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Attachments to Parents, Best Friend, and Romantic Partner: Predicting Different Pathways to Depression in Adolescence

NCJ Number
212809
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 34 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2005 Pages: 637-650
Author(s)
Stephanie K. Margolese; Dorothy Markiewicz; Anna Beth Doyle
Date Published
December 2005
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined the characteristics of close relationships (mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner) during adolescence and their link with depression.
Abstract
As hypothesized, the findings showed that, compared to attachment to father and best friend, the quality of attachments to mother and romantic partner were more closely associated with the risk for depression; and the pathways to depression were explained primarily by the nature of the perceptions of and responses to stress in the relationship. Girls who had negative perceptions of themselves and their mothers in stressful interactions with their mothers were more likely to report depressive symptoms than were boys in similar situations. Adolescents who had negative perceptions of themselves in stressful interactions with their romantic partners and who tended to analyze and dwell upon their feelings as a means of coping with the stress tended to have more depressive symptoms. Girls were more likely than boys to behave this way. These findings were derived from a questionnaire administered to 134 adolescents (88 girls) ages 16-19. Depression was measured with the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Relationship Questionnaire measured the quality of relationships with mother, father, best friend, and current or most recent romantic partners. Participants were also presented with eight vignettes of hypothetical, interpersonal scenarios that involved their mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner. For each vignette the adolescents were asked to assess the level of stress the portrayed interaction would cause and describe how they would respond to the stress. 2 tables, 2 figures, and 52 references