2020 Theses Doctoral

Developmental Assets in Adolescents with Chronic Illness and Co-Morbid Depression

Zheng, Katherine

This dissertation aims to elucidate the relationships between chronic illness, depression, and developmental assets among adolescents with chronic illness and co-morbid depression. Chapter One describes the current state of evidence on the intersections between chronic illness, depression, and adolescent development, and introduces Positive Youth Development theory and the Developmental Assets Framework. Chapter Two describes an integrative review synthesizing findings from 11 cohort studies examining relationships between depression or depressive symptoms and chronic illness-related disease control, self-management behaviors, illness-related morbidity, and quality of life among adolescents. Chapter Three describes a cross-sectional study comparing the number and types of developmental assets between adolescents with differing health statuses and examining relationships between assets and co-morbid depression using data from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health. Chapter Four describes a qualitative study exploring ways that developmental assets were discussed by 16 adolescents and young adults who lived with chronic illness and co-morbid depression during adolescence and uploaded videos to YouTube, a public video-sharing platform. Chapter Five summarizes key findings of this dissertation, outlines strengths and limitations, and discusses implications for future research, policy, and practice.