A closer look into the affect dynamics of adolescents with depression and the interactions with their parents: An ecological momentary assessment study

Loes H.C. Janssen*, Bart Verkuil, Lisanne A.E.M. van Houtum, Mirjam C.M. Wever, Wilma G.M. Wentholt, Bernet M. Elzinga

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Adolescents with depression tend to perceive behavior of parents as less positive than adolescents without depression, but conclusions are based on retrospective reports assessed once or over long time intervals, with the risk of memory biases affecting the recall. The current study used ecological momentary assessments to examine the link between adolescent affect and the amount of warmth and criticism expressed by both mothers and fathers in families with adolescents with depression versus adolescents without psychopathology in daily life. It also explored the possible bias by assessing parenting on the momentary, daily (EMA), and retrospective level. The sample consisted of 34 adolescents with depression and 58 parents and 80 healthy controls and 151 parents (adolescents: Mage = 15.8, SD = 1.41; 67.5% girls, parents: Mage = 49.3, SD = 5.73; 54.1% mothers). Participants completed retrospective questionnaires and four surveys a day for 14 consecutive days. Preregistered multilevel models showed that momentary parenting reports of adolescents with depression and healthy controls did not differ. The associations between perceived parenting of both mothers and fathers and adolescent affect did also not differ between the two groups. These results illustrate that adolescents generally benefit from supportive parenting, but substantial differences between individuals were found. In contrast to the momentary data, both adolescents with depression and their parents did report more negative parenting on retrospective questionnaires than healthy controls and their parents indicating that adolescents with depression may have a negativity bias in their retrospective recall. These findings are highly relevant for clinical practice and underscore the need for careful assessments on different time scales and including all family members.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4259-4272
Number of pages14
JournalEuropean child & adolescent psychiatry
Volume33
Issue number12
Early online date18 May 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2024
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Funding

The study was supported by a personal research grant awarded to Bernet Elzinga from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO-VICI; Unravelling the Impact of Emotional Maltreatment on the Developing Brain 453-15-006).

FundersFunder number
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
NWO-VICI453-15-006

    Keywords

    • Adolescents
    • Depression
    • Experience sampling method
    • Parent-child interactions
    • Parenting

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