Parker G
Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1979 Mar;13(1):51-6. doi: 10.3109/00048677909159109.
Despite a large number of studies it remains unclear whether early parental loss or separation experiences from parents are associated with depression in adult life. In order to circumvent the possible confounding influence of psychiatric patients status, a non-clinical group was used to study any influence of early permanent parental loss and early parental separation on subsequent depressive experience in adulthood. The depressive experience of 236 post-graduate students was assessed using measures of trait depression, self-esteem, alienation, and incidence of depressive episodes. Depressive experience was not increased in those 27 subjects who had been permanently separated from a biological parent before the age of 16 years. When duration of separation from influential parent-figures was examined it was found that trait depression scores were increased in those who had experienced longer separation, but those subjects also rated their parent-figures as having been less caring. Findings are consistent with the view that it is the quality of any parental contribution, rather than its continuity, that is associated with subsequent depressive experience in adulthood.
尽管已有大量研究，但早期父母离世或与父母分离的经历是否与成年后的抑郁症相关仍不明确。为了规避精神病患者状况可能产生的混杂影响，我们使用了一个非临床群体来研究早期永久性父母离世和早期父母分离对成年后后续抑郁经历的任何影响。我们使用特质抑郁、自尊、疏离感和抑郁发作发生率等指标对236名研究生的抑郁经历进行了评估。在16岁之前与亲生父母永久分离的27名受试者中，抑郁经历并未增加。当研究与有影响力的父母形象分离的时长时，发现分离时间较长者的特质抑郁得分更高，但这些受试者也认为他们的父母形象关怀较少。研究结果与以下观点一致，即与成年后后续抑郁经历相关的是父母给予的任何关怀的质量，而非其持续性。
