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News

UH mood study receives grant aid

COUGAR NEWS STAFF

A UH assistant professor of psychology has received a $525,000 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study depression.

Jeremy Pettit hopes to slow or stop the development of depression by examining 1,700 responses from the Oregon Adolescent Depression Project. Researchers conducting the OADP surveyed and interviewed Oregon teenagers about depression and other mood disorders. These responses have enabled Pettit to study factors that predict depression in young adults.

"Depression predictors might be emotional, social or based on one's physical well-being. They can even be related to one's weight or school performance. Predictors can help psychologists recognize teenagers who need treatment and prevent depression from affecting their lives as adults," Pettit said in a press release.

Since the OADP was initiated during the 1980s by the Oregon Research Institute, ORI scientists, including Peter Lewinsohn, have stayed in touch with participants and provided updated evaluations. 

The participants' parents have also been screened for signs of depression.

"I am focusing on identifying mechanisms in which parental depression can be passed on to children and perhaps even grandchildren," Lewinsohn said.

If data from these assessments suggest that generational transmission of depression exists, treatment can then be designed that would teach different parenting skills or encourage behavior modification.

Pettit is the director of UH's Mood Disorder and Suicide Research Program, which focuses on the cause and effects of depression and suicidal behaviors.
 

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