Two-year follow-up study of effects of a cognitive behavioral depression-prevention program for junior high school students: Comparison with a normative sample

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral program aimed at preventing junior high school students' depression, through a comparison involving a normative sample, and including 1-and 2-year follow-ups. The intervention group consisted of 51 seventh graders who participated in the cognitivebehavioral program. The normative sample consisted of 1,817 junior high school students who did not attend the program. The intervention was a cognitive behavioral program, offered in 6 group sessions. To assess the effects of the program, the Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children, the Social Skills Scale, and the Automatic Thoughts Inventory were completed by participants at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at 2 follow-ups (1 year and 2 years later). The intervention group's pre-intervention depression levels were not significantly different from the seventh graders in the normative sample. However, their depression levels at the first follow-up (8th grade) were significantly lower than those of the normative sample. Additionally, positive messages and skillful rejections on the Social Skills Scale and positive factors (expectancy for the future and expectancy for support) on the Automatic Thoughts Inventory were higher at post-intervention and follow-up than they had been pre-intervention. These results suggest that the universal depression-prevention program provided to the intervention group in the present study may be an effective technique for use with junior high school students.