Research Unit of Psychology, University of Oulu, Finland; Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
J Affect Disord. 2019 May 1;250:354-362. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2019.03.029. Epub 2019 Mar 6.
The aim of this study was to investigate (i) the direction of the relationships between dispositional compassion for others and depressive symptoms over a 15-year follow-up in adulthood and (ii) the longitudinal associations of dispositional compassion with total depressive symptoms and various depressive subsymptoms (i.e. negative attitude, performance difficulties, and somatic complaints) from early adulthood to middle age.
The participants (N = 1676) came from the prospective Young Finns Study. Dispositional compassion was assessed with the Temperament and Character Inventory and depressive symptoms with a modified version of the Beck Depression Inventory. The measurements were conducted between 1997-2012 including three measurement points. The data was analyzed using structural equation models and multilevel models for longitudinal design.
The predictive relationships were more likely to proceed from high dispositional compassion for others to lower depressive symptoms than in the opposite direction. Additionally, high dispositional compassion predicted a lower total score of depressive symptoms and also lower scores of various depressive subsymptoms (negative attitude, performance difficulties, somatic complaints) in early adulthood. These associations, however, weakened over years and became non-significant in middle age. All the findings were sustained after controlling for age, gender, and socioeconomic factors in childhood and adulthood.
Depressive symptoms were mostly mild and non-clinical in our sample. The findings cannot be directly generalized to severe depressive symptomatology.
When tailoring psychiatric interventions, it is necessary to be aware that compassion for others may lower the risk for the onset and maintenance of depressive symptoms, especially in early adulthood.
本研究旨在探究：（i）在成人阶段的 15 年随访中，个体对他人的性格同情心与抑郁症状之间的关系方向；（ii）从青年到中年，个体性格同情心与总抑郁症状以及各种抑郁亚症状（即消极态度、表现困难和躯体抱怨）之间的纵向关联。
参与者（N=1676）来自前瞻性的芬兰年轻人研究。采用特质和性格问卷评估性格同情心，采用贝克抑郁量表的改良版评估抑郁症状。这些测量在 1997 年至 2012 年之间进行，共包括三个测量点。采用结构方程模型和纵向设计的多层次模型进行数据分析。
预测关系更可能是从高他人性格同情心到低抑郁症状，而不是相反的方向。此外，高性格同情心预测在青年期总抑郁症状评分较低，以及各种抑郁亚症状（消极态度、表现困难、躯体抱怨）评分较低。然而，这些关联随着时间的推移而减弱，在中年时变得不显著。所有发现都在控制了儿童和成人时期的年龄、性别和社会经济因素后得到了维持。
我们样本中的抑郁症状大多是轻度的和非临床的。研究结果不能直接推广到严重的抑郁症状。
在定制精神科干预措施时，有必要意识到他人的同情心可能会降低抑郁症状的发生和维持的风险，尤其是在青年期。
