LAUSR

The current study sought to test the role of family support as a buffer of life stress for depressive symptoms in a sample of young adults at low- and high-risk for depression based on a previous history of depression. Ninety-seven young adults, 54 with remitted depression and 43 without prior history of depression, completed reports of family relationships, disruptive life events, and depressive symptoms at baseline and every 2 months for 10 months. Results revealed significant interactions between family environment and life events predicting Beck Depressive Inventory (BDI) scores at baseline, such that individuals with better family support were buffered from risk associated with life stress, and this was true even after accounting for a previous history of depression. Longitudinal analyses utilizing the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) as a depressive symptom measure did not find significant associations with family environment, but did find that more stressful events at baseline were associated with increasing levels of symptoms over time. Exploratory analyses suggest that discrepant findings for baseline versus longitudinal analyses may be due to differences in symptom measurement and to associations between family environment and cognitive features of depression. These findings provide qualified support for the continued relevance of families as stress buffers in young adulthood across a spectrum of risk for depression.