Understanding sex differences in depressive symptomatology among Malaysian adolescents ABSTRCT Depressive symptomatology is among the primary psychological problems experienced by adolescents. Extant literature has also extensively reported sex diferences in the occurrence of depressive symptoms. However, a majority of related research has primarily been carried out in the Western context. Hence, we conducted a study to identify the prevalence of depressive symptoms among Malaysian adolescents, and to determine its relationship with certain risk factors as well as the potential moderating role of sex. The sample comprised of 964 adolescents from 20 secondary schools across Malaysia. Logistic regression results demonstrated that stressful life events and maternal verbal aggression signifcantly predicted symptoms of depression. In moderation tests, sex signifcantly interacted with stressful life events and parental verbal aggression in predicting depressive symptoms. Hence, there is evidence to suggest that the depressogenic impact of stressful life events and parental verbal aggression on depressive symptomatology difers between male and female adolescents.
We conducted a study with the aims of examining adolescents’ perceptions of their mother’s and father’s parenting behavior and developing a new Malaysian Parenting Behavior Inventory (MPBI). In Phase One, we recruited 903 adolescents using the proportionate to size sampling technique. The results of the exploratory factor analyses of the MPBI Mother and Father scales revealed four underlying factor structures: Warmth, Monitoring, and Harsh Discipline were somewhat similar to those in past findings and theory, and Indigenous centered on religious and cultural values in parenting. In Phase Two, using an independent sample of adolescents, we replicated the factor structure of Study One with confirmatory factor analysis, resulting in strong model fit estimates. We conclude that the MPBI has good initial psychometric properties and is culturally influenced. The MPBI may be useful for prevention and intervention programs in clinical and non-clinical settings, including providing valuable information on factors pertinent to parent-adolescent interactions.
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