Interparental Conflict and Early Adulthood Depression: Maternal Care and Psychological Needs Satisfaction as Mediators.

Previous research has identified exposure to interparental conflict (IPC) in childhood as a risk factor for young adults' depression. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the underlying mediating mechanisms of this association. Driven by the spillover hypothesis, the present study investigated whether maternal antipathy and neglect, and in turn unmet psychological needs, mediated the relation between IPC and early adulthood depression in a sample of 347 undergraduate students (M = 23.27 years; SD = 0.86; 57.05% women) in China. The participants completed self-report measures of IPC, maternal care, satisfaction of basic psychological needs, and depression. Structural equation modeling revealed that: (a) IPC was positively associated with early adulthood depression; (b) this association was sequentially mediated by inadequate maternal care (i.e., antipathy and neglect) and by unsatisfied psychological needs. These findings suggest that efforts to prevent depression should focus on reducing not only IPC, but also inadequate maternal care and unmet psychological needs.

Anxiety symptoms mediates the influence of cybervictimization on adolescent non-suicidal self-injury: The moderating effect of self-control.

BACKGROUND: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has received increased attention as a major public health problem among adolescents. However, there is a lack of evidence testing the longitudinal association between cybervictimization and NSSI as well as its underlying mediating and moderating mechanisms. The current study investigated the potential mediator (i.e., anxiety symptoms) and moderator (i.e., self-control) of the relation between cybervictimization and NSSI over a 12-month period. METHODS: Three waves of data (called T1, T2 and T3) were collected 6 months apart, between November 2018 and 2019. 1987 Chinese adolescents completed self-report measures in their classrooms. SEM was used to test a moderated mediation model, with gender, age and childhood trauma and baseline measures as covariates. RESULTS: The results found a longitudinal association between cybervictimization and NSSI as well as the mediating role of anxiety symptoms in explaining this association. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that greater cybervictimization contributed to anxiety symptoms, which in turn predicted increased levels of NSSI only among adolescents with lower self-control. LIMITATIONS: Measures of study variables were self-reported, and generalizability may be limited by a sample of adolescents from school in China. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated that the indirect effect of anxiety symptoms in the association between cybervictimization and NSSI was conditioned by self-control. These results have implications for preventative interventions aimed toward reducing NSSI for at-risk adolescents.

Testing the Integrated Motivational-Volitional Model of Suicidal Behavior in Chinese Adolescents.

The integrated motivational-volitional model of suicidal behavior (IMV; O'Connor & Kirtley, 2018) integrates some key factors of suicidal behavior (e.g., defeat and entrapment) to explain the development of suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts. This study aimed to empirically test this model in a sample of Chinese adolescents. A number of 1,239 Chinese adolescents (679 girls; Mage = 14.07, SD = 1.54) completed self-report questionnaires. Results showed that defeat was associated with entrapment, which, in turn, was related to suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts. In addition, the relationship between entrapment and suicidal ideation was significant at high levels of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness, and low levels of resilience. These findings support the application of the IMV model in Chinese adolescents, and might help mental health organizations and educational agencies formulate effective suicidal prevention programs geared toward Chinese adolescents.

Non-suicidal self-injury in adolescence: Longitudinal evidence of recursive associations with adolescent depression and parental rejection.

INTRODUCTION: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has been acknowledged as a major public health concern among adolescents. However, the complex association between parental rejection and NSSI is not entirely understood and the existing literature does not address the underlying mechanism of adolescent depressive symptoms in explaining the process. METHODS: Three waves of data (called T1, T2 and T3) were collected 6 months apart, between November 2018 and 2019, in a sample of 1987 Chinese adolescents (56.1% males; ages 10 to 14, M = 12.32, SD = 0.53). Two separate autoregressive cross-lagged models were used to examine the bidirectional association between parental rejection and NSSI as well as the role of depressive symptoms in bidirectional mediation. RESULTS: There was strong evidence of bidirectional effects between parental rejection and NSSI at both 6-month intervals. Parental rejection at T1/T2 positively predicted NSSI at T2/T3, and, vice versa, NSSI at T1/T2 positively predicted parental rejection at T2/T3. Furthermore, we found that the reciprocal association between parent rejection and NSSI was mediated by adolescent depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The present study found reciprocal associations between parental rejection and NSSI, and further demonstrated that the bidirectional process was mediated by depressive symptoms. The findings from this study are of great interest as they help to inform the development of future prevention and intervention strategies for NSSI.

Father-Child Longitudinal Relationship: Parental Monitoring and Internet Gaming Disorder in Chinese Adolescents.

Although empirical studies have indicated that parents have an important role in preventing Internet gaming disorder in adolescents, longitudinal research on the parental predictors of Internet gaming disorder is lacking. We used a three-wave cross-lagged panel model to explore the reciprocal association between parental monitoring and Internet gaming disorder, and examined the different impacts of mother- and father-child relationships on this association. A sample of 1490 adolescents aged 10-15 years (M = 12.03, SD = 1.59; 45.4% female) completed assessments at all three points. The cross-lagged model revealed that (a) parental monitoring at T1 predicted lower Internet gaming disorder at T2, and greater Internet gaming disorder at T2 predicted lower parental monitoring at T3; (b) father-child relationship had a reciprocal, indirect effect on the relationship between parental monitoring and Internet gaming disorder, while mother-child relationship did not. These findings suggest that the parental effects (e.g., higher parental monitoring and better father-child relationship) might play a vital role in preventing Internet gaming disorder in adolescents.

STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY PERSONALITY INVENTORY FOR CHINESE COLLEGE STUDENTS.

The University Personality Inventory, a mental health instrument for college students, is frequently used for screening in China. However, its unidimensionality has been questioned. This study examined its dimensions to provide more information about the specific mental problems for students at risk. Four subsamples were randomly created from a sample (N = 6,110; M age = 19.1 yr.) of students at a university in China. Principal component analysis with Promax rotation was applied on the first two subsamples to explore dimension of the inventory. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the third subsample to verify the exploratory dimensions. Finally, the identified factors were compared to the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) to support validity, and sex differences were examined, based on the fourth subsample. Five factors were identified: Physical Symptoms, Cognitive Symptoms, Emotional Vulnerability, Social Avoidance, and Interpersonal Sensitivity, accounting for 60.3% of the variance. All the five factors were significantly correlated with the SCL-90. Women scored significantly higher than men on Cognitive Symptoms and Interpersonal Sensitivity.