Nilsen Wendy, Karevold Evalill Bølstad, Kaasbøll Jannike, Kjeldsen Anne
Work Research Institute, OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University, Postbox 4, St. Olavs plass, 0130, Oslo, Norway.
Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Postbox 4404, Nydalen, 0403, Oslo, Norway.
BMC Pediatr. 2018 Apr 10;18(1):133. doi: 10.1186/s12887-018-1100-4.
Social skills might play an important role for the relationship between maternal psychological distress and subsequent development of depressive symptoms. The majority perspective is that social skills is adaptive and protective, but there is a need to also highlight the potential maladaptive effect of social skills in some settings or for some sub groups. The current study examined the longitudinal interplay between maternal-reported psychological distress in early childhood (age 1.5), and offspring reports on social skills and depressive symptoms in early (age 12.5) and middle adolescence (age 14.5).
We used data from the Tracking Opportunities and Problems Study (TOPP), a community-based longitudinal study following Norwegian families to examine direct links and interactions between early maternal distress (measured with the Hopkins Symptom Checklist) and early adolescent offspring social skills (measured with the Social Skills Rating System) and middle adolescent depressive symptoms (measured with the Moods and Feelings Questionnaire) in 370 families (in total 740 mothers and adolescents).
Exposure to childhood maternal distress predicted offspring depressive symptoms in middle adolescence. Higher social skills in early adolescence predicted lower levels of depressive symptoms for girls, but not for boys, in middle adolescence. An interaction effect was found in which adolescents exposed to early maternal distress who reported high social skills in early adolescence had the highest level of depressive symptoms in middle adolescence.
The findings highlight the nuances in the role of social skills for adolescent depressive symptoms - having the potential to be both adaptive as well as maladaptive for some subgroups (those experiencing maternal psychological distress). This has important implications for social skill programs.
社交技能可能在母亲心理困扰与随后抑郁症状的发展之间的关系中发挥重要作用。多数观点认为社交技能具有适应性和保护作用，但也有必要强调在某些情况下或对某些亚组而言社交技能可能存在的适应不良影响。本研究考察了幼儿期（1.5岁）母亲报告的心理困扰与青少年早期（12.5岁）和中期（14.5岁）后代报告的社交技能及抑郁症状之间的纵向相互作用。
我们使用了来自“追踪机遇与问题研究”（TOPP）的数据，这是一项对挪威家庭进行的基于社区的纵向研究，以检验370个家庭（共740位母亲和青少年）中早期母亲困扰（用霍普金斯症状清单测量）与青少年早期后代社交技能（用社交技能评定系统测量）以及青少年中期抑郁症状（用情绪与情感问卷测量）之间的直接联系和相互作用。
童年期暴露于母亲困扰可预测青少年中期后代的抑郁症状。青少年早期较高的社交技能可预测女孩在青少年中期抑郁症状水平较低，但对男孩则不然。发现了一种相互作用效应：在青少年早期报告社交技能较高且童年期暴露于母亲困扰的青少年在青少年中期抑郁症状水平最高。
研究结果凸显了社交技能在青少年抑郁症状方面作用的细微差别——对某些亚组（那些经历母亲心理困扰的亚组）而言，社交技能既可能具有适应性，也可能具有适应不良性。这对社交技能项目具有重要意义。
