Temperament and social support in adolescence: Interrelations with depressive symptoms and delinquent behaviors

This study investigated the interrelations between temperament, perceived family and friend support, and depressive symptoms and delinquent activity with a sample of 975 adolescents (¯xage=15.5 years). A difficult temperament index was devised, and manifested significant associations with depressive symptoms and delinquency, as well as with low family and friend support. Moderator and mediator variable models were specified via hierarchical multiple regression equations and path analyses, respectively. There was little support for the moderator variable models; partial support was garnered for the mediational models, indicating that part of the influence of temperamental difficulty on depression and delinquency may be attributable to reduced levels of perceived family and friend support. However, temperamental difficulty also significantly predicted depression and delinquency directly, over and above its indirect influences via perceived family and friend support. The findings were similar for males and females as indicated by simultaneous group structural equation models.This research was supported by NIAAA Grant No. 07861 awarded to the authorReceived a Ph.D. in human development and family studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Major research interests involve the identification of high-risk factors for adolescent substance use and other problem behaviors.