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Published in: Archives of Women's Mental Health 1/2020

01-02-2020 | Affective Disorder | Original Article

Association between family conflict resolution methods and depressive symptoms in South Korea: a longitudinal study

Authors: Dong-Woo Choi, Kyu-Tae Han, Jooeun Jeon, Young-Jun Ju, Eun-Cheol Park

Published in: Archives of Women's Mental Health | Issue 1/2020

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Abstract

We investigated the relationship between family conflict resolution and depression, focusing on each component of family conflict resolution to determine which factors have stronger associations with depression. We used data from 2008 to 2015 of the Korea Welfare Panel Study. Our final sample included 3565 participants. For each participant, we included at least 2–8 years of follow-up data with a mean follow-up time of 4.05 ± 2.52 years. To identify the relationship between new-onset depressive symptoms and participants’ family conflict resolution styles, we performed generalized estimating equation analysis with autoregressive working correlations to estimate adjusted odds ratios for new-onset depressive symptoms adjusted for covariates. Compared with positive family conflict resolution, negative family conflict resolution had a higher odds ratio for depressive symptoms (aOR 1.80, 95% CI 1.42–2.29). This relationship was strongly founded on participants who were women (aOR 2.35, 95% CI 1.55–3.94) with experience of verbal aggression (aOR 1.84, 95% CI 1.42–2.37) and threatening behaviors (aOR 1.89, 95% CI 1.25–2.85). Negative family conflict resolution has long-term associations with an elevated risk of depressive symptoms. In particular, we observed higher risks of depression with verbal and psychological conflict than with physical conflict. Health care providers and health policymakers should support the management and development of methods for dealing with family conflict to improve mental health at a family level, as well as an individual level.
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Metadata
Title
Association between family conflict resolution methods and depressive symptoms in South Korea: a longitudinal study
Authors
Dong-Woo Choi
Kyu-Tae Han
Jooeun Jeon
Young-Jun Ju
Eun-Cheol Park
Publication date
01-02-2020
Publisher
Springer Vienna
Published in
Archives of Women's Mental Health / Issue 1/2020
Print ISSN: 1434-1816
Electronic ISSN: 1435-1102
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-019-00957-5

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