THE RELATIONSHIP OF PARENTAL STYLE TO DEPRESSION AND SELF-ESTEEM IN ADULTHOOD

Previous studies have implicated low parental care and parental overpr otection as risk factors for depression in adulthood. The present stud y further examined the association between perceived parental style an d depression in two samples of medical students. In general, both low maternal and paternal care were associated with depression. Furthermor e, maternal overprotection in the U.S. sample and paternal overprotect ion in the Scottish sample were also associated with depression. Howev er, when results were analyzed separately for men and women, clear gen der differences emerged, indicating that the observed relationships we re occurring chiefly in the men, although there were some indications that low paternal care was associated with depression in women. Becaus e such gender differences have not been previously reported, women med ical students may be a unique group with respect to these relationship s. Also intriguing was that although parental style characteristics de monstrated significant associations with self-esteem, this was clearly true only for men and not for women. Finally, the study provided the first partial support for the hypothesis that self-esteem mediates the relationship between parental style and depression.