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Parent and Adolescent Reports of Parenting When a Parent Has a History of Depression: Associations with Observations of Parenting

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Abstract

The current study examined the congruence of parent and adolescent reports of positive and negative parenting with observations of parent-adolescent interactions as the criterion measure. The role of parent and adolescent depressive symptoms in moderating the associations between adolescent or parent report and observations of parenting also was examined. Participants were 180 parents (88.9 % female) with a history of clinical depression and one of their 9-to-15 year old children (49.4 % female). Parents and adolescents reported on parenting skills and depressive symptoms, and parenting was independently observed subsequently in the same session. Findings indicated adolescent report of positive, but not negative, parenting was more congruent with observations than parent report. For negative parenting, depressive symptoms qualified the relation between the parent or adolescent report and independent observations. For parents, higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with more congruence with observed parenting (supporting a depressive realism hypothesis) whereas an opposite trend emerged for adolescents (providing some supporting evidence for a depression-distortion hypothesis).

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants R01MH069940 and R01 MH069928 from the National Institute of Mental Health, a NICHD Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (R01HD064723-02S1), and gifts from the Ansbacher family and from Patricia and Rodes Hart.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dewey Hall, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA

    Justin Parent, Rex Forehand & Martin Seehuus

  2. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Jennifer P. Dunbar, Kelly H. Watson, Michelle M. Reising & Bruce E. Compas

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  1. Justin Parent
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  2. Rex Forehand
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  3. Jennifer P. Dunbar
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  4. Kelly H. Watson
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  7. Bruce E. Compas
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Correspondence to Rex Forehand.

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Parent, J., Forehand, R., Dunbar, J.P. et al. Parent and Adolescent Reports of Parenting When a Parent Has a History of Depression: Associations with Observations of Parenting. J Abnorm Child Psychol 42, 173–183 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-013-9777-1

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