Family relationships of depressed adolescents: a multimethod assessment

Conducted a multimethod assessment consisting of behavioral observations as well as mother- and adolescent-report measures to compare the family environments of depressed adolescents to those of healthy, nondistressed adolescents. Each group consisted of 17 girls and 9 boys. Depressed adolescents and their mothers described their families as being less supportive and more conflictual than did their counterparts in comparison families. Depressed adolescents also demonstrated less problem-solving behavior, and both they and their mothers demonstrated less facilitative and more depressive behavior during observed problem-solving interactions. In contrast, neither depressed adolescents nor their mothers demonstrated higher rates of aggressive behavior relative to their counterparts in the families of healthy adolescents. The multimethod assessment allowed us to draw firm conclusions regarding the role of supportive family interactions. Hypotheses regarding the inconsistency between self-report and observational data with regard to family conflict are addressed.