Biased and inflexible interpretations of social situations predict depressive symptoms and relational outcomes in parent-adolescent dyads

IF 4.5 2区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL

Behaviour Research and Therapy Pub Date : 2025-08-20 DOI:10.1016/j.brat.2025.104840

Reuma Gadassi-Polack , Reut Zabag , Michael V. Bronstein , Jutta Joormann , Jonas Everaert

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Abstract

Adolescence is a critical period for social-emotional development, characterized by increased risk for psychopathology and disruptive changes in the parent-adolescent relationship. Biased and inflexible interpretations of social situations have been linked to psychopathology and adaptive social functioning, but these associations are rarely studied in adolescence. To address this gap, the present study examined whether interpretation bias and cognitive inflexibility are associated between parents and adolescents, and whether these factors relate to depressive symptoms and relational perceptions. A sample of 112 parents and adolescents recruited online from the general population completed at baseline the Bias Against Disconfirmatory Evidence task and measures of perceived partner responsiveness and insensitivity, followed by a 28-day diary. Parents' and adolescents' negative biases were moderately and positively correlated, but not their positive bias or inflexibility. Negative bias and inflexibility in both negative and positive interpretations predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms. Regarding relational perceptions, an interesting picture emerged: positive bias was related to perceived responsiveness, negative bias was related to perceived insensitivity, and inflexibility was associated with both perceived responsiveness and insensitivity. Extending beyond their established role in psychopathology, our results demonstrate that interpretation biases and inflexibility may influence the maintenance of close relationships through their effects on how parents and adolescents perceive each other's responsiveness and insensitivity in daily interactions. These findings suggest that therapeutic interventions should assess biased and inflexible interpretations in both parents and adolescents and address them when present to improve depressive symptoms and relationship quality.

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对社会情境的偏见和不灵活的解释可以预测父母-青少年双性恋的抑郁症状和关系结果

青春期是社会情感发展的关键时期，其特点是精神病理风险增加，亲子关系发生破坏性变化。对社会情境的偏见和不灵活的解释与精神病理和适应性社会功能有关，但这些联系很少在青少年中研究。为了解决这一差距，本研究调查了父母和青少年之间的解释偏见和认知不灵活性是否相关，以及这些因素是否与抑郁症状和相关感知有关。112名父母和青少年在网上从普通人群中招募，在基线时完成了对不证实证据的偏见任务和感知伴侣反应性和不敏感性的测量，随后是28天的日记。父母与青少年的负向偏倚存在适度正相关，积极偏倚和不灵活性不存在适度正相关。消极偏见和消极和积极解释的不灵活性预示着更高程度的抑郁症状。在关系感知方面，出现了一个有趣的现象：积极偏见与感知的反应性有关，消极偏见与感知的不敏感有关，而不灵活性与感知的反应性和不敏感都有关。超出其在精神病理学中的既定作用，我们的研究结果表明，解释偏见和不灵活性可能通过影响父母和青少年在日常互动中如何看待彼此的反应性和不敏感性来影响亲密关系的维持。这些发现表明，治疗干预应评估父母和青少年中存在的偏见和不灵活的解释，并在存在时解决这些解释，以改善抑郁症状和关系质量。

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来源期刊

Behaviour Research and Therapy PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL-

CiteScore

7.50

自引率

7.30%

发文量

148

期刊介绍： The major focus of Behaviour Research and Therapy is an experimental psychopathology approach to understanding emotional and behavioral disorders and their prevention and treatment, using cognitive, behavioral, and psychophysiological (including neural) methods and models. This includes laboratory-based experimental studies with healthy, at risk and subclinical individuals that inform clinical application as well as studies with clinically severe samples. The following types of submissions are encouraged: theoretical reviews of mechanisms that contribute to psychopathology and that offer new treatment targets; tests of novel, mechanistically focused psychological interventions, especially ones that include theory-driven or experimentally-derived predictors, moderators and mediators; and innovations in dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices into clinical practice in psychology and associated fields, especially those that target underlying mechanisms or focus on novel approaches to treatment delivery. In addition to traditional psychological disorders, the scope of the journal includes behavioural medicine (e.g., chronic pain). The journal will not consider manuscripts dealing primarily with measurement, psychometric analyses, and personality assessment.