Family and peer social support as specific correlates of adolescent depressive symptoms

Abstract

Depression models that emphasize the social environment have not been tested with adolescents and their specificity to depressive symptoms has not been demonstrated. In a study of 94 adolescent inpatients, distinctions were drawn between family and peer support to determine if these sources of support were differentially related to depression symptoms. Step-down multivariate multiple-regression analyses showed that depression symptoms were uniquely predicted by social relationship variables after accounting for the effects of anxiety and conduct disorder symptoms. Depression was negatively related to family and paternal support, but it was positively related to peer support. Furthermore, family and paternal support interacted with peer support in the prediction of depression. The results are consistent with the assertion that disturbances in important supportive attachments have special significance for the experience of depressive symptoms by adolescents.