In this study, the authors used a randomized controlled trial to explore the link between having positive peer relations and externalizing outcomes in 758 children followed from kindergarten to the end of 2nd grade. Children were randomly assigned to the Good Behavior Game (GBG), a universal classroom-based preventive intervention, or a control…

The data demonstrate the existence of a unified, negative cognitive content that is associated with depressed mood among normal subjects. Since cognition emerged as a more stable characteristic than affect, one might conjecture that the cognitive component is activated in--and perhaps triggers--the development of depressed mood. (Author)