Individual and Family Factors That Decrease Depression in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean Youth

This study examined the risk and promotive factors that contribute to or decrease depression in late adolescents. Chinese, Japanese and Korean adolescents were surveyed in order to examine the individual and family factors influencing adolescents. Correlation and regression were used to examine the relationship among variables. Findings from the analysis revealed that promotive factors: autonomy, easy temperament, emotional intelligence, humor, moral development, optimism and physical beauty decreased depression. Risk factors that increased depression were history of physical abuse, history of sexual abuse, domestic violence, favoritism of siblings, parental depression and parent not aware. Implications of these findings for theory, research, policy and clinical practice are explored.