Parental bonding and adolescents' depressive and anxious symptoms in Pakistan

Abstract

Introduction: A quantitative cross sectional study was carried out to investigate the role of parental bonding in relation to depressive and anxious symptoms among secondary school adolescents in Pakistan. The study also aimed to investigate the construct validity of the parental bonding inventory in the cultural context of Pakistan.

Methods: The sample consisted of 1124 adolescents recruited from eight secondary schools in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Urdu translated versions of Parental Bonding Instrument (Qadir et al., 2005) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales (Mumford et al., 1991) were administered in classroom settings. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the data.

Results: Results from the CFA of the Urdu version of the Parental Bonding Instrument supported a modified version of the three factor model proposed by Kendler (1996) consisting of warmth, protectiveness and authoritarianism. Based on SEM, we found a significant relationship between low parental warmth and depression symptoms among adolescents, whereas maternal protectiveness was a significant predictor for anxiety. Parental authoritarianism was not a significant predictor for depression or anxiety.

Discussion: Findings of this study indicate that parental bonding is a central construct within a developmental framework in the cultural context of Pakistan, and is important when considering long-term psychosocial functioning of individuals. It should be explored further in clinical populations of Pakistani adolescents to ascertain significance of these constructs for interventions.

Keywords: Adolescents; Anxiety; Depression; Pakistan; Parental bonding; Structural Equation Modeling; Well-being.