NCJ Number
194941
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 31 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2002 Pages: 231-242
Date Published
2002
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study analyzed data from a sample of young adolescents between the ages of 10 and 12 years (n=898) from the mother-child data set of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) for the purpose of identifying the influences that explain the relationship between poverty and depressive symptoms measured 2 years later; other variables that predicted youth depressive symptoms were also identified.
Abstract
From 1979 through 1994, respondents in the NLSY were interviewed annually and then interviewed biennially thereafter. In 1986 and every 2 years afterward, a number of assessments were administered to the original NLSY female participants and to their biological children. By 1996, 10,507 children were born to the 6,283 NLSY female respondents. Approximately 88 percent of the eligible women in the survey were interviewed in 1996, and valid assessment scores were generally obtained for 90 percent of available children. The study sample included young adolescents who were between the ages of 10 and 12 years old, and who resided with their mothers in the most recent 2 years. The youth completed the Child Self-Administered Supplement, and their mothers responded to five items that comprised the anxiousness/depression subscale of the Behavior Problem Index 2 years later. The findings showed that neighborhood problems, nonparticipation in outside school and neighborhood activities, residing with mothers who exhibited depressive symptoms, and mother's use of physical punishment were partial mediators of the effect of poverty on depressive symptoms 2 years later. Youth health status, lower levels of school satisfaction, marital-partner conflict, and father's emotional support also predicted depressive symptoms. The findings indicated that youth depressive symptoms were multiply determined and that poverty could adversely affect young adolescents in many ways. These findings are consistent with previous studies which have shown that economically disadvantaged youth are at risk for exhibiting depressive symptoms. Given the significance of influences in other contexts besides the home, a bioecological model should be used as a conceptual framework for examining variations in young adolescent depressive symptoms. 3 tables and 61 references