Predicting Depression by Attachment Styles, Emotion Regulation, and Affective Perspective-Taking in Adolescent Girls

Depression is a pretty common disorder among adolescents. Numerous self–disturbing behaviors are associated with this disorder; thus, paying particular attention to it seems necessary. Attachment style theories concentrate on the maladaptive effect of bad parent–child relationships on the future functional life of children. Depression is highly correlated with emotional disturbance. The relevant theoreticians signify that individuals with or without depression disorder have no difference in reflecting initial emotional response; they instead present a significant difference in coping with the negative consequences of these feelings. Furthermore, being sociable requires relationships, and a healthy relationship requires affective perspective–taking. Affective perspective–taking indicates observing the world from others' viewpoints and considering others' feelings and emotions, and in other words, putting yourself in somebody's shoes. Various studies demonstrate that children have the inner ability to attain knowledge about different basic emotions, and this process develops over time. Experiencing concurrent emotions consists of similar or contradicting feelings. During developmental stages, individuals who lack enough ability to integrate various contradictory feelings in a unique generality encounter severe problems in mental health and coherency. Thus, the main aim of this study was to examine the predictive role of attachment styles, emotion regulation, and affective perspective–taking on depression in adolescent females.

This was a descriptive–analytic and correlational study. Statistical analysis was performed by linear regression analysis. The study sample was 320 female students selected by the multistage random sampling method. For this purpose, from 15 different geographic distinct Esfahan City, Iran, district 5 was selected. Next, areas 3 and 5 were established; in these selected regions, 10 schools were chosen for collecting data. The study population consisted of all female adolescents studying in high school in 2014–2015. The used tools of the present study were Hazen and Shaver (1987) Attachment Questionnaire (adult and adolescent form), Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire by Berking and Zjon (2008), Beck Depression Inventory (1973), and Self–Constructed Qualitative Test of Affective Perspective–Taking.

The linear regression analysis data indicated a 49% odds of the effects of attachment styles, emotion regulation, and affective perspective–taking in adolescent girls' depression (p</em><0.001). In the first step, a safe attachment style increased the share of explanatory power to 28% with 28%, affective perspective–taking with 10%, ambivalent style with 5%, avoidance style with 4%, and emotion regulation with 2%.

The attachment styles, affective perspective–taking, and emotion regulation can predict depression in female adolescents of Esfahan City.