3 Transactional processes between support and depressive symptoms 91 Procedure The study employed a cohort-sequential design with four cohorts, who were aged 12, 13, 14, and 15 years at the fifth measurement wave in 2007 (in this study referred to as T1). The sample was collected in Flanders (a region of Belgium) in 1999, through a proportional stratified sample of randomly selected elementary-school children. Strata were based on geographical location, age, and sex. Their parents were invited to join the study and provided their informed consent. The families received questionnaires every 2-3 years. Ethical approval was provided by the institutional board of Leuven University. Measures Parental Support The warmth subscale of the Parenting Practices Questionnaire (PPQ; Olsen et al., 1995) was used to assess adolescent-reported parental support. The subscale consisted of 11 items at T1/T2 and 10 items at T3 (e.g., “Gives comfort when I am upset”) and was rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The scores for maternal (α = .88, .89, and .91) and paternal support (α = .91, .90, and .92) correlated moderately (r = .51, p < .001) and were combined into one mean score to assess parental support. Depressive Symptoms Self-reported depressive symptoms were measured with the anxious/depressed behavior subscale of the Youth Self-Report (YSR; Achenbach, 2007; Verhulst et al., 1996). This subscale consists of 13 items (e.g., “I feel worthless or inferior”) were rated from 0 (not true), 1 (sometimes or somewhat true), to 2 (often/or very true). Cronbach’s alpha of the scale was high, ranging from .83 to 84, and a sum score was created. Neuroticism Adolescents filled out the Neuroticism subscale of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HPIC; Mervielde & De Fruyt, 1999) at T1. This scale consists of the subscales anxiety (e.g., “I quickly panic”) and self-esteem (e.g., “I feel less than others” (R)), with eight items each. The self-esteem items, of which a higher score indicated a higher level of self-esteem, were recoded such that the overall mean score indicated neuroticism (i.e., emotional instability). Internal consistency was good (α = .87).
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