Brief report: "I can't talk about it:" sexuality and self-silencing as interactive predictors of depressive symptoms in adolescent dating couples.
This longitudinal study examined sexual intercourse within adolescent romantic relationships as a couple-level moderator of the association between adolescent individual characteristics and depressive symptoms. Two hundred nine middle- and older-adolescent dating couples (aged 14-17 and 17-21, respectively) reported on their own self-silencing, depressive symptoms, and sexual behaviors. At Time 1, frequency of sexual intercourse significantly moderated the relationship between self-silencing and depressive symptoms, such that adolescents higher in self-silencing engaging in more frequent sex were at risk for clinically significant levels of depression. Adolescents who were low in self-silencing were not at increased risk for depression, regardless of frequency of sex. Self-silencing also significantly predicted increases in depressive symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2. Implications include the possibility that frequent sex in highly self-silencing adolescents exacerbates psychological depletion believed to link self-silencing to depressive symptoms, and that this depletion compounds over time.
Little
Katherine C
KC
The University of Tennessee, 221C Austin Peay Building, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA. klittle6@utk.edu
Welsh
Deborah P
DP
Darling
Nancy
N
Holmes
Rachel M
RM
D000293:Adolescent; D003380:Courtship / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult