Article
Perceived Autonomy Support From Parents and Best Friends: Longitudinal Associations with Adolescents' Depressive Symptoms
Daniёlle Van der Giessen,
Susan Branje, Wim Meeus,
Corresponding Author
Daniёlle Van der Giessen
University of Amsterdam
Correspondence should be addressed to Danielle Van der Giessen, Department of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorDaniёlle Van der Giessen,
Susan Branje, Wim Meeus,
Corresponding Author
Daniёlle Van der Giessen
University of Amsterdam
Correspondence should be addressed to Danielle Van der Giessen, Department of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
According to the self-determination theory, experiencing autonomy support in close relationships is thought to promote adolescents' well-being. Perceptions of autonomy support from parents and from best friends have been associated with lower levels of adolescents' depressive symptoms. This longitudinal study examines the relative contribution of perceived autonomy support from parents and best friends in relation to adolescents' depressive symptoms and changes in these associations from early to late adolescence. Age and gender differences were also investigated. Questionnaires about mother, father, and a best friend were filled out by 923 early adolescents and 390 middle adolescents during five consecutive years, thereby covering an age range from 12 to 20. Multi-group cross-lagged path analysis revealed concurrent and longitudinal negative associations between perceived parental autonomy support and adolescents' depressive symptoms. No concurrent and longitudinal associations were found between perceived best friends' autonomy support and adolescents' depressive symptoms. Results were similar for early and middle adolescent boys and girls. Prevention and treatment programs should focus on the bidirectional interplay during adolescence between perceptions of parental autonomy support and adolescents' depressive symptoms.
References
- Allen, J. P., Insabella, G., Porter, M. R., Smith, F. D., Land, D., & Phillips, N. (2006). A social-interactional model of the development of depressive symptoms in adolescence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74, 55–65. doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.74.1.55
- Angold, A., Costello, E. J., & Erkanli, A. (1999). Comorbidity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 57–87. doi: 10.1111/1469-7610.00424
- Bokhorst, C. L., Sumter, S. R., & Westenberg, P. M. (2009). Social support from parents, friends, classmates, and teachers in children and adolescents aged 9 to 18 years: Who is perceived as most supportive? Social Development, 19, 417–426. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2009.00540.x
-
Bollen, K. A. (1989). Structural equation models with latent variables. New York: Wiley.
10.1002/9781118619179 Google Scholar
- Borelli, J. L., & Prinstein, M. J. (2006). Reciprocal, longitudinal associations among adolescents' negative feedback-seeking, depressive symptoms, and peer relations. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 154–164. doi: 10.1007/s10802-005-9010-y
- Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss: Sadness and depression. New York: Basic Books.
- Brendgen, M., Wanner, B., Morin, A. J. S., & Vitaro, F. (2005). Relations with parents and with peers, temperament, and trajectories of depressed mood during early adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33, 579–594. doi: 10.1007/s10802-005-6739-2
- Burk, W. J., & Laursen, B. (2005). Adolescent perceptions of friendship and their associations with individual adjustment. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 29, 156–164. doi: 10.1080/01650250444000342
- Cantin, S., & Boivin, M. (2004). Change and stability in children's social network and self-perceptions during transition from elementary to junior high school. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 28, 561–570. doi: 10.1080/01650250444000289
- Chan, A., & Poulin, F. (2007). Monthly changes in the composition of friendship networks in early adolescence. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 53, 578–602. doi: 10.1353/mpq.2008.0000
- Chirkov, V. I., & Ryan, R. M. (2001). Parent and teacher autonomy-support in Russian and US adolescents: Common effects on well-being and academic motivation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 618–635. doi: 10.1177/0022022101032005006
- Collins, W. A., & Steinberg, L. (2006). Adolescent development in interpersonal context. In N. Eisenberg, W. Damon, & R. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology. Volume 3: Social, emotional and personality development (pp. 1003–1067). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons., Inc.
