Depression and Mindfulness among Adolescents with Parental Divorce

摘要

Adolescents with divorced parents have more vulnerability to experience mental health problems, particularly depression. This study aims to describe the level of depressive symptoms in adolescents with parental divorce and its correlation with mindfulness. Mindfulness is defined as awareness and paying attention about various personal feelings, thoughts, and events without judging. The study was conducted using quantitative approach and cross-sectional design. We used the Center of Epidemiology Studies for Depression-Revised (CESD-R) scale to measure depression symptoms and the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS) scale to measure trait mindfulness. The study participants were 85 adolescents from divorced parents aged 12-20 years. Samples were taken by purposive sampling technique and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson-Product Moment correlation test. The results indicated that the majority of participants showed symptoms of depression that is considered clinically significant. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the symptoms of depression among them. Furthermore, the correlation test showed that mindfulness is strongly negatively correlated with depression symptoms. It was found that the higher the mindfulness, the lower the symptoms of depression they experienced. This finding shows that while the symptoms of depression are quite high among adolescents with divorced parents, mindfulness can be considered as one of the factors that need to be considered in helping them to deal with their symptoms of depression.