Family Stressors and Depressive Symptoms among Nigerian Adolescents: The Role of Emotional Intelligence.

Abstract:

Depressive symptoms among adolescents constitute a significant public health concern in sub-Saharan Africa, yet the combined contribution of family-level stressors and individual emotional capacities remains insufficiently examined in Nigerian adolescent samples. This study examined inter-parental conflict, verbal abuse, and emotional intelligence as joint and independent predictors of depressive symptoms among secondary school adolescents in Ibadan, Nigeria. A school-based cross-sectional correlational survey was conducted with 210 adolescents aged 14-19 years from five public secondary schools. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II, Verbal Abuse Scale, Children's Perception of Inter-parental Conflict Scale, and Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test. Pearson correlations, standard multiple regression, independent-samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA were conducted. Inter-parental conflict, verbal abuse, and emotional intelligence jointly predicted depressive symptoms, F(3, 206) = 15.39, p < .001, explaining 18.3% of the variance. Inter-parental conflict was the strongest independent predictor (beta = .329, p < .001), followed by verbal abuse (beta = .159, p = .017). Emotional intelligence was negatively correlated with depressive symptoms but did not contribute significantly in the multivariate model (beta = -.059, p = .384). Gender differences were not significant, whereas older adolescents reported significantly higher depressive symptoms than younger adolescents. Findings highlight the central role of family stressors in adolescent depressive symptoms while suggesting that emotional intelligence may serve as an important, though not independently predictive, emotional resource. The findings support school-based mental health strategies that combine family-focused prevention with emotional competence development.