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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Depressive disorder is the biggest risk factor of teenage suicides. To explore the important significance of adolescent depression symptoms' influence factors on family and society.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of character strengths on adolescent depressive symptoms and the regulating effects of parents' education level on this influence. Its aim to provide a new thinking method for those adolescent mental health workers and Chinese parents on how to provide teenagers with good growing and educational environment and how to effectively reduce the harms brought by depressive disorder.
METHODS: From April to July 2011, based on the zoning method of Eastern region, Central region and Western region by National Bureau of Statistics in 2003, ten sample provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities were selected through stratified sampling with unequal probabilities, six were from Eastern region (Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian) and four from Central and West regions (Chongqing, Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Anhui); and Shijiazhuang was also included (volunteered to be the sample city). Then 91 sample counties were chosen from these ten sample regions by using systematic sampling method, and 70 628 primary and secondary school students were extracted in a ratio of one over thousand. 47 872 questionnaires were considered as valid samples after investigation and verification. The investigation methods involved network test and paper test. Contents of the questionnaire included depressive symptoms〔Evaluated by Center Epidemiological Studies of Depression (CES-D)〕, character strengths〔Evaluated by Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth (VIA-Youth)〕, and parents' educational level (including levels of primary school, junior high school, senior high school and technical secondary school, college, bachelor degree and above).
RESULTS: The character strengths scores of, adolescents whose parents' educational level were junior high school, senior high school and technical secondary school, college degree, bachelor degree or above were higher than those whose parents' educational level was primary school, and their depressive symptoms scores were lower than those whose father's educational level was primary school (P<0.05); the character strengths scores of adolescents whose parents' educational level were senior high school and technical secondary school, college degree, bachelor degree or above were higher than those whose parents' educational level was junior high school, and depressive symptoms scores were lower than those whose parents' educational level was junior high school (P<0.05); the character strengths scores of adolescents whose parents' educational level were college degree, bachelor degree or above were higher than those whose parents' educational level were senior high school and technical secondary school, and depressive symptoms scores of adolescents whose fathers' education level were college degree, bachelor degree or above, mathers' education level was bachelor degree or above were lower than whose parents' educational level was senior high school and technical secondary school (P<0.05); the character strengths scores of adolescents whose parents' educational level was bachelor degree or above were higher than those whose parents' educational level was college degree, and their depressive symptoms scores were lower than those whose parents' educational level was college degree (P<0.05). The partial η2 of effects of father's educational level on character strengths and depressive symptoms scores were 0.034 and 0.010 respectively, while the scores of effects of mother's educational level on character strengths and depressive symptoms scores were 0.035 and 0.010 separately. The interaction of age, character strengths, father's educational level being bachelor degree or above and character strengths, and the interaction between mother's education level being college degree, bachelor degree or above and character strengths had effects on adolescent depressive symptoms (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION: Character strengths can reduce adolescent depressive symptoms and its effect is more obvious in teenagers whose parents possess rather high educational levels. Therefore, training high-quality parents can be a way of preventing and reducing the occurrence of adolescent depression. Copyright © 2016 by the Chinese General Practice.
Language: zh |