Relationship between Early Maladaptive Schemas and Depression in Guidance School Students in Falavarjan

Background and Early maladaptive schemas develop in childhood and result in high vulnerability to mental disorder. The aim of this study was investigating the relationship between early maladaptive schemas and depression in guidance school students in Falavarjan. In a relational design study, 250 male students from guidance school in Falavarjan were selected using cluster sampling. To collect the data Schema Inventory for Children (2010) and Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS_R, Birleson, 1981) were used. The results of Pearson correlation showed significant correlations between some maladaptive schemas such as loneliness, vulnerability, mistrust, defectiveness, failure, unrelated standards, entitlement and depression among 11-13 year-old boys. Furthermore, stepwise regression showed five schemas including loneliness, defectiveness, mistrust/abuse, vulnerability and unrelated standards could predict 38.4% depression on the studied population (p<0/05). This study found that early maladaptive schemas can predict significant rate of depression among adolescents. These findings confirmed cognitive theories of depression. Thus, it is necessary to consider maladaptive schemas in treatment plans for adolescent’s depression.