Table 2.
Descriptive statistics of the study variables and test of sex differences
| No. of items | Students (mean ± standard deviation)† |
t | P | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| boys (n = 574) | girls (n = 617) | ||||
| Depressive symptoms |
11 |
24.24 ± 16.85 |
28.57 ± 16.65 |
4.46 |
<0.001 |
| Protective family factors: |
|||||
| family activities |
11 |
48.88 ± 16.70 |
51.09 ± 16.83 |
2.28 |
0.023 |
| PCS* – constructive mode |
3 |
50.41 ± 23.73 |
57.52 ± 21.36 |
5.44 |
<0.001 |
| mother – warmth and affection |
6 |
72.06 ± 21.17 |
80.68 ± 19.02 |
7.40 |
<0.001 |
| father – warmth and affection |
6 |
65.85 ± 22.56 |
72.08 ± 22.03 |
4.82 |
<0.001 |
| Harmful family factors: |
|||||
| PCS – destructive mode |
6 |
15.19 ± 15.93 |
17.05 ± 16.29 |
1.99 |
0.047 |
| mother – aggression and hostility |
5 |
31.00 ± 18.64 |
29.50 ± 18.26 |
1.40 |
0.161 |
| father – aggression and hostility | 5 | 28.21 ± 20.59 | 25.95 ± 20.82 | 1.88 | 0.060 |
*PCS – parental conflict strategies.
†The scores on all measures were linearly transformed to a standardized scale ranging from 0 (minimum score) to 100 (maximum score on the scale), with the aim to facilitate comparison between results on different variables.