PERCEIVED FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS AND DEPRESSED MOOD IN EARLY AND LATE ADOLESCENCE - A COMPARISON OF EUROPEAN AND ASIAN-AMERICANS

This study examined perceived parent-adolescent relationships and depr essed mood among 173 early adolescents and 297 college students, all o f European or Asian American background. Ethnic differences in depress ed mood, not evident in the early adolescent sample, emerged in the co llege sample, with Asian Americans reporting more symptoms. Ethnic dif ferences in depressed mood were reduced to nonsignificance when qualit y of parent-adolescent relationships was statistically controlled. The magnitude of associations between measures of parent-adolescent relat ionships and depressed mood was strikingly similar for European and As ian Americans at the same phase of adolescence. As anticipated, percei ved parent-adolescent relationships accounted for more of the variance in depressed mood in early adolescence than in late adolescence 44% t o 51% for the junior high samples and about 10% for the college sample s.