Parental bonding and depressive disorders in adolescents.

The present exploratory study was designed to determine whether a sample of depressed adolescents differed from demographically similar samples of normal and non-depressed psychiatric controls as a function of their perceived patterns of parental bonding. All research participants were recruited from the general population. Diagnoses were based on a structured diagnostic interview keyed to DSM-III criteria. Parental bonding was assessed using the Parental Bonding Instrument [PBI; Parker, G. Tupling, H. & Brown, L.B. (1979). A parental bonding instrument. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 52, 1-10]. The results of this study suggest that parental bonding plays an important but non-specific role in the occurrence of adolescent psychopathology.