| The study examined the relationship between parents' marital satisfaction, marital stability, their perceived triangulation in the family, and childhood depression. The author reviewed the biological, developmental, behavioral and cognitive theories on childhood depression, and adopted Minuchin's open systems model and family model to explain the family dynamics of the depressed children. The Marital Adjustment Test (MAT), Marital Status Inventory (MSI), Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and Nuclear Family Triangulation (TRI), subscale from the Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire, Version C, were used to measure respectively marital satisfaction, marital stability, childhood depression, and nuclear family triangulation. It was found that none of the mothers' scores were related to children's depression. Fathers' marital satisfaction and perceived triangulation were related to children's depression as hypothesized. Fathers' perceived triangulation not only was related to children's depression, but also moderated the effects of the fathers' marital stability on children's depression. Implications for marital therapy are given. |
