Title Details

---

Depression is becoming a preeminent public health menace; adolescents are being affected prevalently, and their manifestations can be different from adults. Nearly half of the people with depression are from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Regions, and the Philippines has the highest number of depressed people in Southeast Asia. To contribute to the efforts in creating awareness of mental health in the Philippines, this study was conducted. Utilizing a quantitative research design and convenient sampling technique, 202 adolescents enrolled during the academic year 2020-2021 in a selected sectarian academy in an urban area participated in the study. Data were gathered through an online platform and were analyzed using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 23 and AMOS for the structural equation modeling part. The study aimed to determine the mediating role of coping skills on emotional intelligence, and parenting styles to adolescents’ depressive symptoms. Results revealed that adolescents have high emotional intelligence. They utilize more problem-focused coping skills, and they perceive their parents’ parenting style as more authoritative. However, adolescents 4 manifest a moderate level of depressive symptoms. Further, motivation, a neglectful mother, empathy, and an authoritarian father predicted depressive symptoms. Self-awareness, mother parenting style, neglectful mother, empathy and father parenting style predict adolescents’ coping skills. A significant full mediation effect of emotion-focused coping between self-awareness and depressive symptoms; father and mother permissive parenting and depressive symptoms. Emotion-focused coping partially mediates the relationship between motivation and depressive symptoms; and authoritarian father and depressive symptoms. Demographic profiles such as age, sex, religion, and family socio-economic status were found to have a moderating effect on specific structural models. This study concludes that building a strong protective factor such as high emotional intelligence and, use of problem-focused coping, coupled with supportive and nurturing parenting is a good buffer for adolescents as they thrive with the challenges of life.

---