how do adolescents define depression? - cIRcle - University of ...
how do adolescents define depression? - cIRcle - University of ...
how do adolescents define depression? - cIRcle - University of ...
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Hierarchical Regression Analyses Predicting Depressive Symptomatology<br />
Chapter V: Discussion<br />
A multiple regression analysis further examined relations <strong>of</strong> levels <strong>of</strong> Social Perspective<br />
Coordination, emotion awareness, emotion expression, and emotion regulation as predictors to<br />
dimensions <strong>of</strong> depressive symptomatology. An examination <strong>of</strong> the hierarchical regression<br />
analyses revealed Poor Emotion Awareness to be the strongest contributor to severity <strong>of</strong><br />
depressive symptomatology. This finding supports and extends previous research that has s<strong>how</strong>n<br />
a positive correlation between the self-reported difficulties with emotion awareness in children<br />
(aged 9 to 13) and depressive symptomatology (Penza-Clyve & Zeman, 2002). Although<br />
assumptions regarding emotion awareness and emotion understanding cannot be confirmed<br />
without longitudinal data, this finding extends the literature in that increasing difficulty in<br />
identifying internal emotional experiences are related to severity <strong>of</strong> depressive symptomatology.<br />
Further, this finding provides weight to the correlational finding suggesting that, as Poor<br />
Emotion Awareness increases, it is associated with severity <strong>of</strong> depressive symptomatology.<br />
A reluctance to express emotion was another variable that was moderately significant in<br />
predicting the severity <strong>of</strong> depressive symptomatology. This finding supports previous research in<br />
children, where a correlation was found between reluctance to express emotion and depressive<br />
symptomatology (Penza-Clyve & Zeman, 2002). This study's data advances the view that<br />
increasing reluctance to express emotion is associated with concomitant levels <strong>of</strong> depressive<br />
symptomatology in a<strong>do</strong>lescents. The emotion expression variable was weaker than emotion<br />
awareness as a contributor to depressive symptomatology, reinforcing previous reports indicating<br />
that a willingness to express emotion is not considered as essential a block to emotional<br />
competence as is emotion awareness (Penza-Clyve & Zeman, 2002; Saarni, 1999). This finding<br />
provides weight to the correlational finding suggesting that increasing reluctance to express<br />
emotion is associated with increasing severity <strong>of</strong> depressive symptomatology.<br />
Increasing ability to cope with sadness was another significant variable inversely related<br />
to severity <strong>of</strong> depressive symptomatology. This study's finding reflect other studies s<strong>how</strong>ing<br />
emotion regulation associated with lower levels <strong>of</strong> <strong>depression</strong> (Salovey et al., 1995), although<br />
there has been no differentiation <strong>of</strong> emotion regulation (e.g., sadness or anger). Based on a<br />
sample <strong>of</strong> children in grades four and five, Zeman et al. (2001) suggest that children who report<br />
using effective strategies for coping with sadness tend to experience lower levels <strong>of</strong> depressive<br />
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