Longitudinal Associations Between Perceived Parent-Child Relationship Quality and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence

Abstract

This longitudinal study examined bidirectional paths between perceived parent-adolescent relationship quality and depressive symptoms, as well as the moderating role of sex, age, and personality type. 1313 Dutch adolescents (51% girls) from two cohorts (923 12-year olds and 390 16-year olds at Wave 1) reported on their personality, depressive symptoms, and perceived relationship quality to parents in four waves. Consistent with a relationship erosion perspective, depressive symptoms negatively predicted perceived relationship quality with parents. Relationship quality to mothers predicted depressive symptoms for boys and girls, but relationship quality to fathers predicted depressive symptoms only for boys. Personality type only moderated initial associations between relationship quality with mothers and depressive symptoms, which were stronger for Overcontrollers and Undercontrollers than for Resilients. Results thus reveal a pattern of mutual influence between perceived relationship quality and depressive symptoms that is moderated by the interplay among parent and adolescent sex and adolescent personality type.

Interpersonal relationships and emotional distress in adolescence

“…Branje et al, 2010;, girls reported higher levels of companionship, disclosure and support in their relationship with their mothers than boys, suggesting that girls are more inclined to use their mothers as their primary source of parental support. This provides partial support for previous research suggesting that young people generally identify with their samesex parent more than their opposite-sex parent (Starrels, 1994).…”

“…It may be that the lack of social support resulting from being excluded increases distress levels in young people. However it is important not to assume causation; it may be that adolescents with mental health difficulties overburden friends with problems and drive them away or else may lack the interpersonal competence to maintain close friendship (Branje et al, 2010;Buhrmester, 1990 As hypothesised, boys reported higher levels of negative qualities in their romantic relationships than girls. Specifically, they reported experiencing higher levels of dominance and pressure in these relationships.…”

“…While some degree of conflict with parents is considered to be normal during adolescence , prolonged, intense and repeated conflict is frequently associated with poor psychological adjustment (Barber & Delfabbro, 2000;Branje et al, 2010;Jenkins et al, 2002;Sheeber, et al, 2007;Vazsonyi & Belliston, 2006). Other negative qualities such as high levels of over-intrusive and authoritarian parental control (Rigby, Slee & Martin, 2007), and low levels of perceived parental communication (Ackard, NeumarkSztainer, Story & Perry, 2006) have also been significantly associated with negative well-being in adolescence.…”

The Depression Impairment Scale for Parents (DISP): A new scale for the measurement of impairment in depressed parents

“…Third, the majority of our sample is female (93.4%), and there is research suggesting that intergenerational transmission of depression may differ depending on the gender of the parent (Branje et al, 2010). We found no significant differences between total or individual item DISP scores for mothers and fathers in our sample.…”

Being Caught in the Middle of Inter-Parental Conflict: Relationship between Inter-Parental Conflict and Attitudes towards Marriage among Male and Female Adolescents from Divorced Families

“…For example, there are evidences which suggested that females are more vulnerable to inter-parental conflict than males (Cummings & Davies, 2011;Gore, Aseltine, & Colten, 1993;Unger, Brown, Tressell, & McLeod, 2000). However, there are also counter arguments which claimed that males are at greater risk for maladjustment than females following parental divorce (Branje, Hale, Frijns, & Meeus, 2010;Brown & Portes, 2006). Nevertheless, some other studies found no moderation effect (Caples & Barrera, 2006;Eberhart, Shih, Hammen, & Brennan, 2006).…”