The association between family structures and depressive symptoms among children

The aim of this study was to examine whether family structures affected children’s depressed mood when time spent with parents was controlled as a covariate variable. It was also examined whether different family structures had an effect on depressed mood and whether it varied by gender. A random sa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sunneva Reynisdóttir 1992-
Other Authors: Háskólinn í Reykjavík
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1946/25690
Description
Summary:The aim of this study was to examine whether family structures affected children’s depressed mood when time spent with parents was controlled as a covariate variable. It was also examined whether different family structures had an effect on depressed mood and whether it varied by gender. A random sample of 2075 participants was drawn from the population-wide cross-sectional data from the 2015 “Youth in Iceland” study. The participants were students in 5th, 6th and 7th grade. The results showed gender difference, with boys having lower depressed mood than girls, irrespective of family structure. The results indicate that those who live in a single parent household show a more depressed mood than those who live in intact families and shared physical household. There were a significant main effects between family structure and depressed mood when controlling for time spent with parents. Markmið rannsóknarinnar var að kanna hvort að fjölskyldumynstur hefði áhrif á depurðareinkenni barna á meðan tíma með foreldrum var stjórnað sem stjórnbreytu. Einnig var skoðað hvort mismunandi fjölskyldumynstur hefði áhrif á depurð og hvort það væri mismunandi eftir kyni. Í rannsókninni voru notuð fyrirliggjandi gögn frá Rannsóknum og greiningu úr þýðisrannsókn þeirra “Ungt fólk” frá árinu 2015. Notast var við tilviljunarkennt úrtak sem samanstóð af 2075 þátttakendum sem voru nemendur í 5., 6. og 7.bekk í grunnskólum á Íslandi. Niðurstöður leiddu í ljós að munur var á milli kynja þar sem strákar höfðu færri depurðareinkenni heldur en stelpur í öllum þremur fjölskyldumynstrum. Niðurstöður sýndu að börn sem búa hjá einstæðu foreldri höfðu fleiri depurðareinkenni heldur en þau börn sem búa í kjarnafjölskyldu og jafnt til skiptis hjá foreldri. Að lokum sýndu niðurstöður marktækan mun á milli fjölskyldumynsturs og depurðareinkenna þegar samvera með foreldrum var stjórnað.