Adverse peer relations and depressogenic symptoms in preadolescence

In two sequential studies, the longitudinal association between 384 fourth through sixth graders' adverse peer relations and depressogenic symptoms was investigated. The first study was conducted to explicate the prospective relations between peer rejection and depressive symptoms. Peer reports of peer rejection and teacher and parent measures of depressive symptoms were collected in the spring of each year. Structural equation modeling results provided support for a symptoms-driven model whereby depressive symptoms contributed to subsequent declines in peer rejection. No support was found for the premise that low peer rejection predicts changes in preadolescents' depressive symptoms or that peer rejection and depressive symptoms are transactionally related.;The purpose of the second study was to elucidate one mechanism through which early depressive symptoms forecast increases in later peer rejection. Peer victimization was a hypothesized mediator of the longitudinal link between depressive symptoms and peer rejection. Peer reports of peer rejection, self, teacher, and peer measures of victimization, and teacher and parent reports of depressive symptoms were obtained in the spring of grades four through six. Three successive autoregressive mediation models were tested. Data patterns observed in the final model suggested that fifth grade peer victimization mediates the relation between fourth grade depressive symptoms and sixth grade peer rejection. No support was found for a direct effect from fourth grade depressive symptoms to sixth grade peer rejection. Together, these studies shed light on the prospective association between two forms of relational adversity---peer rejection and peer victimization---and depressive symptoms in the preadolescent years.