Running head: SUMMARY AND CRITIQUE OF

RESEARCH

Summary and Critique of Research Done By The McGill University

Karim Mohamed Kerasha
Montgomery College

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SUMMARY AND CRITIQUE OF RESEARCH

Summary and Critique of Research Done By The McGill University

In this research done by the Department of Psychology at McGill University, they wanted
to study the developmental origins of dependency-related vulnerabilities to depression. Although
this paper is not meant to examine the development of depression itself, it examines the
relationship between recalled peer relationship experiences and current levels of Neediness and
Connectedness. This is important because "only a handful of studies have examined the role of
peers in the development of personality vulnerabilities to depression, and no research of which
we are aware has examined the role of peers in the development of Dependency" (Kopala-Sibley,
Zuroff, Leybman, & Hope, 2012, p. 264). The research team's hypothesis is that recalled peer
attachments relate to current levels of Neediness and Connectedness over and above the effects
of recalled parenting. It was expected that peer attachments would relate more strongly to
Connectedness and Neediness when parents were remembered as not being caring enough, but
would relate less strongly when parents were remembered as being controlling.
The research method they used in this study were questionnaires given to college
students. Questionnaires were administered to 200 college students, 103 of them were female,
and all students ranged in ages from 18 to 25 years old. Participants were found through online
advertisements and from the undergraduate psychology department participant pool. The reason
why they chose participants ranging from 18 to 25 is because they would be able to recall peer
relationship experiences during adolescence with optimal results. There were no other criteria
other than being able to write in fluent English. The questionnaires were designed to assess
current levels of Connectedness and Neediness and recalled experiences of peer attachment and

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parenting. All questionnaires that assessed experiences during adolescence questioned

participants to recall their experiences before the age of 16, and the questionnaires were
completed online at the participant's convenience. Using questionnaires for this study seemed to
be the most efficient form for their team to gather data. As not only were they able to gather a
good amount of information from 200 college students in a small amount of time, they were able
to construct efficient questions to get the information that they needed. The questions were also
planned ahead by the team, so that can make sure that the data is relevant to the information they
are researching. However, using questionnaires also has its negatives, as the information
gathered is only as good as the questions that are being asked, which can make or break the
entire study. The responses might be inaccurate as well, as you are relying on the recollection of
the college students, which can be false or exaggerated. Moving on to the results, specifically the
descriptive statistics, they found that females reported higher levels of Connectedness. Also, just
as the hypothesis stated, "Consistent with hypotheses, higher levels of Connectedness were
related to higher levels of maternal care, lower levels of maternal control, and better quality peer
attachments. Higher levels of Neediness were related to lower levels of maternal care, higher
levels of paternal control, and poorer quality recalled peer attachment" (Kopala-Sibley et al.,
2015, p. 267). They discussed and found that, as expected, parenting experiences were related to
both Neediness and Connectedness, but the results show that recalled experiences of peer
attachments also relate to both Connectedness and Neediness. They also found that interactions
between adolescents' peer attachments and their experiences of parenting enhance or diminish
the role peer attachments play in adolescents' personality development. The researchers
concluded that better peer attachments were associated with more Connectedness and less
Neediness, and the effects of peer attachments Connectedness were stronger for males than

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females. They also found that peer attachment mattered more to the individual if maternal care
was low, and peer attachment was not really significant to the person if maternal care was high.
The results suggested the significance of a role for peer attachments in the development of
personality vulnerabilities to depression, but more information is to clarify the relationships
between parenting, peer attachments, and vulnerabilities to depression, as this information is
important to have earlier identification of those at risk for depression and to prevent development
of a vulnerable personality style.
Overall, this study has its strengths and was well done by the research team. The method
they used to gather information, using questionnaires, was able to provide information of 200
students in a good time span. According to an article on Surveyanyplace, "Its quick and easy to
collect results with online and mobile tools. This means that you can gain insights in as little as
24 hours" (Debois, 2015, Speedy results section). The questionnaires they used were also costefficient, as Stefan states "Questionnaires are one of the most affordable ways to gather
quantitative data. Especially online and mobile surveys have a very low cost and a generous
reach" (Debois, 2015, Questionnaires are cost-efficient section). Another strength is the type of
participants they chose to go into this study. They chose 200 college students ranging from age
18 to 25 because they believed this age group had would have the best recollection of their peer
relationships during adolescence. The supportive data they had that influenced this decision was
retrieved from a bullying study done by Olweus in 1993.
However, this study also had its weaknesses. While the use of questionnaires to collect
data does have its uses, it also has its drawbacks. As mentioned in the article on Surveyanyplace,
"Every administrator hopes for conscientious responses, but theres no way to know if the

