Investigating the protective role of global self-esteem on the relationship between stressful life events and depression: A longitudinal moderated regression model

The occurrence of stressful life events is a risk factor for psychopathology in adolescence. Depression is a problem of notable clinical importance that has a negative psychosocial impact on adolescents and which has considerable social, educational, and economic costs. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptomatology in adolescence, taking into account the effect that attachment representations may have on this relation. Participants were 1653 adolescents (951 girls) aged between 13 and 18 years. The sample was selected by means of a random sampling procedure based on the availability of schools to participate. Data were collected at two time points: attachment and stressful life events were assessed first, and symptoms of depression were evaluated eight to nine months later. Two time points were used in order to better analyze the mediating role of attachment security. Stressful life events were recorded using the Inventory of Stressful Life Events, attachment was evaluated by the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (mother, father, and peer versions), and depressive symptomatology was assessed through the Children’s Depression Scale. In all cases, the Basque version of these scales was used. The results indicated that attachment to parents was a mediating variable in the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptomatology. Contrary to what we expected, the results indicate that stressful life events did not have a negative effect on peer attachment, and neither did the latter variable act as a mediator of the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptoms. It can be concluded that attachment-based interventions may be especially useful for reducing depression symptoms among adolescents. The findings also suggest a role for interventions that target parent–child attachment relationships.

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The Role of Perceived Social Support in the Association Between Stressful Life Events and Suicidal Behavior

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.699682 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Balpreet Panesar ◽

Tea Rosic ◽

Myanca Rodrigues ◽

Nitika Sanger ◽

Natasha Baptist-Mohseni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Support ◽

Life Events ◽

Suicidal Behavior ◽

Stressful Life Events ◽

Suicide Attempts ◽

Perceived Social Support ◽

Stressful Life ◽

Suicide Intent ◽

The Relationship

Background: Suicide is a serious public health concern for which there have been well-established protective and risk factors reported in literature. There is a lack of evidence on the indirect effects of other variables on these factors. Specifically, the association between stressful life events and suicidal behavior may be affected by perceived social support, but its role in this association is largely uninvestigated.Objectives: Thus, this paper aims to explore the role of perceived social support in the association between stressful life events and suicidal behavior. Perceived social support will be explored as a mediator and as a moderator in this association.Methods: Data were obtained from the Determinants of Suicidal Behavior Conventional and Emergent Risk (DISCOVER), a study conducted to identify risk factors of suicidal behavior. The study participants are individuals with suicide attempts admitted to hospital. Participants (n = 343) were recruited from hospital setting. Suicidal behavior was measured using two outcomes (1) the occurrence of a suicide attempt (2) level of suicide intent as measured by the Pierce Suicide Intent Scale. Perceived social support was measured using the Sarason Social Support Questionnaire.Results: Stressful life events were significantly associated with suicide attempts (OR 1.440, 95% CI 1.440, 1.682, p < 0.001) and perceived social support (B −0.785, 95% CI −1.501, −0.068, p = 0.032). There was no significant mediation effect by perceived social support in the association between stressful life events and suicide attempts (Sobel's test statistic 1.64, p = 0.100). Perceived social support did not moderate the relationship between stressful life events and suicide attempts [(OR 1.007, 95% CI 0.987, 1.027, p = 0.514] or the relationship between stressful life events and level of suicidal intent (B −0.043, 95% CI −0.132, 0.046, p = 0.343).Conclusion: Stressful life events are associated with increased risk of suicide attempts. The study also identified an inverse relationship between stressful life events and perceived social support. These associations were independent of perceived social support. This study highlights the effects of stressful life events on suicide risk is not affected by perceived social support, requiring further investigation into measures to reduce the impact of social stressors on people with risk of suicide.

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The role of resilience in the relationship between stressful life events and health in a Romanian sample

Romanian Journal of Applied Psychology ◽

10.24913/rjap.21.2.04 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 61-66

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Life Events ◽

Stressful Life Events ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Stressful Life ◽

Future Research ◽

Health State ◽

The Relationship

This study aims to identify the moderator role of resilience in the relationship between exposure to stressful life events and health state. The study included 238 participants from the general Romanian population, aged between 23 and 68 years, M = 44.16, SD = 11.03, 188 women and 50 men. The instruments used were Stressful Life Event Questionnaire, Resilience Scale, RS-14, and General Health Questionnaire, GHQ-12. The results revealed that resilience moderates the relationship between stressful life events and health state, but contrary to our expectations, in a negative direction. The negative relationship between exposure to stressful life events and mental health became non-significant at lower levels of resilience and higher levels of resilience failed to buffer the effects of stressful life events on mental health of the individual. These results extend the current knowledge about resilience’s role in individual’s health state after confronting with stressful life events. The implications of the findings, the limitations, and future research directions were discussed.

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