Mindful Parenting and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: The Few Associations Are Moderated by Adolescent Gender and Parental Depressive Symptoms

Abstract

Experiencing depressive symptoms during adolescence is associated with various detrimental outcomes during this developmental stage and with future depression in adulthood. This finding highlights the importance to identify risk and protective factors in the development of depressive symptoms during adolescence. Adaptive parenting practices are associated with fewer depressive symptoms in adolescence. Dispositional mindfulness and mindfulness-based therapy are also related to fewer depressive symptoms. However, the association between mindful parenting and adolescent depressive symptoms is less well understood. In the current study, the short-term longitudinal association between dispositional mindful parenting dimensions and adolescent depressive symptoms was investigated in a normative sample. In addition, it was tested whether these associations were moderated by parental depressive symptoms and adolescent gender. The results indicated that, overall, mindful parenting dimensions were not associated with adolescents’ depressive symptoms 6 months later. Two 3-way interactions between mindful parenting, parental depressive symptoms, and adolescent gender were found. This might suggest that in a normative sample, dispositional mindful parenting does not seem to have an important influence on the level of adolescent depressive symptoms, but this seems to be contingent on gender of the child and the level of parental depressive symptoms. The results of the present study should be replicated first, before firm conclusions can be drawn.