Stressful life events and depressive symptoms among adolescents in Malaysia
Little is known about the etiology of depression and its mechanism underlying the development of depressive symptoms in adolescents, particularly within the Malaysian context. As proposed by Beck’s cognitive theory of depression, cognitive vulnerabilities serve as critical components to the rise...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/90460/1/FPSK%28m%29%202020%2029%20UPM%20IR.pdf |
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| Summary: | Little is known about the etiology of depression and its mechanism underlying the
development of depressive symptoms in adolescents, particularly within the Malaysian
context. As proposed by Beck’s cognitive theory of depression, cognitive vulnerabilities
serve as critical components to the rise of depressive symptoms in response to stressors.
Given that cognitive vulnerability-stress model consists of effective elements for targeted
depression prevention and intervention programs, the present study aimed to provide a
fundamental understanding on the mediational role of cognitive vulnerability factor (i.e.,
maladaptive cognitive schema) in the structural relationships between stressful life
events (i.e., negative life events and daily hassles) and depressive symptoms among the
adolescents and examine the potential moderation effect of gender on the overall model.
A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted to recruit participants across four
selected states (i.e., Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, and Selangor) in Malaysia. The present
study involved 1,032 adolescents (38.8% of male and 61.2% of female) with the mean
age of 14.97 from 25 government secondary schools, identified using probability
proportional to size cluster sampling technique. Data were collected through a selfadministered
questionnaire, which comprised of the Life Events Checklist-Malay
(Baharudin et al., 2016), Adolescent Minor Stress Inventory (Ames et al., 2005),
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales Depression subscale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995),
and Automatic Thought Questionnaire (Hollon & Kendall, 1980). The hypothesized
model was tested using structural equation modeling analyses. Findings supported the
direct impact of daily hassles on depressive symptoms but found no evidence for
negative life events. As for the mediation test, bootstrapping results revealed that
maladaptive cognitive schema significantly mediates the relationship between stressful
life events (i.e., negative life events and daily hassles) and depressive symptoms. Results
reported a full mediation effect of maladaptive cognitive schema between negative life
events and depressive symptoms, and a partial mediation effect between daily hassles
and depressive symptoms. Moderation analyses showed that the structural relationships
between study variables differed across gender. Overall, the present study demonstrated the direct relationships between stressful life events and depressive symptoms and
provides valuable insights on the mediating role of maladaptive cognitive schema in the
stress-depression association. Findings advances the understanding of mechanism
underlying development of depressive symptoms among adolescents in Malaysia. |
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