Avoidant attachment and depressive symptoms among school age children: The mediating role of emotion inhibition and autonomous dysfunctional attitudes

• Main Authors: Wei-Chih Hung, 洪偉智
• Other Authors: Huei-Chen Ko
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/68746411856867390029

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 行為醫學研究所 === 94 === 【Background and purpose】 The rate of depression in young people is increasing while the age of onset is decreasing. Making matters worse, depression will lead to various defects in one’s future, such as resulting in poor psychosocial outcomes, as well as increasing the risk of suicide. Therefore, investigating the risk factors for child depression should be regarded as the chief target for prevention strategies. According to Bowlby’s attachment theory, insecure attachment has been viewed as a risk factor for depression, but the mechanism remains unclear. From theory and previous studies, avoidant attachment was found to be highly correlated with depression, and children with high avoidant attachment tendency tended to inhibit their negative emotion and had more autonomous dysfunctional attitudes. Moreover, emotion inhibition and autonomous dysfunctional attitudes were also risk factors of depression. As a result, it was hypothesized that emotion inhibition and autonomous dysfunctional attitudes were mediators of associations between avoidant attachment and depressive symptoms for school age children. 【Method】 This study employed a cross-sectional study design to test the mediation hypotheses. A sample of 210 (89 male, 118 female), 3rd- and 4th-grade Taiwanese children completed the Children’s Attachment Coping Strategies Questionnaire, Children’s Emotion Regulation Scale, Children’s Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, and Children’s Depression Inventory. T-test, χ2 test, and Pearson correlation were used to examine demographic data and the relationships among all variables. Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) was performed in order to demonstrate the mediating role of emotion inhibition and autonomous dysfunctional attitudes between avoidant attachment and child depressive symptoms. 【Results】 Results showed that school age children with higher avoidant attachment scores would have higher scores in depression. It was proved that emotion inhibition and autonomous dysfunctional attitudes were mediators between the associations of avoidant attachment and depressive symptoms. Such results implicated that children with higher avoidant attachment tendency would be more emotionally inhibited, and have more depressive symptoms. In addition, children with higher avoidant attachment tendency would also have more autonomous dysfunctional attitudes and be more depressed. Finally, according to the hypotheses, mediation effects of emotion inhibition and autonomous dysfunctional attitudes on the relationship between avoidant attachment and depressive symptoms for school age children were hypothesized, yielding a model that could explain 44% of the variance in child depressive symptoms. 【Discussion】 The current study supported the mediation model in which emotion inhibition and autonomous dysfunctional attitudes were mediators of the associations between avoidant attachment and depressive symptoms. However, several limitations in this study were noted. For example, in the future, projective assessment of attachment could be used to increase the test validity of attachment. Besides, a longitudinal study design was suggested to examine the causal effects among avoidant attachment, emotion inhibition, autonomous dysfunctional attitudes, and depressive symptoms. Finally, a larger sample size should be considered to examine the possible moderating role of gender.