- Coyne, J. C. (1976). Depression and the response of others. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85, 186–193. doi: 10.1037/0021-843X.85.2.186
- Craighead, W. E., Smucker, M. R., Craighead, L. W., & Ilardi, S. S. (1998). Factor analysis of the Children's Depression Inventory in a community sample. Psychological Assessment, 10, 156–165. doi: 10.1037/1040-3590.10.2.156
- De Goede, I. H. A., Branje, S. J. T., Delsing, M. J. M. H., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2009). Linkages over time between adolescents' relationships with parents and friends. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38, 1304–1315. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2009.03.002
- Deci, E. L., La Guardia, J. G., Moller, A. C., Scheiner, M. J., & Ryan, R. M. (2006). On the benefits of giving as well as receiving autonomy support: Mutuality in close friendships. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 313–327. doi: 10.1177/0146167205282148
- Eccles, J. S., Early, D., Fraser, K., Belansky, E., & McCarthy, K. (1997). The relation of connection, regulation, and support for autonomy to adolescents' functioning. Journal of Adolescent Research, 12, 263–286. doi: 10.1177/0743554897122007
- Feeney, B. C. (2007). The dependency paradox in close relationships: Accepting dependence promotes independence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 268–285. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.92.2.268
- Grolnick, W. S., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (1991). Inner resources for school achievement: Motivational mediators of children's perceptions of their parents. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83, 508–517. doi: 10.1037//0022-0663.83.4.508
- Grotevant, H. D., & Cooper, C. R. (1986). Individuation in family relationships: A perspective on individual differences in the development of identity and role-taking skill in adolescence. Human Development, 29, 82–100. doi: 10.1159/000273025
- Hale, W. W., VanderValk, I., Akse, J., & Meeus, W. (2008). The interplay of early adolescents' depressive symptoms, aggression and perceived parental rejection: A four-year community study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37, 928–940. doi: 10.1007/s10964-008-9280-0
- Hodges, E. V. E., Finnegan, R. A., & Perry, D. G. (1999). Skewed autonomy-relatedness in preadolescents' conceptions of their relationships with mother, father, and best friend. Developmental Psychology, 35, 737–748. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.35.3.737
- Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York: The Guilford Press.
- Kovacs, M. (1992). Children's Depression Inventory: Manual. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems.
- La Guardia, J. G., Ryan, R. M., Couchman, C. E., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Within-person variation in security of attachment: A self-determination theory perspective on attachment, need fulfillment, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 367–384. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.79.3.367
- Laursen, B., & Bukowski, W. M. (1997). A developmental guide to the organization of close relationships. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21, 747–770. doi: 10.1080/016502597384659
- Little, R. J. A. (1988). A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83, 1198–1202. doi: 10.2307/2290157
- Manzi, C., Regalia, C., Pelucchi, S., & Fincham, F. D. (2012). Documenting different domains of promotion of autonomy in families. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 289–298. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2011.10.011
- McLeod, B. D., Wood, J. J., & Weisz, J. R. (2007). Examining the association between parenting and childhood anxiety: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 155–172. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2006.09.002
- Meeus, W., Akse, J., Branje, S., Ter Bogt, T., Engels, R., Finkenauer, C., et al. (2004). Codebook CONAMORE: Conflicts and management of relationships. Unpublished manuscript.
