Childhood parental companionship, self-esteem and prosocial behavior in college students: A correlation analysis

Family intimacy and depression: a comparative study among adolescents in Finland

BACKGROUND

Substantial research has demonstrated the strong influence of family factors on adolescent depressive symptoms. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship, particularly the moderating effects of sex and sexual orientation, remain unclear.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to investigate the direct and indirect effects of family intimacy on depressive symptoms among adolescents, while examining the mediating role of social inclusion and anxiety disorders. Furthermore, it explored how these effects are moderated by sex and sexual orientation.

METHOD

Data from the nationwide School Health Promotion Study in Finland were used (N = 155,166; adolescents aged 14-17 years). The analysis included a multiple mediation model to evaluate the pathways linking family intimacy to depressive symptoms, through social inclusion and anxiety disorders. Moderation analyses were conducted to explore the moderating effects of sex and sexual orientation on these pathways.

RESULTS

Family intimacy had a significant direct negative effect on depressive symptoms. Social inclusion and anxiety disorders were identified as mediators, with social inclusion serving as a significant buffer to depression. Moderation analysis revealed that these effects were stronger for non-heterosexual adolescents and varied by sex, with females showing a stronger impact of social inclusion on depressive symptoms, whereas males were more influenced by the pathway through anxiety disorders.

CONCLUSION

The findings highlight the crucial roles of social inclusion and family intimacy in mitigating depressive symptoms among adolescents. Interventions should prioritize enhancing social inclusion, particularly for non-heterosexual adolescents, and tailor strategies based on sex differences to optimize outcomes.

Creating A child-friendly social environment for fewer conduct problems and more prosocial behaviors among children: A LASSO regression approach

BACKGROUND

Creating a child-friendly social environment is an important component of promoting child-friendly city development. This study aims to explore the key indicators of friendly family, school and community social environments from the perspective of children's conduct problems and prosocial behaviors.

METHOD

The sample included grade 3-5 students from one public elementary school in the urban areas and another public elementary school in the rural areas of a Chinese city pursuing a child-friendly philosophy. A total of 418 participants were included in this study. Data on conduct problems, prosocial behaviors and the social environment were collected. To effectively select important variables and eliminate estimation bias, this study used LASSO regression to identify key indicators predicting children's conduct problems and prosocial behavior, followed by linear regression coefficient estimation and significance testing.

RESULTS

Creating a friendly family environment (ensuring family members' assistance with academic problems) and school environment (reducing cheating, fighting, and unfriendly teacher language) was associated with reduced conduct problems in children. Creating a positive family atmosphere (enhancing children's trust in family members), school environment (increasing parents' awareness of school affairs, reinforcing students' prosocial behavior, increasing extracurricular activity programs, and encouraging student engagement in academics) and community environment (respecting all children in the community) was associated with improving children's prosocial behavior.

CONCLUSIONS

This study transforms the multidimensional, complex child-friendly social environment evaluation indicator system into concise and specific measurement indicators, which can provide theoretical and practical implications for government decision-making in child-friendly city development through empirical research.