Review article
Sex differences in patterns of relations between family interactions and depressive symptoms in adolescents
Sanja Smojver-Ažić
orcid.org/0000-0002-4389-6463
; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Petar Bezinović
orcid.org/0000-0002-2708-0018
; Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Aim To gain insight into the relations between protective/
risk family interactions and depressive symptoms in adolescent
boys and girls.
Method A self-reported cross-sectional survey was conducted
on a representative sample of 1191 secondary
school students (617 girls and 574 boys) aged from 14 to
19 years, with a median of 16, from all secondary schools
in the Primorsko-goranska County, Croatia in January and
February 2010. Students reported their depressive symptoms,
perceptions about the relationship with their mother
and father, family activities, and parents’ conflict resolution
strategies. Data were analyzed by hierarchical multiple
regression to calculate the effects of family supportive and
harmful interactions on depressive symptoms in girls and
boys.
Results Depressive symptoms were reported often and
very often by 19.1% of girls and 15.8% of boys. Girls’ assessment
of the family relations was significantly more positive
than boys’, including the assessment of family activities,
constructive family conflict resolution, or father’s and
mother’s warmth and affection. Multiple correlation analysis
revealed that the examined family variables accounted
for 16.3% of the variance of depressive symptoms in boys
and for 17.2% in girls. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis
showed a difference in the relation of family variables
and depressive symptoms between boys and girls. Depressive
symptoms in girls were more linked to the lack of
protective family factors (9.9% of the explained variance in
girls vs. 5.5% in boys), while depressive symptoms in boys
were more linked to the existence of harmful family factors
(10.8% of the explained variance in boys vs.7.3% in girls).
Conclusion Family activities and the father’s warmth and
affection have a higher significance for girls than for boys,
while destructive parental conflict and the mother’s aggression
and hostility are equally significant for both girls
and boys. These results indicate the targets for familybased
preventive and intervention programs for depression
in adolescents.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
71464
URI
Publication date:
15.8.2011.
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