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respondent has really thought the question through before answering" (Debois, 2015, Lack of
conscientious responses section). Also, as this study is focused on emotions and attachment, "A
survey or questionnaire cannot fully capture emotional responses or the feelings of the
respondents" (Debois, 2015, Feelings and meanings unable to be conveyed section). Also, we
can not be completely sure of the conclusions drawn by this research, as "The cross-sectional,
retrospective nature of this study is a serious limitation, as accuracy of recalled parental and peer
relationships cannot be ascertained" (Kopala-Sibley et al., 2015, p. 269). As mentioned above,
we can not be too certain of the results retrieved from this study, as the methods to figuring out
such lengthy and emotional relationships can not be achieved easily by a simple short
questionnaire for 200 college students.
If there was something that could be changed in this study, it would be changing the
research method used to collect information and reducing the sample size. A longitudinal study
would be a much better method to gather information related to this study than questionnaires.
The questions asked require the college students to think about emotions and events that has
happened in the past many years in a very limited time. However, longitudinal studies would
allow us to have a first-hand look on their peer and marital relationships. What makes
longitudinal studies suited for this research is that it happens over the course of many years,
which is reiterated in this article on Surveygizmo, stating "What makes a longitudinal study
unique is the timeline. Instead of a researcher collecting data from varying subjects in order to
study the same variables, the same subjects are observed multiple times, and often over the
course of many years" (Apel, 2014, Definition of a longitudinal study section). Another study
that was done to research self-control by also measuring peer relationships was conducted by a
longitudinal study. It concluded its research by stating "The analysis revealed that peer behavior

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is significantly associated with subsequent self-control, even after accounting for differences in
parental socialization, prior self-control, and other potential sources of spuriousness" (Meldrum
& Hay, 2011). This research demonstrated that it was able to achieve in depth answers that it
required using longitudinal studies to look into peer relationship behaviors, which is the similar
method I would apply to in this study as well to get optimal results.
Here is my summary and critique of the research done by the Department of Psychology
at McGill University. It was a well done study to research the developmental origins of
dependency-related vulnerabilities to depression using questionnaires, and has definitely found
some interesting results. These findings will definitely stress the importance of peer attachment
in the development of personality risks factors for depression. Although this study has its
strengths, it also has its weaknesses that could be looked and improved on for people willing to
conduct similar studies in the near future.

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References
Apel, B. (2014). What is a Longitudinal Study? Surveygizmo, Retrieved December 2, 2016
from https://www.surveygizmo.com/
Debois, S. (2016). 9 Advantages and Disadvantages of Questionnaires. SurveyAnyplace,
Retrieved December 2, 2016 from
https://surveyanyplace.com/questionnaire-pros-and-cons/
Kopala-Sibley, D. C., Zuroff, D. C., Leybman, M. J., & Hope, N.
(2015). The developmental origins of dependency-related vulnerabilities to depression:
Recalled peer attachments and current levels of neediness and connectedness.
EBSCOhost, 264-271. Retrieved December 2, 2016
from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.montgomerycollege.idm.oclc.org
Meldrum, R. C., Hay, C., (2011). Do peers matter in the development of self-control? Evidence
from a longitudinal study of youth. Pubmed, doi: 10.1007/s10964-011-9692-0