Abstract
Recent research has found that a strong family allocentrism relates to reduced adolescent depressive symptoms. Besides providing continuous support for this relation, this research extended the scope by exploring whether there was a U-shaped association between family allocentrism and depressive symptoms and testing the mediation effect of identity style among Italian adolescents (N = 387, 183 boys, 204 girls, Mage = 16.38 years). Result of hierarchical regression model showed that the association between family allocentrism and depressive symptoms was linear rather than U-shaped. More importantly, this linear relation was mediated by normative and diffuse-avoidant style. In sum, the current findings suggest that adolescents who are allocentric toward family tend to follow family members’ expectations to establish self-identity and deal with identity issues more proactively, and thus they are less likely to experience depressive symptoms. Moreover, there is no significant evidence that too much family allocentrism would lead to elevated depressive symptoms.
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Author Contributions
J.B.L. analyzed the data and wrote the major part of the manuscript. E.D. designed the project, collected the data, and wrote part of the manuscript. A.L. collaborated in writing and commenting on the manuscript. C.M. collaborated with the design and commented on the manuscript.
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Human participants were involved. The study was conducted in compliance with the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki). Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical Committee of the University of Padua.
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Singed consent was obtained from parents and participants provided their oral assent before participation.
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Li, JB., Delvecchio, E., Lis, A. et al. Family Allocentrism and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Self-Identity Style. J Child Fam Stud 27, 3986–3993 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1226-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1226-x