Abstract
The present study aims to investigate the pathways through which filial piety and cognitive development work on the development of depressive symptoms in adolescents as well as the trigger of adolescents' depressive symptoms (e.g., academic pressure). Two hundred fifty-seven Chinese adolescents (128 females and 129 males) participated in the study from Grade 7 to Grade 9. Results showed that both filial piety and cognitive autonomy significantly contribute to the development of adolescents' depressive symptoms and academic pressure. But reciprocal filial piety (RFP) and authoritarian filial piety (AFP) as two coexisting aspects of filial piety contribute to depressive symptoms in opposite directions. RFP provides significant protection against adolescents' depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through promoting the development of adolescents' cognitive autonomy and alleviating adolescents' academic pressure. In contrast, AFP positively contributes to adolescents' depressive symptoms by hindering the development of cognitive autonomy and intensifying academic pressure.
Highlights
Adolescence is a critical transition period from childhood to adulthood
The present study proposes two hypotheses regarding the association between filial piety and cognitive autonomy as follows: H6: reciprocal filial piety (RFP) negatively predicts the development of depressive symptoms in adolescents through fostering adolescents’ cognitive autonomy; H7: authoritarian filial piety (AFP) positively predicts the development of depressive symptoms in adolescents through suppressing adolescents’ cognitive autonomy
Data analysis of the present study consists of two parts: (1) using a one -way repeated measures ANOVA to analyze the developmental trajectories of adolescents’ depressive symptoms, academic pressure, RFP, AFP, and cognitive autonomy from Grade 7 to Grade 9; (2) using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM; Raudenbush and Bryk, 2002) to analyze the associations between adolescents’ depressive symptoms and its predictors
Summary
Adolescence is a critical transition period from childhood to adulthood. At this stage, adolescents must learn how to deal with psychosocial challenges in their daily interactions with surrounding environments, such as independence from parents and academic competition in school. Failure to manage various psychosocial challenges put adolescents at great risk for mental health problems, such as depression. Adolescents with depressive symptoms are more likely to develop psychiatric disorders or maladaptive behaviors in the long run, such as anxiety disorders, disruptive disciplinary behaviors, self-injurious and suicidal behaviors (Blakemore, 2019; Wang et al, 2021; Xu et al, 2021). Adolescents’ vulnerability to depression and the negative consequence of depression for individual development call for a thorough understanding of the pathogenesis of adolescents’ depressive symptoms as well as the process that may protect adolescents from depression
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