The relationship between positive youth development and depressive symptoms among chinese early adolescents: A three-year cross-lagged analysis

Xinli CHI*, Xiaofeng LIU, Qiaomin HUANG, Xiumin CUI, Li LIN

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Based on the development assets theory and the scar model, the present study examined the relationship between positive youth development (PYD) and depressive symptoms among Chinese early adolescents using a three-year longitudinal study design. Data from three waves were collected from 1301 students (Mean age = 12.46, SD = 0.63 years and 51.2% boys at wave 1) across the junior high school period (Grades 7–9). All participants completed a questionnaire that included the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale (CPYD) once a year over three years. After controlling for age and gender, this study found that PYD significantly predicted subsequent depressive symptoms. However, depressive symptoms did not significantly predict subsequent PYD. The results indicated a unidirectional relationship between PYD and depressive symptoms, where a reduction in PYD may increase subsequent depressive symptoms, though not vice versa. Besides, the negative cross-sectional correlation between PYD and depressive symptoms remains significant and stable from first year (T1) to third year (T3). These findings suggest that promoting PYD may be a promising approach to preventing/reducing adolescent depressive symptoms.

Original languageEnglish
Article number6404
Number of pages16
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume17
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Sept 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Funding

This research was funded by National Social Science Foundation: 16CSH049, Key Research Projects of Colleges and Universities in Guangdong Province: 2018WZXDM015, Shenzhen Basic Research Grant: 2019SHIBS0003 and Attentional Bias Characteristics and Eye Movement Desensitization Intervention of PTSD: 31871115.

Keywords

  • Chinese adolescents
  • Cross-lagged study
  • Depressive symptoms
  • Positive youth development

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