| Author: | Wong, Yee-wan |
| Title: | Resilience among school dropouts with depression : the effect of parental attachment |
| Advisors: | Yip, Kam Shing (APSS) Tsui, Ming Sum (APSS) |
| Degree: | DSW |
| Year: | 2017 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations Dropouts Dropouts -- Psychology Parent and child |
| Department: | Department of Applied Social Sciences |
| Pages: | xiii, 275 pages |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | This research studied the subjective experiences of school dropouts with clinical depression. The findings showed that the feeling-affective states of participants consisted of feelings, moods, affects and senses. Feelings refer to a strong sense of worthlessness, helplessness and guilt, as well as suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Moods refer to an intensive depressive state of mind that persists throughout the day. Affects refer to experiences of loss of interest to participate in almost all activities. Senses refer to intense physical fatigue, loss of concentration in decision making in daily activities, significant weight loss or gain, insomnia and psychomotor retardation or agitation. Referring to the International Classification of Diseases 10th edition (Yip, 2012), two participants who were invited for interview suffered from mild depressive episodes and six suffered from moderate depressive episodes. The findings also revealed that parental attachment was the main perceived causes of both depression and school dropout. Parental attachment affected the development of participants' internal working models as they perceived themselves and others negatively in childhood. In addition, competition and bullying increased the risk level of both depression and school dropout. Furthermore, the findings showed that depression reduced participants' motivation for attending school and school dropout further increased their level of depression. Both school dropout and depression had a negative impact on parental attachment. The relationship among parental attachment, school dropout and depression was mutually influenced. These findings revealed that competition, the influence of extended family and negative labels of mental health issues might have influenced on the cultural context of participants. Moreover, the findings indicated that different parenting styles resulted in various types of attachment for participants. If parents were unresponsive with their children or having insufficient time to relate with their children, it might make them develop avoidant attachments with their parents. When parents related to their children in an unpredictable way, their children developed ambivalent attachments with them. Furthermore, when parents adopted demanding parenting styles, it might lead to their children developing anxious attachments with them. A resilience framework for school dropouts with clinical depression to transcend adversities is proposed. The findings revealed that secure parental attachment or secure substitute attachments were regarded as perceived source of resilience for participants to surpass adversities from both depression and school dropout. Hope consisted of worthy goals and meaning in their suffering. Hope enhanced their motivation to change while problem solving strategies (such as emotional management techniques) helped participants overcome adversities. Supportive environments helped participants transcend difficulties when they could not develop secure parental attachments. Last, but not least, community integration helped them to reintegrate into society and minimized the risk of school dropout and depression. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 991022019998103411.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 939.12 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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