Depressive symptoms and coping strategies among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong

Depressive symptoms and coping strategies of 161 Chinese adolescents were assessed and described using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ). Using the BDI cutoff scores of 9/10 and 29/30, respectively, over 64% of the adolescents would be in the depressed range, and 9% would be in the severely depressed range. For general depressive symptom level, Chinese adolescents appeared to have higher mean BDI score than U.S. adolescents and Chinese young adults. Their depressive symptom levels were found to relate to avoidant coping strategies as well as low self-es-teem and reduced social support. Implications for promoting adaptive coping, peer support network, and self-esteem enhancement were discussed.This study was supported in part by a Chinese University of Hong Kong UPGC direct grant for research.Received Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario in 1978. Research interests include self-esteem, stress, coping, health, and psychopathology.     

Parental personality factors and achievement motivation in talented adolescents

Highly gifted young people vary considerably in the career levels to which they aspire. Such differences normally are explained in terms of child rearing and subsequent learned achievement motivation. This study suggests that important components in career level aspiration are related to the total personality styles of both parents and adolescents and that achievement motivation is more a function of the models children are exposed to than the training they receive. Recent research concerning the relationship between personality and occupational choice provides a means for evaluating this explanation.     

Correlates of depressive symptoms in adolescents

The relationship between a number of social and cognitive variables and depressive symptomatology was evaluated in a sample of public middle-school and high-school students. The variables measured included stressful life events, locus of control, causal attributions, and means-ends problem-solving abilities. Higher levels of depression were found to be associated with a more external locus of control and a tendency to attribute outcomes to causes which are internal, stable, and global. Parental divorce and socioeconomic status were also found to be associated with higher levels of depression. No relationship was found to exist between either amount of life stress or problem-solving ability and depression. The implications of these results for delineating the underlying dimensions of depression in adolescents are discussed.Previously Dr. Siegel was in the Department of Clinical Psychology at the University of Florida. Received his Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1975. Major interest is stress reactivity and coping processes in children and adolescents.Clinical psychology intern at the Dallas V.A. Medical Center and doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Major interest is adolescent psychopathology and self-esteem.     

Family experiences as moderators of the relationship between eating symptoms and personality disturbance

A questionnaire study with 243 female undergraduates assessed whether late adolescent females' experiences of autonomy and perceptions of family conflict would moderate the relationship between eating symptoms and personality disturbances associated with severe eating disorders. Univariate correlations between eating symptoms, on the one hand, and perceived family conflict and reports of individuation and mutuality in the adolescent/parent relationship, on the other hand, were relatively weak and for the most part insignificant. However, these data supported a moderating hypothesis in that eating symptoms were more strongly related to interoceptive confusion and maturity fears among participants describing less individuated relationships with their parents and reporting unusually low levels of family conflict.Authors' names are in alphabetical order, indicating equal contribution to this article.Received Ph.D. from Yale University in 1977. Major interests are in young adult and adolescent development, and etiology and treatment of adolescent depression and other psychopathologies.Received her B.A. from Vassar College and M.A. from Michigan State University. Major interests are in adolescent/parent relationships, separation-individuation, and eating disorders.     

Intrapersonal variations in stage of moral reasoning among adolescents as a function of situational context

On a set of classical moral dilemmas and on a set of practical moral dilemmas 60 randomly selected eighth- and twelfth-grade students were asked to (a) judge the actions of others (judgment) and (b) reach a personal decision and give reasons for what they would do (deliberation). The interviews were transcribed and scored for stage of moral reasoning. Stage of moral reasoning associated with deliberation on practical moral dilemmas was found to be significantly lower than their moral judgment on classical moral dilemmas. An explanation was presented which combined social learning and cognitive-developmental moralization theory.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Research interests include the nature of moral character and the implications involved for the moral education curriculum.     

