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Longitudinal Relationships Between Interparental Conflict and Adolescent Depression: Moderating Effects of School Connectedness

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Abstract

The present study examined the association between interparental conflict and adolescent depression, and explored the moderating role of school connectedness in this association, in a Chinese context. Data were analyzed from 867 Chinese adolescents who completed the survey at 2 time points. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that interparental conflict in 7th grade adolescents significantly predicted depression in 8th grade, but adolescent depression in 7th grade was not a significant predictor of interparental conflict in 8th grade. In addition, there was a significant negative moderating effect of school connectedness, as high levels of school connectedness reduced the negative effect of interparental conflict on adolescent depression. Thus, the association between interparental conflict and adolescent depression has a unidirectional prediction. School connectedness can relieve the adverse effects of interparental conflict on adolescent depression.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.cn) for English language editing.

Funding

This study was funded by Hunan Philosophy and Social Science Foundation Project “Research on the Influencing Factors, Development Trends and Promotion of the Social Adaptation of Left-behind Children from the Perspective of Family Social Capital” (Grant Numbers 20YBA170).

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  1. School of Educational Science, Cognition and Human Behavior Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, Hunan, China

    Zhihui Zhang, Yulong Wang & Jingfei Zhao

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  1. Zhihui Zhang
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  2. Yulong Wang
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Correspondence to Yulong Wang.

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The study was reviewed and approved by the IRB, Institute of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, and carried out in accordance with the recommendations, with written informed consent from all participants’ guardians. All participants guardians gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Zhang, Z., Wang, Y. & Zhao, J. Longitudinal Relationships Between Interparental Conflict and Adolescent Depression: Moderating Effects of School Connectedness. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 54, 1489–1498 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01355-2

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