The purpose of this study was to determine if adolescents who exhibited different profiles with respect to gender and the social-cognitive variables of negative mood regulation expectancy (beliefs regarding one's ability to alleviate negative moods), self-concept, personal uniqueness (a facet of adolescent egocentrism defined as the conviction that one is "special"), and daily hassles differed on current and post-romantic breakup depression levels. Subjects were 72 adolescents (19 males, 52 females, and 1 undesignated gender) attending a medium-sized Midwestern high school located in a city with a population of approximately 70,000. The mean age of the adolescents was 16.5 years. Eighty percent of the participants were White. A romantic relationship was defined as one that was exclusive, acknowledged to exist by both parties, and based on mutual feelings of attraction. All participants experienced a breakup with a romantic partner during the 12 months preceding the study. Self-report measures of depression (one referring to the week just prior to the study and one targeting the first week after the breakup) and the four social-cognitive variables were administered in random order. Results of a K-Means cluster analysis showed that adolescents who reported strong beliefs in their ability to alleviate negative affect, high self-concepts, weak personal uniqueness beliefs, and few hassles experienced the least amount of depression. Conversely, teenagers professing weak mood regulation beliefs, low self-concepts, a strong sense of uniqueness, and many hassles reported the greatest amount of depression. Females' depression scores were higher than males', but the relation was not significant. Notably, 45% of the participants reported current depression levels indicative of the need for further screening. Twenty-five percent of adolescents in the sample had current scores in the "clinically depressed" range. With respect to post-breakup depression, 76% of the teenagers reported scores at or above the screening cutoff point, whereas 51 % had scores indicating clinically significant symptoms.These results suggest that school psychologists and counselors should take seriously the romantic breakups that occur during adolescence. Addressing adolescents' post-breakup depression would be a prime opportunity for these professionals to demonstrate their expertise in the areas of prevention, intervention, and consultation. / Department of Educational Psychology
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/179517 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Peresie, Cheryl A. |
| Contributors | Paulson, Sharon E. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | vii, 81 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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