Sex roles,personality, and intellectual abilities in adolescents

The relationship between personality variables associated with sex roles and the cognitive variables of math and verbal ability was examined in three groups of adolescents. Masculinity and femininity of interests, behavioral traits, and values were examined using three inventories: the Femininity Scale from the California Psychological Inventory, the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and the Study of Values. Results indicate that there is some evidence for a positive relationship between masculine traits and values and math ability, and feminine traits and values and verbal skills (for both sexes). Certain traits indicative of maturity were found to be positively related to both high math and high verbal scores, while certain highly sex-typed traits and interests were found to be negatively related to both cognitive variables. A different relationship for males and females was found between high intellectual scores and indicators of self-concept and emotional well-being. The differing relationship between each of the three personality variables indicative of sex roles (e.g., interests, values, traits) and cognitive variables emphasizes the need to view masculinity and feminity, as well as sex-role, as a complex combination of the many different aspects of sex roles as they exist in our society.This article is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology, The Johns Hopkins University.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Johns Hopkins University. Main research interests are gifted adolescents, sex-role development, and personality development.     

Relationship between depressed mood and sex-typed personality characteristics in adolescents

The current study investigated the relationship between self-reports of depressed mood, self-esteem, and endorsement of sex-typed personality characteristics in a normal adolescent population. For positively valenced (socially desirable) sex-typed characteristics, masculinity was inversely related to depression while femininity was not significantly related. In contrast, for negatively valenced sex-typed characteristics the masculine and feminine scales showed similar effects: all were positively correlated with depression. Self-esteem was the best single predictor of depression and none of the sextyped characteristics contributed significantly beyond that accounted for by self-esteem. The results support previous findings with younger children and high school students by demonstrating that sex-typed characteristics in adolescents are significantly associated with depression, although this relationship is accounted for by the variance shared with self-esteem, a more general measure of mental health. However, the presence of negative feminine-typed characteristics was as highly correlated with depression as the absence of positive masculine characteristics and both relationships were stronger for females than males. Thus the linkages between sex-role socialization, sex-typed characteristics, self-esteem, depressed mood, and clinical depression bear further investigation, and may prove useful in understanding the development of depression in males and females.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Pennsylvania State University in 1976. Current research interests include the development of depression and eating disorders.Received Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University in 1981. Current research interest is childhood depression.     

Relationships between psychosocial development and personality disorder symptomatology in late adolescents

The present study investigated the extent to which psychosocial development through the first five stages of Erik Erikson's theory of personality development is associated with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (third edition, revised; DSM-III-R) Axis II personality disorder symptomatology in a late adolescent sample of undergraduate students. The Inventory of Psychosocial Development (IPD) and the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire—Revised (PDQ-R) were administered to a mixed-sex sample of 106 undergraduate students. The results of this research were that IPD scores assessing negative resolutions of the first five Eriksonian developmental stages consistently predicted scores on the PDQ-R composite scale and the PDQ-R impairment/distress index—both measures of overall personality disorder symptomatology. The IPD subscales varied substantially in the extent to which they predicted scores on the 13 PDQ-R subscales that assess symptoms of specific DSM-III-R personality disorders—ranging from the trust vs. mistrust subscale, which predicted scores on 12 of the 13 PDQ-R subscales, to the initiative vs. guilt subscale, which predicted scores on only 6 of the 13 PDQ-R subscales. Implications of these findings for our understanding of the relationship between psychosocial development and psychopathology are discussed in the context of previous research in this area, and suggestions for future research are offered.Received Ph.D. from Temple University. Research interests include personality disorders, depression, and life events.     

Depressive symptoms and perceived competence among Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong

Depressive symptoms of 621 Grade 7 to Grade 12 secondary school students were assessed and described in terms of dimensions of disturbances in mood, self-image, behavior, hedonic capacity, and self-efficacy using the Childrens Depression Inventory (CDI). Using the cutoff score of 20, 24% of the adolescents would be in the depressed range. In a subsample of 319 students who also completed the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents, depressive symptom levels tended to be highest among students who perceived themselves to be relatively incompetent academically and socially, and lowest among students who perceived themselves to be academically and socially competent, supporting the cumulative effects of perceived academic and social incompetence on depressive symptoms. The relatively more elevated CDI scores and subscores among Chinese adolescents compared with US adolescents and the choice of a cutoff score for screening in the Hong Kong school population are discussed.This study was supported in part by a Chinese University of Hong Kong RGC direct grant for research.     

