The Family System and Depressive Symptoms during the College Years: Triangulation, Parental Differential Treatment, and Sibling Warmth as Predictors.

Guided by Bowen theory, we investigated the relationships between parent-child triangulation, parental differential treatment (PDT), sibling warmth, and individual depressive symptoms in a sample of 77 sibling dyads, aged 18-25 years, recruited through undergraduate classes at a U.S. public University. Results of the actor-partner interdependence models suggested that being triangulated into parental conflict was positively related to both siblings' perception of PDT; however, as one sibling felt triangulated, the other perceived reduced levels of PDT. For both siblings, the perception of higher levels of PDT was related to decreased sibling warmth and higher sibling warmth was associated with fewer depressive symptoms. The implications of these findings for research and the treatment of depression in the college-aged population are discussed.

Connection to parents and healthy separation during adolescence: a longitudinal perspective.

The purpose of our study was to investigate how connection between parents and children influences the child's healthy separation during adolescence. We analyzed 3 waves of panel data from a study (Flourishing Families Project) of 500 families with children who were 10-13 years old at Time 1. This study includes information from the perspective of the child and his/her mother over a 4 year period for two-parent families and mother-headed households. Findings supported our hypothesis that a mutual sense of connection between mothers and adolescents supported the adolescent's healthy separation over time, with differences due to sex of the child, ethnicity and income. Pubertal maturation was negatively associated with the sense of connection between adolescents and mothers in our sample of young adolescents. We discuss these findings in relation to previous literature.