Effect of parent-child alienation on epression among surface ship officers and soldiers: mediating role of resilience

To investigate the effect of parent-child alienation on depression in surface ship officers and soldiers based on the theory of "diathesis-stress", and the mediating role of resilience between parent-child alienation and depression in them.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 599 officers and soldiers from a surface ship unit. The participants were surveyed with inventory of alienation toward parents, connor-davidson resilience scale and patient health questionnaire-9 to obtain and analyze their demographic-military characteristics of their depression scores. The participants with depression scores ≥5 were recruited as the subjects, and Spearman correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation among parent-child alienation, resilience and depression. On the basis of hierarchical regression analysis, AMOS software was used to establish a structural equation modelling of intermediary effects.

The depression score was 1(0, 4) in the participants, and the depression scores of those with service length ≥11 years were comparatively higher than those with shorter length. Our results indicated that parent-child alienation was positive correlated with depression (r=0.451, P < 0.001), while resilience was negatively correlated with depression and parent-child alienation (r=-0.412, -0.407, P < 0.001). Regression analysis revealed that parent-child alienation had a direct positive predictive value for depression (β=0.574, P < 0.001), and resilience showed a negative predictive value for depression (β=-0.211, P < 0.01). Model analysis displayed that resilience had a significant mediating role in the effect of parent-child alienation on depression among these surface ship officers and soldiers, with an effect value of 0.088, and accounting for 15.86% of the total effect.

Parent-child alienation has a significant influence on depression among surface ship officers and soldiers, with resilience playing a partial mediating role.