Family Interdependence, Spiritual Perspective, Self-Transcendence, and Depression Among Korean College Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the mechanisms that might account for the effects of spirituality and self-transcendence on Korean college students' depression among 197 Korean fathers, mothers, and children. A structural equation analysis indicated that spiritual perspective related to lower depression through the mediating pathway of self-transcendence for individuals. Mothers' spiritual perspective and self-transcendence related to their children's depression through the mediating pathway of their own depression, but the same was not true for fathers. Findings help explicate the intergenerational transmission of depression and important predictors of depression related to spirituality.