environment, and maladaptive family messages. Results of a stepwise discriminant function analysis indicated that 2 discriminant functions composed of 7 variables from the cognitive, behavioral, and family environment domains accounted for 91% of the between-groups variance. Results suggest that depressive disorders can be distinguished from anxiety disorders on the basis of ratings of cognition, social skills, and family environment. Implications for existing research and a model of depression during childhood are discussed.