Marital Conflict in the Context of Parental Depressive Symptoms: Implications for the Development of Children's Adjustment Problems

Relations among parental depressive symptoms, overt and covert marital conflict, and child internalizing and externalizing symptoms were examined in a community sample of 235 couples and their children. Families were assessed once yearly for three years, starting when children were in kindergarten. Parents completed measures of depressive symptoms and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Behavioral observations of marital conflict behaviors (insult, threat, pursuit, and defensiveness) and self report of covert negativity (feeling worry, sorry, worthless, and helpless) were assessed based on problem-solving interactions. Results indicated that fathers' greater covert negativity and mothers' overt destructive conflict behaviors served as intervening variables in the link between fathers' depressive symptoms and child internalizing symptoms, with modest support for the pathway through fathers' covert negativity found even after controlling for earlier levels of constructs. These findings support the role of marital conflict in the impact of fathers' depressive symptoms on child internalizing symptoms.     

社区特征与中国农村老人的抑郁症状

农村老年人的抑郁水平显著高于城市老人,在极端情况下,甚至表现为自杀行为.通过中国健康与养老追踪调查 (CHARLS) 2011年基线数据,运用分层线性模型 (HLM) 分析村级社区水平的经济、人口、管理、设施、生态环境五个维度的特征对农村老人抑郁症状的影响,发现中国农村老人的抑郁水平具有显著的村间差异.加入村级水平的解释变量后发现,村子的平均收入水平高,村里具有高中学历的人口比例高,村主任的任职年限长以及村里的基础设施水平高,村里老人抑郁水平显著更低;而在工业污染排放中度和严重的村子里,老人抑郁显著更高.进一步的跨水平交互作用分析则探索了村级变量对具有不同个体特征的老人群体的作用差异.研究结果对于农村社区建设的政策发展以及农村老人的抑郁干预提供了实证依据.     

Contingent Self‐worth in Chinese Adolescents and Young Adults: Relations with Global Self‐Esteem and Depressive Symptoms

Contingent self‐worth (CSW) is the extent to which an individual's sense of self‐worth is dependent on performance in a particular domain. CSW has been linked to poorer psychological health (e.g., lower global self‐esteem, greater depression and anxiety). However, the majority of work on CSW has been conducted with US college students. Far less is known about the influence of CSW for younger individuals or for non‐Western populations. This study examined relations between CSW domains and two indicators of well‐being (depressive symptoms and global self‐esteem) with Chinese adolescents (ages 13–16) and young adults (ages 19‐22). Results indicated that CSW in the domains of academic performance and others’ approval were positively related to depressive symptoms, whereas CSW in the domain of family support was negatively related to depressive symptoms. Others’ approval CSW was negatively related to self‐esteem for both adolescents and young adults, whereas CSW in the domains of academic performance and family support were related to self‐esteem for adolescents but not young adults. This study indicates that CSW is a meaningful and predictive construct for Chinese youth, and that cultural, environmental, and developmental factors may impact the relations between CSW and psychological health.     

Depression Among Korean Immigrant Elders Living in Canada and the United States: A Comparative Study

Korean immigrant elders in North America experience a high level of depression. This study explored the correlates of depression among a sample of 245 Korean immigrant elders living in metropolitan cities in Canada (n = 128) and a southwestern state in the United States (n = 117), using a stress-coping framework. Results revealed discrepancies between the 2 subgroups. Years since immigration and number of health concerns were positively associated, and English proficiency was negatively associated with depressive symptoms among Korean immigrant elders in the United States; only health status was significant among Korean immigrant elders in Canada. Implications of the study are presented.     

Aggressive Behaviors in Social Interaction and Developmental Adaptation: A Narrative Analysis of Interpersonal Conflicts During Early Adolescence

Using conflict narratives reported by adolescents in grade 7 (mean age = 13.4 years), this study investigated the interactional properties and developmental functions of four types of aggressive behaviors: social aggression, direct relational aggression, physical aggression, and verbal aggression. A total of 475 participants from the Carolina Longitudinal Study ( Cairns & Cairns, 1994 ) were included. Results showed that the majority of conflict interactions involved more than a dyad. The use of social aggression (e.g., concealed social attack) was associated with more individuals involved in the conflict. Social aggression was primarily reported as an initiating behavior for interpersonal conflicts, while direct relational aggression was a responding behavior. Medium to high levels of reciprocity were found for physical, verbal, and direct relational aggression, whereas a low level of reciprocity was reported for social aggression. School authorities were most likely to intervene in physical aggression. The use of social aggression was associated with higher network centrality among adolescents. Developmental maladjustment in late adolescence and early adulthood was primarily predicted by physical aggression.     

Peer Victimization,Self‐esteem,and Ego Resilience Types in Adolescents: A Prospective Analysis of Person‐context Interactions

This study examined bidirectional, longitudinal associations between peer victimisation and self‐esteem in adolescents, and tested for moderator effects of undercontrolling, overcontrolling, and ego‐resilient personality types in these associations. Data were used from 774 adolescents ages 11–16 years who participated in a three‐wave (i.e., 2005, 2006, and 2007) longitudinal study. Structural equation modelling analyses in Mplus demonstrated that, controlling for earlier levels of self‐esteem, self‐reported peer victimization was associated with lower self‐esteem across one‐year time intervals. Vice versa, however, low self‐esteem was not predictive of subsequent self‐reported victimization. Evidence was also found for a moderator effect of personality type on the longitudinal associations between self‐esteem and victimization. Only in the subgroup of overcontrolling adolescents was lower self‐esteem related to subsequently higher levels of peer victimization; their undercontrolling and ego‐resilient peers were unaffected.