Citation

Herrenkohl TI, Kosterman R, Hawkins JD, Mason WA. J. Adolesc. Health 2009; 44(2): 146-152.

Affiliation

Social Development Research Group, School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98115, USA. tih@u.washington.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.07.005

PMID

19167663

PMCID

PMC2666128

Abstract

PURPOSE: To (1) examine growth in family conflict during adolescence as a predictor of depressive symptoms in early adulthood, (2) examine adult stressful life events as a possible mechanism linking prior family conflict with depressive symptoms, and (3) examine adolescent school bonding as a possible moderator of family conflict and stressful life events in relation to later depression. METHODS: Analyses used a latent variable growth curve modeling approach to examine longitudinal patterns in data from the Seattle Social Development Project. Assessments of a gender-balanced and ethnically diverse sample of 754 participants were conducted from age 10 to age 27. RESULTS: Results show an increase in conflict each year between ages 14 and 18 for participating youth. High initial levels and growth in family conflict predicted adult stressful life events, which, in turn, predicted adult depressive symptoms, controlling for earlier risks of poverty and internalizing problems. Bonding to school in mid-adolescence did not significantly change the associations among the variables in the model. CONCLUSIONS: Inhibiting the growth in family conflict over the course of adolescence may reduce the risk for some life stresses linked to depression in early adulthood. Although a test of the protective influence of school bonding during mid-adolescence was not significant, the study offers an example of how longitudinal patterns and protective factors can be analyzed.

Language: en