Wang Enna, Zhang Junjie, Peng Siya, Zeng Biao
School of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2021 Dec 17;12:744976. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.744976. eCollection 2021.
The complex interrelationships between family function and adolescents' depressive symptoms are not yet fully clarified, especially in China. Based on the family systems theory, this study explored the relationships between family function and Chinese adolescents' depressive symptoms by a 3-year longitudinal study design. Three waves of data were collected from 1,301 Chinese middle school students in Grade 7 to Grade 9. All participants completed the Chinese Family Assessment Instrument (CFAI) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) once a year during the junior middle school period. Our results showed that both family function and adolescent depressive symptoms were stable in Grade 7 and Grade 8, but in Grade 9, family function increased and depressive symptoms declined. Furthermore, we found that the family function in Grade 7 negatively influenced depressive symptoms of adolescents in Grade 8, while adolescent depressive symptoms in Grade 8 negatively impacted subsequent family function in Grade 9, namely there was a circular effect between family function and adolescent depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that the associations between family function and adolescents' depressive symptoms are dynamic and time-dependent. Our study contributes to the intervention aimed at the reduction of adolescent depressive symptoms from the family perspective.
家庭功能与青少年抑郁症状之间复杂的相互关系尚未完全阐明，在中国尤其如此。基于家庭系统理论，本研究通过一项为期3年的纵向研究设计，探讨了家庭功能与中国青少年抑郁症状之间的关系。从1301名初一至初三的中国中学生中收集了三波数据。在初中阶段，所有参与者每年完成一次中国家庭评估量表（CFAI）和流行病学研究中心抑郁量表（CES-D）。我们的结果显示，家庭功能和青少年抑郁症状在初一和初二时较为稳定，但在初三时，家庭功能增强而抑郁症状减轻。此外，我们发现初一的家庭功能对初二青少年的抑郁症状有负面影响，而初二青少年的抑郁症状对随后初三的家庭功能有负面影响，即家庭功能与青少年抑郁症状之间存在循环效应。这些发现表明，家庭功能与青少年抑郁症状之间的关联是动态的且依赖于时间。我们的研究从家庭角度为旨在减少青少年抑郁症状的干预措施做出了贡献。
