Relationships between family functioning, parenting and peer victimization in adolescent depression: A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: Major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescence is a prevalent mental health problem with a complex etiology and a rising incidence. The aim of the study investigated functioning of family, attitudes of parents, and peer victimization in adolescents with MDD and to compare those with healthy adolescents. METHODS: The study was designed as a multi-center, cross-sectional, case–control study. 98 adolescents diagnosed with MDD and 99 healthy controls were recruited for the study. Beck depression inventory, parental attitude research instrument (PARI) tool, family assessment device (FAD), and multidimensional peer victimization scale (MPVS) were applied to all participants. Descriptive, correlational, and bivariate group comparisons were used in analyses. RESULTS: The average ages of adolescents with MDD and control adolescents were 14.7 (S.D.=1.5) and 15.0 (S.D.=1.6) years, respectively. Females formed 74.5% of youth with MDD (vs. 70.3% of controls). The groups were similar in terms of socio-demographic features (all p>0.05). Adolescents with MDD had significantly elevated scores in FAD subscales except problem solving, PARI rejection of homemaking, marital conflict, and authoritarian subscales, and all MPVS subscales. Adolescents with MDD also displayed significant positive correlations between all MPVS subscales and FAD subscales except FAD problem-solving. CONCLUSION: This cross-sectional, multi-center study suggests that family dysfunction and peer victimization may be higher in youth with MDD. Although cross-sectional design precludes evaluation of causality, it may be prudent to evaluate family functions as well as peer victimization of depressed youth.