Abstract
The study investigated the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Children’s Response Style Scale (CRSS). Participants were 1358 students, aged 13 - 19, and about half of the sample consisted of girls (N= 640, 47.13%). Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted and the original two-factor structure of the CRSS was replicated among the Turkish sample. It was demonstrated that sub-scales of the Turkish version have good internal reliability, test-retest reliability and convergent validity. Rumination, meta-cognitions, pathological worry, and thought suppression were found to be significant antecedents of depressive symptomatology in adolescents. Consistent with the conceptualization of the response styles theory, distraction was preventive from depressive symptoms. A structural equation model specified based on an integration of the response styles theory (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991) and the Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) model of emotional disorders (Wells, 2000; Wells & Matthews, 1996) detected that significant linkages between depression and metacognitions were mediated by thought suppression, rumination and worry among adolescents. Gender differences on measures of cognitive vulnerability factors were substantial that girls revealed a greater tendency to meta-cognitive vulnerability, thought suppression, rumination and pathological worry, while boys scored higher on distraction. Gender differences in depressive symptomatology fell short of significance when controlling for cognitive vulnerability factors. Age was not a significant antecedent of cognitive vulnerability factors and depressive symptoms. The results are discussed in light of theoretical and empirical evidence in the literature.

Key words: Juvenile depression, assessment, rumination, distraction, metacognitions, worry, thought suppression, gender, adolescence