Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms from Early Childhood through High School in Children and Adolescents with a High Intellectual Potential

We aimed to explore the developmental trajectory of depressive symptoms in a national sample of French children with a high intellectual potential (HIP) seeking help from gifted organizations. Participants were drawn from a national retrospective survey sent to 1200 families with HIP children (IQ ≥...

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Main Authors: Laurence Vaivre-Douret, Soukaina Hamdioui
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-10-01
Series:Children
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/10/11/1738
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author Laurence Vaivre-Douret
Soukaina Hamdioui
author_facet Laurence Vaivre-Douret
Soukaina Hamdioui
author_sort Laurence Vaivre-Douret
collection DOAJ
description We aimed to explore the developmental trajectory of depressive symptoms in a national sample of French children with a high intellectual potential (HIP) seeking help from gifted organizations. Participants were drawn from a national retrospective survey sent to 1200 families with HIP children (IQ ≥ 130) from primary to high school and they answered a self-report questionnaire of a depression scale (MDI-C). The children’s parents completed a self-report questionnaire collected on different stages of the child’s school level, perinatality, psychomotor development, health, family’s history, behavior, interpersonal relationships and daily activities, school performance, presence of learning disorders and remediation. Four hundred and twenty HIP children were eligible with an IQ ≥ 130 aged from 8 to 17 years-old, 49% with depressive symptoms and 51% with no depressive symptoms. Analysis of 136 variables from anamnestic fields based on the use of Spearman’s ρ test (ρ) with a non-parametric correlations showed that “learning disabilities” are significantly related to depressive symptoms in different groups (primary <i>p</i> = 0.001, middle <i>p</i> = 0.02, high school <i>p</i> = 0.001) as well as “difficulties in psychomotor skills” during primary (<i>p</i> = 0.003) and middle school (<i>p</i> = 0.02). Good relationships with family as well as with peers are significantly negatively correlated with depressive symptoms from childhood to primary (<i>p</i> = 0.003) and high school (<i>p</i> = 0.02). Certain details of correlations between the MDI-C scale’s subfactors and anamnestic variables were analyzed. The ANOVA test about the MDI-C scale showed provocation as a significant marker at middle school (F (1, 418) = 3.487, <i>p</i> = 0.03) and low self-esteem at high school (F (1, 418) = 3.337, <i>p</i> = 0.03). A holistic developmental approach allowed us to highlight the risk factors of depression with a developmental trajectory origin linked to disorders of social adjustment and psychomotor skills and to the importance of misdiagnosed learning disabilities because of giftedness. Our findings support the interest in an early identification of and intervention in depression risk to improve clinical decision making on the effect of giftedness on mental health outcomes.
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spelling doaj.art-6ca979ea743545738f2fd2d7f0c59d332023-11-24T14:35:42ZengMDPI AGChildren2227-90672023-10-011011173810.3390/children10111738Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms from Early Childhood through High School in Children and Adolescents with a High Intellectual PotentialLaurence Vaivre-Douret0Soukaina Hamdioui1Department of Medicine Paris Descartes, Faculty of Health, Université Paris Cité, 75006 Paris, FranceUnit 1018-CESP, PsyDev/NDTA Team, National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), Faculty of Medicine, University of Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, 91190 Villejuif, FranceWe aimed to explore the developmental trajectory of depressive symptoms in a national sample of French children with a high intellectual potential (HIP) seeking help from gifted organizations. Participants were drawn from a national retrospective survey sent to 1200 families with HIP children (IQ ≥ 130) from primary to high school and they answered a self-report questionnaire of a depression scale (MDI-C). The children’s parents completed a self-report questionnaire collected on different stages of the child’s school level, perinatality, psychomotor development, health, family’s history, behavior, interpersonal relationships and daily activities, school performance, presence of learning disorders and remediation. Four hundred and twenty HIP children were eligible with an IQ ≥ 130 aged from 8 to 17 years-old, 49% with depressive symptoms and 51% with no depressive symptoms. Analysis of 136 variables from anamnestic fields based on the use of Spearman’s ρ test (ρ) with a non-parametric correlations showed that “learning disabilities” are significantly related to depressive symptoms in different groups (primary <i>p</i> = 0.001, middle <i>p</i> = 0.02, high school <i>p</i> = 0.001) as well as “difficulties in psychomotor skills” during primary (<i>p</i> = 0.003) and middle school (<i>p</i> = 0.02). Good relationships with family as well as with peers are significantly negatively correlated with depressive symptoms from childhood to primary (<i>p</i> = 0.003) and high school (<i>p</i> = 0.02). Certain details of correlations between the MDI-C scale’s subfactors and anamnestic variables were analyzed. The ANOVA test about the MDI-C scale showed provocation as a significant marker at middle school (F (1, 418) = 3.487, <i>p</i> = 0.03) and low self-esteem at high school (F (1, 418) = 3.337, <i>p</i> = 0.03). A holistic developmental approach allowed us to highlight the risk factors of depression with a developmental trajectory origin linked to disorders of social adjustment and psychomotor skills and to the importance of misdiagnosed learning disabilities because of giftedness. Our findings support the interest in an early identification of and intervention in depression risk to improve clinical decision making on the effect of giftedness on mental health outcomes.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/10/11/1738high intellectual potentialgifted childrenadolescentdepressiondevelopmental trajectorypsychomotor development
spellingShingle Laurence Vaivre-Douret
Soukaina Hamdioui
Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms from Early Childhood through High School in Children and Adolescents with a High Intellectual Potential
Children
high intellectual potential
gifted children
adolescent
depression
developmental trajectory
psychomotor development
title Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms from Early Childhood through High School in Children and Adolescents with a High Intellectual Potential
title_full Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms from Early Childhood through High School in Children and Adolescents with a High Intellectual Potential
title_fullStr Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms from Early Childhood through High School in Children and Adolescents with a High Intellectual Potential
title_full_unstemmed Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms from Early Childhood through High School in Children and Adolescents with a High Intellectual Potential
title_short Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms from Early Childhood through High School in Children and Adolescents with a High Intellectual Potential
title_sort developmental trajectory of depressive symptoms from early childhood through high school in children and adolescents with a high intellectual potential
topic high intellectual potential
gifted children
adolescent
depression
developmental trajectory
psychomotor development
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/10/11/1738
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