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Interparental and Parent–Child Conflict Predicting Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

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Abstract

Objective

The current study explored longitudinal family conflict predictors of adolescent depressive symptoms occurring during middle childhood.

Methods

We tested the mediating effects of mother–child and father–child conflict when children were in 6th grade on the relation between interparental conflict when children were in 5th grade and adolescent depressive symptoms when children were in 9th grade in a sample of 601 families enrolled in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development.

Results

Fathers’ reports of interparental conflict at 5th grade were related to greater mother–child and father–child conflict at 6th grade, and mothers’ reports of interparental conflict at 5th grade were related to greater mother–child conflict at 6th grade. Further, greater mother–child conflict at 6th grade was related to greater adolescent depressive symptoms at 9th grade.

Conclusion

Results highlight the importance of understanding family system processes that unfold over time in predicting adolescent depressive symptoms.

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Acknowledgements

The archival NICHD Study of Early Child Care was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institure of Child Health and Human Development (U01 HD01897).

Author Contributions

O.A.S.: designed the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. J.A.N.: assisted and collaborated with the design of the study, data analyses, and writing of the manuscript. M.J.A.: assisted with writing of the manuscript.

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Authors

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Correspondence to Olivia A. Smith.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

Ethical approval for the current study was provided by The University of Texas at Dallas. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Smith, O.A., Nelson, J.A. & Adelson, M.J. Interparental and Parent–Child Conflict Predicting Adolescent Depressive Symptoms. J Child Fam Stud 28, 1965–1976 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01424-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01424-6

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