Autonomy and relatedness in family interactions with depressed adolescents

This study investigated family interaction patterns associated with adolesc ent depression. Twenty adolescent-mother dyads with clinically depressed ad olescents participated in the study. Twenty dyads with externalizing youths and 20 nonclinic dyads were included as controls. Dimensions of autonomy a nd relatedness were rated during a videotaped mother-adolescent problem-sol ving task. Adolescent perceptions of parent attachment were also evaluated. Results indicated that depressed adolescents and their mothers did not dif fer in their behavior compared with nonclinic adolescents. Dyads with exter nalizing adolescents showed the highest impairment in autonomy and relatedn ess. Depressed adolescents perceived the quality of their relationships wit h their parents to be impaired relative to nonclinic dyads, as did external izing adolescents.