Differences in Perception of Childhood and Adult Depression Based on Parental Divorce

Indianapolis, IN

This study seeks to better understand the connection between experiencing parental divorce and two later life experiences: perception of one's childhood and adult depression. An individual's age at the time of their parent's divorce and their gender will also be examined. Zung's Self Rating Depression Scale (1965) and the Early Memories of Warmth and Safeness Scale (Richter, Gilbert, & McEwan, 2009) were used to assess college student's perception of childhood and current level of depression. Based on the literature, I hypothesize the following: first, students from divorced homes will have a more negative perception of their childhood and higher levels of depression than those not from divorced homes. Second, those whose parent's divorced when they were ages twelve and younger will have a more negative perception of childhood and higher levels of depression than others in the divorced group. Lastly, I hypothesized that females within the divorced group will have a more negative perception of childhood and higher levels of depression than males. Data will be analyzed and results will be discussed.