Links among attachment-related cognitions and adolescent depressive symptoms.
We assessed the role of self-evaluative and support-seeking processes as mediators of the relation between maternal representations and depressive symptoms in a sample of 168 young adolescents. Representations of mother as unavailable, unresponsive, and unsupportive were associated with depressive symptoms measured by semistructured interview and self-report. Moderation tests revealed that the association between maternal representations and depressive symptoms varied as a function of stress level for self-reported symptoms only. Subsequent mediation analyses for higher and lower stress groups showed that support seeking functioned as a mediator in the higher, but not lower, stress group. When depressive symptoms were assessed via interview, results with the full sample indicated that self-worth contingencies mediated the association between maternal representations and symptoms. Findings are discussed in terms of the identification of proximal targets for intervention.
Shirk
Stephen R
SR
Department of Psychology, University of Denver, CO 80208, USA. sshirk@nova.psy.du.edu
Gudmundsen
Gretchen R
GR
Burwell
Rebecca A
RA
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D003071:Cognition; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012944:Social Support