ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Sec. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Being Praised for Prosocial Behaviors Longitudinally Reduces Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescents: A Population-Based Cohort Study
- 1The Department of Neuropsychiatry, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- 2Research Center for Social Science & Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan
- 3Department of Psychiatry, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
- 4Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Gunma University Graduate School, Maebashi-shi, Japan
- 5School of Advanced Sciences, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Hayama, Japan
- 6The International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN) at the University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS), Tokyo, Japan
Background: Depression is highly prevalent and causes a heavy burden in adolescent life. Being praised for prosocial behavior might be a preventive factor because both being praised and prosocial behavior are protective against depression. Here, we investigated the longitudinal relationship between being praised for prosocial behavior and depressive symptoms in adolescents.
Methods: In Tokyo Teen Cohort study (TTC), an ongoing prospective population-based cohort study, we collected 3,171 adolescents' data on self-reported experiences of being praised for prosocial behavior, depressive symptoms, and caregiver-evaluated prosocial behavior. Ten-year-old children were asked to freely describe answers to the question “What are you praised for?”. Only children who clearly answered that they were praised for their prosocial behavior were designated the “prosocial praise group.” The degree of depression at ages 10 and 12 was measured with the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ), a self-report questionnaire about depression. Objective prosocial behavior of the 10 year-old children was assessed by the Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire (SDQ). Multiple linear regression analysis was performed using the SMFQ score at age 12 as the objective variable and being praised for prosocial behavior as the main explanatory variable, and the SMFQ score at age 10 and the objective prosocial behavior at age 10 were included as confounders.
Results: Depressive symptoms (SMFQ scores) in the “prosocial praise group” were significantly lower than those in the other group both at age 10 (4.3 ± 4.4 vs. 4.9 ± 4.6, p < 0.001) and at age (3.4 ± 4.2 vs. 4.0 ± 4.6, p < 0.01). In the single regression analysis, the children who reported being praised for prosocial behavior at age 10 had significantly lower depressive symptoms at age 12 (partial regression variable: −0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) [−0.96, −0.17]). This association remained significant after adjusting for confounders, including baseline depressive symptoms (partial regression variable: −0.44, 95% CI [−0.80, −0.08]). Prosocial behavior alone was not associated with depressive symptoms.
Conclusions: Being praised for prosocial behavior rather than objective prosocial behavior at 10 years of age predicted lower depressive symptoms 2 years later. Praise for adolescents' prosocial behavior can be encouraged to prevent depression.
Depression is highly prevalent and causes a heavy burden in adolescent life (1); depression is the 8th cause of global years lived with disability (YLDs) in 10–14 years of age, 2nd in 15–19 years of age and 1st in 20–24 years of age. Thus, prevention strategies are required at all levels, including the individual, family, school, and society levels. Since praise influences self-esteem (2, 3), which is associated with depression (4), praising could prevent depressive symptoms in adolescents. An empirical research showed that parental verbal affection associated with well-being in late adolescence (5). Further, perceived praise from parents was associated with lower levels of depression in adolescents (6).
The manner and content of praise influences the self-esteem and positive attitude of adolescents. Overly positive and inflated praise has been suggested