Bidirectional associations refer to a relationship between two things, where both of them are connected and influence each other. It means that both sides of the association have an impact on each other, and any changes or actions taken by one side will affect the other side as well. It is like a two-way street, where there is a connection and interaction between both sides.
Full definition
The current research used two 8 - wave longitudinal studies spanning the first 4 — 5 years of 207 marriages to examine the potential
bidirectional associations among marital satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and frequency of sex.
The present study was the first to
examine bidirectional associations between depressive symptoms and academic, social and emotional self - efficacy in a large adolescent population over a time span of 2.5 years, ranging from 14 to 16.5 years.
However, longitudinal studies examining this hypothesis have been unable to rule out the possibility that between - individual factors account
for bidirectional associations between child externalizing problems and maladaptive parenting.
We
found bidirectional associations between depression and obesity: obese persons had a 55 % increased risk of developing depression over time, whereas depressed persons had a 58 % increased risk of becoming obese.
Path analyses mainly
showed bidirectional associations between adolescents» perceptions of parent — adolescent relationships and friendships with a predominantly stronger influence from parent — adolescent relationships to friendships than vice versa in early to middle adolescence and an equal mutual influence in middle to late adolescence.
This did not look at how anxiety may have affected father attachment at young ages, although studies of adolescents have
found bidirectional associations between father - child attachment and anxiety or depressive symptoms over time (Branje, Hale, Frijns & Meeus, 2010; van Eijck, Branje, Hale & Meeus, 2012).
To disentangle parenting factors,
bidirectional associations among parental knowledge, adolescent disclosure, and parental monitoring (i.e., solicitation and control) were examined.
First, the cross-lagged and
bidirectional associations between self - efficacy and depressive symptoms were examined in one model, thereby controlling for the stability in depression and self - efficacy over time and the concurrent correlations between the two constructs.
Bidirectional association between depression and metabolic syndrome: a systematic review and meta - analysis of epidemiological studies
Bidirectional association between depression and metabolic syndrome: a systematic review and meta - analysis of epidemiological studies
Bidirectional associations between temperament and parenting and the prediction of adjustment problems in middle childhood
However, as this was one of the first prospective longitudinal studies to investigate
the bidirectional associations between adolescents» depressive symptoms and academic, social and emotional self - efficacy, more research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn and implications for practice can be provided.
In the current study,
the bidirectional associations between self - efficacy and depressive symptoms were modeled including the concurrent correlations and stability in depressive symptoms and self - efficacy domains over time.
Since the current study is one of the first studies assessing the bidirectional longitudinal associations between depressive symptoms and self - efficacy over time during early to middle adolescence using a cross-lagged model, more research is needed that study
these bidirectional association during adolescence before firm conclusions can be drawn.
This is, to our knowledge, the first study that assessed the prospective longitudinal and
bidirectional association between depressive symptoms and academic, social and emotional self - efficacy in a large adolescent sample.
Since it is argued that self - efficacy and depressive symptoms might influence each other over time, the current study examined the longitudinal and
bidirectional associations between depressive symptoms and academic, social and emotional self - efficacy in a large sample spanning early to middle adolescence.
There was
a bidirectional association between the use of negative coping strategies and depressive symptoms, such that using more (as measured by a count and a mean) negative coping strategies at Time 1 was associated with higher depressive symptoms at Time 2, and depressive symptoms at Time 1 were positively associated with more engagement in negative coping strategies at Time 2.
There was also
a bidirectional association between the number of positive coping strategies used and emotion regulation.
Overall,
the bidirectional associations indicate that parent — child relationships and friendships mutually influence each other during adolescence.
Overall, the results indicated
a bidirectional association between parent — adolescent relationships and friendships with a stronger influence from parent — adolescent relationships to friendships than vice versa in early to middle adolescence and an equal mutual influence in middle to late adolescence.
In line with the broaden - and - build theory,
a bidirectional association also was found between emotion regulation and the number of positive coping strategies used when stressed.
Interestingly, attention problems in toddlerhood also predicted sleep problems in adolescence after controlling for toddlerhood sleep problems (Gregory and O'Connor 2002), suggesting
a bidirectional association between sleep problems and inattention in youth.
Doane et al. (2015) also examined
the bidirectional association of sleep with internalizing symptoms.