Informant Discrepancy in Report of Parent-adolescent Conflict as a Predictor of Hopelessness among Depressed Adolescents: A Replication Study

More knowledge is needed about how family factors influence depression features in adolescents. We aimed to replicate a previous small sample study showing that higher discrepancy between adolescents and caregivers in report of conflict predicted more hopelessness in adolescents with major depression. The current sample comprised 417 adolescent and maternal caregiver dyads. The adolescents were aged between 12 and 17 years (55.4% female, 44.6% male). The sample was drawn from the Treatment of Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS). Analyses were conducted using latent difference score modelling, item response theory, and linear regression in a Bayesian framework. Higher adolescent-perceived conflict relative to caregiver-perceived conflict predicted more adolescent hopelessness. This replicated the original findings in a much larger sample. Adolescent gender did not influence the associations. Addressing divergence in adolescent and parent perceptions of conflict may be relevant to ameliorate hopelessness in treatment of adolescents with depression.