Relation between dysfunctional attitude and depressive symptoms in adolescents： the acting path of negative automatic thoughts and positive coping style

Abstract

BackgroundThe prevalence of depressive disorder in adolescents is on the rise. There have been studies on the pairwise relations between dysfunctional attitude， negative automatic thoughts， positive coping style and depressive symptoms in the past. However， the impact of the intrinsic relations among dysfunctional attitude， negative automatic thoughts and positive coping style on depressive symptoms is still unclear.ObjectiveTo explore the influence of dysfunctional attitude on adolescent depressive symptoms and examine the action path of negative automatic thoughts and positive coping style on it， in order to provide references for intervention for adolescent patients with depressisve disorder.MethodsThis study involved 162 adolescent patients with depressive disorder， who met the diagnostic criteria for depressive episodes in the International Classification of Diseases， 10th edition （ICD-10） and received treatment in Taiyuan Psychiatric Hospital from October 1， 2022 to October 31， 2023. These patients were evaluated using Self-rating Depression Scale （SDS）， Dysfunction Attitude Scale （DAS）， Positive Coping Style Subscale in Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire（SCSQ） and Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire （ATQ）. Pearson correlation analysis was adopted to examine the correlation among scores of scales above. Model 6 in Process 3.4.1 was adopted to test the acting path of negative automatic thoughts and positive coping style between dysfunctional attitude and adolescent depression symptoms.ResultsA total of 148 adolescent patients with depressive disorder completed an effective questionnaire survey， with a response rate of 91.36%. The direct effect value of dysfunctional attitude on depressive symptoms was 0.423 and the effect size was 63.32%. Negative automatic thoughts and positive coping style affected as acting path between dysfunctional attitude and depressive symptoms， with effect values of 0.156 （accounting for 23.35% of the total effect） and 0.045 （accounting for 6.74% of the total effect） respectively. Meanwhile， negative automatic thoughts and positive coping style affected as a chain reaction pathway between dysfunctional attitude and depressive symptoms， with an effect value of 0.044， accounting for 6.59% of the total effect.ConclusionDysfunctional attitude can not only directly affect the depressive symptoms of adolescent patients with depressive disorder， but also affect the depressive symptoms of adolescent patients with depressive disorder through the independent path or chain path of negative automatic thoughts and positive coping style.

Keywords

• adolescents
• depressive disorder
• dysfunctional attitude
• negative automatic thoughts
• positive coping style
• mediating effect