The influence of parent's marital adjustment, child-rearing practices and family environment on depression of adult children

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine whether a relationship exists between marital adjustment of parents, parental child-rearing practices, quality of family of origin environment and the development of depression in adult children of the family. Child-rearing practices were assessed with regard to level of parental acceptance and rejection experienced by the child and level of control exerted by the parent over the child. The subjects for the study were 45 depressed adults, 24 from mental health outpatient facilities in a small university community in Texas and 21 from outpatient facilities in an urban population in Washington State. A control group of 48 subjects from local businesses was matched with the depressed group on age, sex, race, education and geographical location. Subjects were asked to complete a series of instruments as they would have at age 16. These instruments were the Beck Depression Inventory, a measure of current depression, the Children's Reports of Parental Behavior Inventory, a measure of parent-child interaction, and the Family Environment Scale, a measure of quality of family or origin environment. Subjects were also asked to complete the Dyadic Adjustment Scale for their parents marriage when the subjects were 16. The results of the study supported the existence of a relationship between dyadic adjustment of parents and depression in the adult child, specifically with respect to dyadic satisfaction of both parents, expression of affection between parents and agreement on child-rearing. A relationship was also found between low levels of parental acceptance, high levels of parental rejection and adult depression. Parental control over the child related to depression in specific ways, with higher levels of control through guilt for mothers and higher levels of hostile control for fathers. The quality of family environment during childhood was not significantly related to depression. Finally, current income and family members who sought psychological intervention were found to differentiate the two groups.