The relationship between parent-child triangulation and early adolescent depression in Hong Kong: The mediating roles of self-acceptance, positive relations and personal growth

Abstract This study aims to (1) investigate the relationship between parent-child triangulation and early adolescents’ depressive symptoms, and (2) examine whether such relationship was mediated by early adolescents’ protective factors, i.e. self-acceptance, positive relation, and personal growth. A cross-sectional survey employing convenience sampling was conducted, which recruited 618 Grade 5 and 8 students from three primary schools and two secondary schools in Hong Kong, China. Parent-child triangulation was positively correlated with adolescents’ depressive symptoms while self-acceptance, positive relation, and personal growth were negatively correlated with early adolescents’ depressive symptoms. Only positive relation mediated the relationship between parent-child triangulation and adolescents’ depressive symptoms, and this mediating pathway existed for the female sample only. The results of this study imply that although exposure to parent-child triangulation adversely impacts adolescents’ interpersonal relationships, even the decreased level of the positive relation to some extent protects them against the negative consequences of parent-child triangulation. More research is called for to explicate how protective factors might constitute additional mediating mechanisms for the relationship between parent-child triangulation and child development.