Romantic functioning and depressive symptoms among early adolescent girls: the moderating role of parental emotional availability.

Full Abstract

This study tested associations between adolescent romantic functioning and depressive symptoms and predicted that adolescents with emotionally unavailable parents would be most likely to show an association between poor romantic functioning and depressive symptoms. Data collected from 80 early adolescent nonreferred girls (average age of 13.45; SD = .68) and their mothers supported predictions. A higher frequency of romantic experiences (e.g., going on dates) and poor romantic competence were each associated with higher levels of current depressive symptoms. Moreover, these associations were most strong for girls with emotionally unavailable parents.

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Author information

Author/s: Steinberg, Sara J (SJ); Davila, Joanne (J);

Affiliation: State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA.

Grants: R01 MH063904-1A2 (Agency:United States NIMH)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53 (J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Apr; vol 37 (issue 2) : pp 350-62

Dates: Created 2008/05/12; Completed 2008/08/07;

PMID: 18470772, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Courtship
Depression - diagnosis; psychology
Emotions
Female
Humans
Internal-External Control
Object Attachment
Parent-Child Relations

Parenting - psychology
Parents - psychology
Peer Group
Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data
Psychometrics
Psychopathology
Social Adjustment
Social Behavior
Social Environment

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