The personality correlates of differential verbal and mathematical ability in talented adolescents

This paper describes the personality correlates of differential verbal and mathematical ability in very bright adolescent boys (N=182). The results indicate that there are few mean personality differences between two groups of boys formed on the basis of high scores on measures of either verbal or quantitative ability. On the other hand, within each of these groups there are dependable personality correlates of differences between verbal and quantitative ability. In particular, boys with high verbal relative to their quantitative scores seem independent, rational, reflective, and mature, regardless of their vocational or academic preferences.Work on this paper was supported by a grant from the Spencer Foundation, Chicago, Illinois.Received her Ph.D. in psychology from the Johns Hopkins University. Major interests are personality theory and medical psychology.Received his Ph.D. in psychology from the Johns Hopkins University. Major interests are education and developmental psychology.Received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley. Major interests are personality theory and moral development.     

Depressive disorders and depressive personality traits in offspring aged 10–17 of bipolar and of normal parents

Sixty proband children (P) of bipolar I parents and 60 control children of normal parents (C), in the age range 10–17, were investigated clinically by K-SADS-E interview and psychologically by personality inventories. In the global psychopathology rate of 63% in P children and 25% in C children, depressive disorders reached 8% in P children and 0% in C children, while depressive personality traits reached 22% in P children and 15% in C children. Cluster analysis evidenced a variety of personality structures, but 3 clusters were striking: a cluster characterized by high anxiety and depressive reactivity (17% P and 5% C children), a cluster characterized by high depressive reactivity and emotional instability (5% P children), and a hyperthymic cluster (5 % P children). Sixty-seven percent of P children and 36% of C children showed deviant personality traits (p<.01).     

Dimensions of self-esteem and psychological symptoms among chinese adolescents in Hong Kong

Self-esteem and psychological symptoms were assessed in a sample of 1082 Chinese adolescents who responded to the Chinese versions of Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory and the General Health Questionnaire. Three dimensions of self-esteem, interpreted as Family Acceptance/Rejection, Self-Depreciation, and Peer Affirmation/Disaffirmation, were found to relate substantially to general psychological symptoms and particularly to specific symptoms of anxiety, social dysfunction, and depression as reported by these adolescents. The implications of the relative importance of appraisal from internal feedback as sources of self-esteem as opposed to the external feedback from family and peers were discussed in relation to self-esteem enhancement in adolescents.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario in 1978. His research interests include self-esteem, stress, coping, health and psychopathology.Received her Ph.D. from the University of South Dakota in 1983. Her research interests include stress, coping and health, and geriatric psychology.     

Ideology and personality: Aspects of identity formation in adolescents with strong attitudes toward sex-role equalitarianism

Middle-class adolescent boys and girls with strong attitudes for and against the sex-role ideology of the Women's Movement were administered a Q-sort to study two aspects believed to be related to identity formation: flexibility-rigidity and independence-dependence. A significant positive relationship was found, more strongly for independence than for flexibility and more strongly for girls than for boys. More favorable attitudes toward sex-role equalitarianism were associated with flexibility and independence. The strength of the associations varied with the nature of the Q-sort: ideal self, self as ideal member of opposite sex, and self as ideal to each parent.This article is based on the dissertation by Dr. Kirsch in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy Degree at the Graduate School of Education, University of Marylandm, College Park, MarylandPsychotherapist in private practice in Potomac, Maryland, with special interest in psychology of women. Received her Ph.D. in human development from the University of Maryland, Graduate School of Education, in 1974.Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Boston University in 1955. Diplomate in clinical psychology (ABPP). Interest is adolescent development with emphasis on innovative programs for optimal growth as well as treatment services.Received his Ed.D. in human development from the University of Maryland in 1961. Current interest is in developing preservice education programs for Middle School personnel.     

