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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
Emerging adulthood and the perception of parental depression
Girija Kaimal1, William R Beardslee
1Temple University College of Education, Ritter Annex 443,1301 Cecil B. Moore Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA. girija.kaimal@post.harvard.edu
Abstract:
Few studies have examined children's perceptions of parental depression. This study was a qualitative analysis of the changes in the perception of parental depression between the ages of 17 and 19 years. Archived interview narratives of 16 respondents from a longitudinal, preventive intervention study of depression in families were analyzed. The respondents were purposefully selected to represent both genders as well as higher and lower levels of family adversity. The perceptions of parental depression were found to fall into three categories: self-oriented perspectives (resistance and negativity), ambivalent perspectives, and, other-oriented perspectives (acceptance and compassion). Over time, respondents from the high-adversity families showed shifts from self-orientation to other-orientation, whereas the perspectives of respondents from low-adversity families remained unchanged. Some respondents with depression in both parents and/or siblings revealed changes in perception toward one parent but no change toward other family members with depression.
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