Parental Bonding Instrument and the Inventory to Diagnose Depression Lifetime version in a volunteer sample of Japanese workers.

This study replicated the factor structure of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and explored the relationships of PBI scores to demographic variables. We investigated the association between parental bonding in the parents measured by the PBI, and lifetime history of depression in their children assessed by the Inventory to Diagnose Depression Lifetime version (IDDL) in a volunteer sample of 239 Japanese workers. In factor analyses with varimax rotation (two-factor solution), the PBI items for both parents showed clear bimodality, and the total variance explained by the two factors was similar to that found in previous Western studies. Subjects with a lifetime history of depression reported a significantly lower score on maternal care than did those without a lifetime history of depression. Without requiring 2 weeks symptom duration on the IDDL, low maternal care was also related to a history of depression. The relationships between PBI scores and age, education, sex of respondent, and sex of parent differed in part from those in Western subjects. These results suggested the following: (1) child-rearing behaviors in non-Western cultures can be, similarly to those in Western cultures, described with the PBI; (2) parental styles, as measured by the PBI, may be associated with depression in non-Western subjects; and (3) sociodemographic influences on PBI scores may be different in subjects with different cultural backgrounds.