Temperament, parenting, and depressive symptoms in a population sample of preadolescents.
BACKGROUND
Depressive symptoms can be triggered by negative social experiences and individuals' processing of these experiences. This study focuses on the interaction between temperament, perceived parenting, and gender in relation to depressive problems in a Dutch population sample of preadolescents.


METHODS
The sample consisted of 2230 ten-to-twelve-year-olds from the North of The Netherlands. Perceived parenting (overprotection, rejection, emotional warmth) was assessed by the EMBU (a Swedish acronym for My Memories of Upbringing) for Children, temperament (fearfulness and frustration) by the parent version of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised, and depressive problems by the Child Behavior Checklist (parent report) and the Youth Self-Report (child report).


RESULTS
All parenting and temperament factors were significantly associated with depressive problems. Frustration increased the depressogenic effect of parental overprotection and lack of emotional warmth. Fearfulness increased the effect of rejection in girls, but not in boys. Furthermore, the association between frustration and depression was stronger in boys.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings support the hypothesis that the effect of specific parenting behaviors depends on the temperament and gender of the child.
Oldehinkel
Albertine J
AJ
Department of Psychiatry and Graduate School of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands. a.j.oldehinkel@med.umcg.nl
Veenstra
René
R
Ormel
Johan
J
de Winter
Andrea F
AF
Verhulst
Frank C
FC
D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament