1987 – Self-destructive behaviour in adolescents diagnosed with depression: comparison with a normative sample relative to parental attitudes

Abstract

Adolescence is a developmental stage, which includes many changes. Relationships with parents can support the adaptation to these changes or contribute to a crisis period, in which psychological disorders, such as depression or selfdestructive behaviours, may occur. The objective was to identify the types of parental attitudes and their correlation with the occurrence selfdestructive behaviours in their children. The goal is to examine the relationship between parental attitudes and the tendency toward self-destructive behavior among youngsters with depression. This is a comparative study between a sample of youngsters, ranking from 15 to 19 years, diagnosed with depression and presented self-destructive behaviours, and a normative sample comprising of youngsters who have no such history, attending secondary school. All participants in the survey completed the experimental version of the Self-Injury Self- Report Inventory (Kammie R. Juzwin, 2004) which identifies types of self-destructive behaviours (direct and indirect), and the Parental Attitude Scale (M. Plopa, 2005), which identifies five types of parental attitudes. Parents of teenagers diagnosed with depression manifest an inconsistent (p=0,003), emotionally rejecting or overdemanding (p=0,011) attitude towards their adolescent children more often than parents of children in the control group. There is a link between the inconsistent and rejecting attitude of the mother and the occurrence of direct self-destructive behaviors (r= 0,356; p< 0,05). Parental attitudes towards the teenagers in the control group are more positive (autonomy, acceptance) than those displayed by the parents of adolescents with depression.