Abstract

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine hostility in family interaction and its impact on adolescent depression and anxiety with adolescent perspective taking and empathic concern as mediators. Gender differences were also examined. Adolescents were from 353 two-parent families in a large north-western city in the United States and on average were 13.25 years old (SD=1.01) for girls and 13.30 years (SD=.99) for boys at the beginning of the study. This study utilized data from waves 3-5. Earlier waves of data were not used because some of the measures were not available for earlier waves. Results indicated that higher levels of hostility in family interaction were directly related to higher anxiety in boys and girls and higher depression in girls two years later. Hostility in family interaction was not related to adolescent perspective taking, and adolescent perspective taking was not significantly related to anxiety for boys or girls, but it was negatively related to depression at time 5 for girls only. Adolescent empathic concern significantly mediated the relationship between observed hostility in family interaction and adolescent depression and adolescent anxiety for girls but not for boys. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Marriage and Family Therapy

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2016-06-01

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd8723

Keywords

hostility, adolescent, anxiety, depression, perspective taking, empathic concern

Language

english

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