Share your thoughts on the chosen developmental stage found below and how it impacts mood disorders. Offer insights or additional information related to their chosen stage, if applicable. Encourage further discussion or provide constructive feedback on their ideas.

"As adolescents grow in their development, there are related variables that help or hinder the process. These are frequently referred to as protective and risk factors. The presence/absence and combinations of these factors contribute to the mental health of adolescents, influencing the likelihood of mood disorder onset. Identifying factors that are present during the adolescence stage may help in prevention, or aid in developing intervention strategies for treatment.

Protective and risk factors may also influence the course mood disorders might take if present.

A protective factor can be defined as "a characteristic at the biological, psychological, family, or community (including peers and culture) level that is associated with a lower likelihood of problem outcomes or that reduces the negative impact of a risk factor on problem outcomes."

Psychological & behavioral protective factors:academic achievement/intellectual development, high self-esteem, emotional self-regulation, and good coping skills and problem-solving skills

Family environment & biological protective factors:family provides structure, limits, rules, monitoring, and predictability, supportive relationships with family members, and clear expectations for behavior and values.

Social & Cultural protective factors: presence of mentors and support for development of skills and interests, opportunities for engagement within school and community, positive norms, clear expectations for behavior, and sense of physical and psychological safety

A risk factor can be defined as "a characteristic at the biological, psychological, family, community, or cultural level that precedes and is associated with a higher likelihood of problem outcomes."

Psychological & behavioral risk factors:difficult temperament, low self-esteem, perceived incompetence, anxiety, low-level depressive symptoms, insecure attachment, poor social skills: communication and problem-solving skills, and extreme need for approval and social support.

Family environment & biological risk factors: parental depression, parent-child conflict, poor parenting, negative family environment, child abuse/maltreatment, single-parent family, divorce/Marital conflict, family conflict, parent with anxiety, parental drug/alcohol use, parental unemployment, lack of adult supervision, poor attachment with parents, family member with schizophrenia, and family sexual abuse.

Social & Cultural risk factors:peer rejection, stressful events, poor academic achievement/failure, poverty, community/school violence, traumatic events, aggression toward peers, associating with deviant/drug-using peers, and loss of close relationships or friends."