Parental Emotion Invalidation, Emotion Inhibition, and Rumination in Relation to Adolescent Depression

This study tested a conceptual model which incorporated parental emotion invalidation of sadness, emotion inhibition, and rumination as contributing factors to depressive symptoms in adolescence. Adolescents completed questionnaires measuring their own emotion inhibition, rumination, and depression as well as their perceptions of their parents\u27 invalidating reponses towards their sadness. Parents completed questionnaires measuring their perceptions of their invalidating responses towards their adoelscents\u27 sadness, their perception of their adoelscents\u27 sadness inhibition, and their perception of their adolescents\u27 depressive symptoms. Path analyses were conducted to examine the direct and indirect relations among the four variables. Results showed that emotion inhibition and rumination were associated with depression, but not each other. Parental emotion invalidation predicted emotion inhibition and depression, but not rumination. Findings suggest that parental emotion invalidation may be differentially related to different components of emotion regulation and that multiple components of emotion regulation should be considered in relation to adolescent depression