Contribution of Perceived Rearing to Depression: The Role of Cognitive Patterns as a Mediator

To test possible mediation of the effects of the perceived parenting in childhood on depression, university students (N = 258) were examined using a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. A path model indicated that (1) the effects of dysfunctional attitude (rated by the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale) on depression (rated by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) was mediated by automatic thoughts (rated by the Automatic Thought Questionnaire–Revised), (2) the effects of perceived rearing on depression were mediated by dysfunctional attitudes and automatic thoughts, and (3) perceived rearing was influenced by the gender of the student. These findings suggest that the well-studied link between childhood experiences and adult depression are mediated by depression-related cognitive styles.