Physiological and Behavioral Engagement in Social Contexts as Predictors of Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

Depressive symptoms are considered to have evolutionary social functions to reduce social risks with peers and family members. However, social processes and their relationship to depressive symptoms have been understudied in adolescent boys. Low engagement in social contexts may predict depressive symptoms in adolescent boys, as it may signify efforts to reduce social risks. To address these issues, this study focused on 160 boys at risk for affective problems based on low socioeconomic status. We evaluated how behavioral and physiological engagement in peer and family contexts, respectively, in late childhood predicted depressive symptoms at age 12 and age 15. Social withdrawal was measured across late childhood (ages 9–12) in a camp setting using a latent variable of teacher ratings of withdrawn behavior, peer nominations of withdrawn behavior, and camp counselor ratings of withdrawn behavior. Physiological reactivity was measured during a provocative parent–child conversation using respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) at age 12. Social withdrawal in late childhood predicted depressive symptoms at age 12. The combination of high levels of social withdrawal with peers from ages 9–12 and low RSA reactivity with a parent at age 12 predicted higher depressive symptoms at age 15. Withdrawal in multiple social contexts may place boys at risk for depressive symptoms during the vulnerable period of adolescence.     

Adolescent Self-Rated Depressive Symptoms in a Swiss Epidemiological Study

The correlates of self-rated depressive symptoms were examined in an epidemiological sample of Swiss adolescents. Subjects, aged 12 to 17 years, were assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, a Life Event Scale, scales measuring self-related cognitions, coping capacities, perceived parental behavior, school environment, and social network. Based on the distribution of the depression scores, 3 subsamples of nondepressed, moderately depressed, and severely depressed subjects were formed. The severely depressed group was clearly differentiated from the other two groups by almost all scales, with a special relevance of negative self-esteem and the impact of life events. The results of this epidemiological study indicate that various factors reflecting personality, life-events, and the psychosocial environment relate to adolescent depression.     

Gender differences in identity formation as a function of self-other relationships

Effects of differential male-female relational definitions of self on resolutions to the first six of Erikson's identity crises were examined in a sample of 388 adolescent males and females. Subject categorization of relational self-definitions was based on the Relational Self-Definition Scale. Resolutions to identity crises were measured by the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (EPSI). Predictions were drawn from theoretical notions related to Gilligan's view of distinctive male-female trends in self-other development and indicated that males with self-definitions separate from others and females with self-definitions connected with others would report higher degrees of positive resolutions on EPSI subscales compared to males with connected self-definitions and females with separate self-definitions. Results revealed that specific predictions were supported for resolutions to Trust, Initiative, and Intimacy crises independent of individual differences in age, educational level, vocabulary, and socioeconomic status of subjects. This suggests that gender differences in identity development may be linked to distinctive malefemale trends in the use of relational self-definitions consistent with Gilligan's views.Received Ph.D. from Wayne State University in applied/personality psychology. Research interests include self-other development in adolescence and adulthood.     

The protective role of coping and social resources for depressive symptoms among young adolescents

