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Abstract
Adolescence is a critical period for the development of depressive symptoms. Lower quality of the parent–adolescent relationship has been consistently associated with higher adolescent depressive symptoms, but discrepancies in perceptions of parents and adolescents regarding the quality of their relationship may be particularly important to consider. In the present study, we therefore examined how discrepancies in parents’ and adolescents’ perceptions of the parent–adolescent relationship were associated with early adolescent depressive symptoms, both concurrently and longitudinally over a 1-year period. Our sample consisted of 497 Dutch adolescents (57 % boys, Mage = 13.03 years), residing in the western and central regions of the Netherlands, and their mothers and fathers, who all completed several questionnaires on two occasions with a 1-year interval. Adolescents reported on depressive symptoms and all informants reported on levels of negative interaction in the parent–adolescent relationship. Results from polynomial regression analyses including interaction terms between informants’ perceptions, which have recently been proposed as more valid tests of hypotheses involving informant discrepancies than difference scores, suggested the highest adolescent depressive symptoms when both the mother and the adolescent reported high negative interaction, and when the adolescent reported high but the father reported low negative interaction. This pattern of findings underscores the need for a more sophisticated methodology such as polynomial regression analysis including tests of moderation, rather than the use of difference scores, which can adequately address both congruence and discrepancies in perceptions of adolescents and mothers/fathers of the parent–adolescent relationship in detail. Such an analysis can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of risk factors for early adolescent depressive symptoms.
Highlights
Adolescence is a critical period for the development of internalizing problems, depressive symptoms
Adolescent-reported negative interaction was more strongly associated with more adolescent depressive symptoms at low levels of father-reported negative interaction, b = 13.51, p \ .001, than at high levels of fatherreported negative interaction, b = 2.25, p = .47. These results indicated that the discrepancy of low father-reported negative interaction and high adolescent-reported negative interaction was associated with the highest levels of adolescent depressive symptoms, whereas congruence of low father-reported and low adolescent-reported negative interaction was associated with the lowest levels of adolescent depressive symptoms
Results suggested that difference scores with respect to father and adolescent reports of negative interaction were more strongly associated with early adolescent depressive symptoms at T1 (b = .16–.22) than difference scores with respect to mother and adolescent reports of Adolescence is a critical period for the development of depressive symptoms (e.g., Holsen et al 2000; Kessler et al 2012) and problems in the parent–adolescent relationship have been consistently associated with higher adolescent depressive symptoms (e.g., Hale et al 2008; McLeod et al 2007; Nelemans et al 2014; Rudolph 2009)
Summary
Adolescence is a critical period for the development of internalizing problems, depressive symptoms. It is important to understand factors that may increase risk for the development of depressive symptoms in early adolescence. One of the factors that has been consistently associated with higher adolescent depressive symptoms is. Adolescents and parents often perceive their relationship quite differently, and some authors have suggested that differences in these perceptions may be important to consider as a risk factor for the development of adolescent depressive symptoms. In the present study, we aimed to examine how discrepancies in adolescents’ and parents’ perceptions of their relationship were associated with early adolescent depressive symptoms
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