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Poster #62 - Rumination Mediates Associations between Family Relationship Quality and Depressive Symptoms in Mexican-origin Adolescents

Sat, March 23, 8:00 to 9:15am, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Prior research has shown that family relationship quality (e.g. family conflict, family support) during childhood predicts depressive symptoms in adolescence and that rumination can mediate this association. However, the existing literature has not considered this association across the developmental span from pre- to late-adolescence and this analysis has not been conducted in a sample of Mexican-origin families. Given the importance of familial relationships in traditional Mexican values (i.e., familism, respeto), greater family conflict and less family support may be potent stressors and predictors of rumination and depression in Mexican-origin adolescents.

Hypotheses: 1) High and increasing family conflict was expected to predict both rumination and depressive symptoms in adolescents. 2) Low and decreasing family support was expected to predict both rumination and depressive symptoms in adolescents. 3) Rumination was expected to mediate the relations between both family conflict, family support and depressive symptoms in adolescents.

Methods: 214 Mexican-origin youths reported on family support and conflict at ages 10, 12, 14, and 16 and on depressive symptoms and rumination at age 17.

Analyses: Intercepts and slopes of family relationship quality were modelled using latent growth curve analysis with intercepts modelled as the average across waves and slopes as the change from ages 10 to 16 years. Two mediation analyses tested whether 1) family conflict and 2) family support were directly associated with depressive symptoms or indirectly associated with depressive symptoms through rumination. Mediation models used bias-corrected bootstrapping with 5000 samples.

Results: The direct effects between family conflict, rumination (b = 5.29, SE = 1.36, p < .001) and depressive symptoms (b = 7.07, SE = 1.56, p < .0001) were significant. The indirect effect between family conflict, rumination and depressive symptoms (b = 5.29, SE = 1.61, 95% CI = 2.24, 8.57) was significant. The direct effects between family support, rumination (b = -2.50, SE = .654, p < .001) and depressive symptoms (b = -2.05, SE = .736, p < .01) were significant. The indirect effect between family support, rumination and depressive symptoms was significant (b = -2.64, SE = .724, 95% CI = -4.09, -1.20). Rumination was positively associated with depression in both mediation models, and mediated associations between family stressors and depression.

Discussion: Adolescents who experienced more conflict and less support across the 10-16 year period ruminated more, and this rumination mediated associations between overall conflict and support and the adolescents' depression. To our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study to statistically distinguish and examine average versus changing experiences of family relationship stressors, and to consider the developmental span of pre- to late adolescence in assessing the association between relationship quality, rumination and depressive symptoms in a large, Mexican-origin sample. Given the growth of the U.S. Latinx population and the prevalence of depression in adolescent populations, understanding the dynamics of this association in Mexican-origin youths is necessary for prevention and intervention programs targeting depression in this population.

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