PARENTS STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS AND ADOLESCENT DEPRESSED MOOD

The present study of 451 families living in the rural Midwest examines a mediational model of the relationship between the stressful life ev ents experienced by parents and adolescent depressed mood. This model is intended to overcome two limitations in previous research on the re lationship between parents' stressful events and adolescent depressed mood by 1) examining a mediating process involving parental mood and p arenting behavior, and 2) using multiple informants to assess the theo retical constructs. Findings from the present study indicate that stre ssful life events experienced by parents are first related to parents' depressed mood which operates to disrupt skillful parenting practices . The disrupted parenting practices in turn place adolescents at incre ased risk for developing depressive symptoms. The results show that in clusion of these mediating processes represents a significant improvem ent over the bivariate model and that the hypothesized mediational mod el generalizes to four parent-adolescent dyads: fathers and sons, fath ers and daughters, mothers and sons, and mothers and daughters. Moreov er, parents' stressful life events are related directly to adolescent boys' depressed mood only when parents' reports are included in both t heoretical constructs. When parents' reports are removed as an indicat or for the adolescent depressed mood construct, the effects of parenta l stress on adolescent depressed mood are largely accounted for by str ess-related parental depressed mood and harsh/inconsistent parenting.