Family dysfunction and Adolescents' anxiety and depression: A multiple mediation model

Abstract

Based on a social-cognitive model, we examined the multiple mediating roles of self-esteem and loneliness in linking family dysfunction to anxiety and depression in adolescents. Participants at baseline included 921 junior high school students (Mage = 12.98 years; 51.7% girls) from a midsized city located in Northern China. The students completed a multi-measure questionnaire at three time points, six months apart, starting from the initial grade of junior high school (Grade 7). Using structural equation modeling, we found that: High levels of family dysfunction at Time 1 were significantly related to increases in anxiety and depression at Time 3; both self-esteem and loneliness at Time 2 mediated the relations between family dysfunction at Time 1 and anxiety and depression at Time 3. These results suggest the importance of multisystemic efforts (i.e., addressing social context and intrapersonal cognitive factors simultaneously) to prevent or reduce adolescents' anxiety and depression.