Understanding Risk and Symptoms: Parenting Styles, Symptoms of Depression, and Their Relationship to Automatic Thoughts

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine possible pathways through which parental bonding may relate to risk for depression. To examine perceptions of parenting style, current mood and levels of depressive symptoms, and the frequency of automatic thoughts, I collected data from 194 participants using the online survey service Amazon Mechanical Turk. Analyses revealed a meditational relationship between parental bonding levels and depressive symptoms through automatic thoughts. Overprotective parenting was not only mediated through negative thoughts, but also uniquely predicted somatic thoughts, whereas caring parenting did not. Caring parenting, mediated through positive automatic thoughts, uniquely predicted cognitive-affective symptoms, where overprotection did not. Overall this study suggests that the pathways through which parental bonding increases risk may not be as clear as originally assumed.