EMOTIONAL AUTONOMY AS A PREDICTOR OF DEPRESSION: A GENDER BASED ANALYSIS

Abstract

Adolescence is a transformational phase of one’s life, given the physical and psychological changes that occur during this phase. Autonomy is a psychological development task which may assume the shape of detachment and maybe characterized by alienation and distrust towards parent’s role during this phase. Studies suggest that male and female adolescents undergo depressive symptoms during this transitional period because of autonomy development.  In this study, an effort will be made to study emotional autonomy as a predictor of depression and to understand the gender differences in this prediction. A sample of 400 adolescents (242 = Females and 158 = Males) in the age group of 15 – 22 (Mean Age = 18.36 yrs) years is taken. Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Steer and Brown, 1996) and Emotional Autonomy Scale (Steinberg and Silverberg, 1986) are used to collect the data. The results will be analyzed according to appropriate statistical analysis and the results found significant at 0.01 level will be elucidated. The implications of the study will be elaborated.