Risk Factors for Depressed Mood in a Taiwanese School-Based Sample of Adolescents: Does Spirituality Have Protective Effects?

A variety of risk factors have been identified as able to engender adolescent vulnerability to depressed mood. Recently, the social work profession has started to validate spirituality as integral to individual well-being, and as a protective factor of one's poor adjustment outcome. The present study aims to investigate spirituality as a protective factor for depressed mood among Taiwanese adolescents. Risk factors examined include family economic strains, parent-adolescent conflict, negative peer relationships and academic expectation stress. Using a cross-sectional quantitative research design, we utilised the multi-stage, random cluster sampling method to select respondents. A total of 1,325 Taiwanese students from grades 10 to 12 were recruited to complete the self-reported questionnaires. Results of multiple linear regression analyses indicated that controlling for gender and age, family economic strains, parent-adolescent conflict, negative peer relationships and academic expectation stress were positively associated with depressed mood. Spirituality was found to be negatively associated with depressed mood, and to partially moderate the association between negative peer relationships and depressed mood. Findings suggest that the culturally specific concern of spirituality should be incorporated into helping depressed adolescents. Spirituality should be examined cross-culturally in social work research, education and practice.