Early adolescence is a period of the life course involving high levels of challenge that are stressful for some, perhaps resulting in depressive symptoms. In this study, adolescents were divided into four groups based on indices of depression and negative life events. Group differences in coping style, mastery, optimism, and social resources as well as group differences in patterns of change were investigated. Participants were 458 adolescents in sixth and seventh grade from a rural working class community. Subjects were assessed twice over a one-year period. Analyses revealed that the four groups were characterized by different levels of coping and social resources. Asymptomatic youth reported higher levels of optimism, mastery, active coping, and more positive relationships with parents and peers than did symptomatic adolescents. These same characteristics distinguished the resilient adolescents from the vulnerable adolescents, suggesting potential stress-buffering effects. One year later, the adolescents who were low on both depressive symptoms and negative life events continued to report more individual and contextual resources than the adolescents in the other groups.This research was supported by a grant from the William T. Grant Foundation (8912789) to Anne C. Petersen, Principal Investigator. The writing of this article was supported by The National Institute of Mental Health Research Training Grant 5 T32 MH18387-06 in Child Mental Health/Primary Prevention.Received Ph.D. from the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Pennsylvania State University, and did a postdoctoral fellowship in prevention research at Arizona State University. Research interests include adolescent development, prevention, and community psychology.(on leave to the National Science Foundation). Received Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Research interests include biopsychosocial development at adolescence, adolescent depression and interventions to prevent it, gender issues, and developmental methodology.     

Diabetic control in children and adolescents: Psychosocial factors and therapeutic efficacy

Forty-two insulin-dependent latency and adolescent age diabetics were studied over a four-month period. Half of the population received a multicomponent intervention designed to enhance diabetic regulation. Psychological and demographic variables and glycosylation of hemoglobin were correlated in order to investigate the interaction between personality factors and metabolic control. Number of life event changes predicted initial values of glycohemoglobin, while ego development predicted the magnitude of improved diabetic control.     

Parental Depressive Feelings, Parental Support, and the Serotonin Transporter Gene as Predictors of Adolescent Depressive Feelings: A Latent Growth Curve Analysis

Parental support and parental depressive feelings are found to be associated with depressive feelings in adolescent boys and girls, but results are inconsistent. In addition, the 5-HTTLPR genotype has been found to interact with environmental stressors in predicting adolescents?? depressive feelings, but this has not been examined longitudinally. Therefore, the present study examined the relationships between parental support, parental depressive feelings, and adolescent depressive feelings. In addition, the relationships between the 5-HTTLPR genotype and adolescent depressive feelings were explored, as well as gene-environment interactions. Adolescents (N = 306; Girls = 53.3%; M _{age T1} = 13.4) filled out questionnaires at five annual waves and provided saliva samples for DNA. Latent growth curve modelling (LGCM) was used to examine the baseline level and the change in depressive feelings over time. Maternal support was related to baseline levels of depressive feelings in girls, whereas paternal support was related to baseline levels in boys. Paternal depressive feelings were only related to boys?? depressive feelings at baseline, and maternal depressive feelings were not related to any outcome measures. Furthermore, no associations were found between 5-HTTLPR genotype and adolescent depressive feelings, and no gene-environment interactions emerged. Limitations of the study and implications of the findings are discussed.     

Rorschach differences in normal and delinquent white male adolescents: A discriminant function analysis

Rorschach productions from 38 normal and 30 delinquent White male adolescents were scored by three Ph.D. clinical psychologists according to the method given by Beck. The groups were equated for IQ, social class, and age at the time of testing. Rorschach scales representative of various personality dimensions, i.e.,R, M, F, F+, FC, CF, C, FC: CF + C, Sum C, Affective Ratio, Shading, H, andA, were subjected to a linear discriminant analysis. The results showed highly significant and accurate differentiation between the groups (p<0.0005, correct classification rate =86.8%); however, theAffective Ratio was the only scale that heavily contributed to the discrimination. The difference between the groups on this scale was attributed to the delinquents' passive cognitive style. The results also lend support to the notion that delinquents differ from normals along the dimension of impulsivity, a finding relevant to psychodynamic theories of delinquency as reflective of serious ego deficits. Fuller consideration of Rorschach symbolic content and qualitative features of response is recommended.The first two authors' contributions were equal.Currently a Ph.D. candidate in education at Loyola University, Chicago. Major research interests are psychometrics, psychodiagnostics, and statistics.Received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Loyola University, Chicago. Major research interests are psychodiagnosis, psychotherapy evaluation, and the etiology of delinquency.Received his M.D. from Marquette University. Major research interests are juvenile delinquency and the process of psychotherapy.