Parental acceptance, self-concept, and depression among early adolescents in Uganda

Abstract

Parental acceptance forms early in an adolescent’s psychological growth. Early adolescents have been found to generally react to their views of acceptance or rejection from their parents in particular ways. Those who feel rejected experience worry and self-doubt and are likely to develop mental health problems ranging from low self-concept to depression. The purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between parental acceptance, self-concept, and depression among early adolescents in Uganda. This study used quantitative and employed correlation research approaches to study the variables, it focused on early adolescents both male and female, a majority of whom were female and ninety five percent aged between aged 9-13years. A sample size of 129 respondents was selected using Krejcie and Morgan’s; (1970) table for determining sample size. None random purposive sampling technique together with purposive sampling also known as selective or independent sampling were also used in the selecting of the study sample. Results showed that there is a significant connection between parental acceptance and self-concept (r= .457**, n= 129, p<.001), parental acceptance is associated with depression(r= .524**, n= 129, p<.001) and that self-concept is significantly associated with depression among early adolescents(r= .203*, n= 129, p<.021), it further revealed that self-concept does not mediate the relationship between parental acceptance and depression due to the bootstrap confidence intervals which included a zero point. Parents, teachers and significant others that are raising children of this age group are in a strategic position to include helpful interventions and strategies in curbing the high levels of depression among early adolescents.