- Muthén, B., & Muthén, L. (2010). Mplus (version 6.00) [computer software]. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
- Neyer, F. J., & Asendorpf, J. B. (2001). Personality-relationship transaction in young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 1190–1204. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.81.6.1190
- Poulin, F., & Chan, A. (2010). Friendship stability and change in childhood and adolescence. Developmental Review, 30, 257–272. doi: 10.1016/j.dr.2009.01.001
- Rose, A. J. (2002). Co-rumination in the friendships of girls and boys. Child Development, 73, 1830–1843. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00509
- Rose, A. J., Carlson, W., & Waller, E. M. (2007). Prospective associations of co-rumination with friendship and emotional adjustment: Considering the socio-emotional trade-offs of co-rumination. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1019–1031. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.43.4.1019
- Roth, G., & Assor, A. (2012). The costs of parental pressure to express emotions: Conditional regard and autonomy support as predictors of emotion regulation and intimacy. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 799–808. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2011.11.005
- Roth, G., Assor, A., Niemiec, C. P., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2009). The emotional and academic consequences of parental conditional regard: Comparing conditional positive regard, conditional negative regard, and autonomy support as parenting practices. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1119–1142. doi: 10.1037/a0015272
- Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78. doi: 10.1037/110003-066X.55.1.68
- Satorra, A., & Bentler, P. M. (2001). A scaled difference chi-square test statistic for moment structure analysis. Psychometrika, 66, 507–514. doi: 10.1007/BF02296192
- Seiffge-Krenke, I., & Pakalniskiene, V. (2011). Who shapes whom in the family: Reciprocal links between autonomy support in the family and parents' and adolescents' coping behaviors. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 983–995. doi: 10.1007/s10964-010-9603-9
- Selfhout, M. H. W., Branje, S. J. T., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2009). Developmental trajectories of perceived friendship intimacy, constructive problem solving, and depression from early to late adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 251–264. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2011.05.001
- Sheldon, K. M., Abad, N., & Omoile, J. (2009). Testing self-determination theory via Nigerian and Indian adolescents. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 33, 451–459. doi: 10.1177/0165025409340095
- Shulman, S., Laursen, B., Kalman, Z., & Karpovsky, S. (1997). Adolescent intimacy revisited. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 26, 597–617. doi: 10.1023/A:1024586006966
- Silk, J. S., Steinberg, L., & Morris, A. S. (2003). Adolescents' emotion regulation in daily life: Links to depressive symptoms and problem behavior. Child Development, 74, 1869–1880. doi: 10.1046/j.1467-8624.2003.00643.x
- Smetana, J. G. (2011). Adolescents, families, and social development: How teens construct their worlds. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
- Soenens, B., Park, S., Vansteenkiste, M., & Mouratidis, A. (2012). Perceived parental psychological control and adolescent depressive experiences: A cross-cultural study with Belgian and South-Korean adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 261–272. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2011.05.001
- Soenens, B., & Vansteenkiste, M. (2010). A theoretical upgrade of the concept of parental psychological control: Proposing new insights on the basis of self-determination theory. Developmental Review, 30, 74–99. doi: 10.1016/j.dr.2009.11.001
- Soenens, B., Vansteenkiste, M., Lens, W., Luyckx, K., Goossens, L., Beyers, W., et al. (2007). Conceptualizing parental autonomy support: Adolescent perceptions of promotion of independence versus promotion of volitional functioning. Developmental Psychology, 43, 633–646. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.43.3.633
- Soenens, B., Vansteenkiste, M., & Sierens, E. (2009). How are parental psychological control and autonomy-support related? A cluster-analytic approach. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71, 187–202. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00589.x
- Stice, E., Ragan, J., & Randall, P. (2004). Prospective relations between social support and depression: Differential direction of effects for parent and peer support? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 155–159. doi: 10.1037/0021-843X.113.1.155
- Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics, 5th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
- Timbremont, B., & Braet, C. (2002). Children's Depression Inventory: Nederlandstalige versie (Children's Depression Inventory: Dutch version). Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.
- Van der Giessen, D., Branje, S. J. T., Frijns, T., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2013). Dyadic variability in mother-adolescent interactions: Developmental trajectories and associations with psychosocial functioning. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42, 96–108. doi: 10.1007/s10964-012-9790-7
- Vierhaus, M., & Lohaus, A. (2008). Children and parents as informants of emotional and behavioural problems predicting female and male adolescent risk behaviour: A longitudinal cross-informant study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37, 211–224. doi: 10.1007/s10964-007-9193-3
- Way, N., & Greene, M. L. (2006). Trajectories of perceived friendship quality during adolescence: The patterns and contextual predictors. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 16, 293–320. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2006.00133.x
- Wong, E. H., & Wiest, D. J. (1999). Adolescent depression: Links to academic coping and perceived autonomy support. Education, 119, 668–673. Retrieved August 1, 2012, from http://www.projectinnovation.biz/index.html
- Wray-Lake, L., Crouter, A. C., & McHale, S. M. (2010). Developmental patterns in decision-making autonomy across middle childhood and adolescence: European American parents' perspectives. Child Development, 81, 636–651. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01420.x
- Young, J. F., Berenson, K., Cohen, P., & Garcia, J. (2005). The role of parent and peer support in predicting adolescent depression: A longitudinal community study. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 15, 407–423. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2005.00105.x
