The Influence Of Sociocultural Factors On Depression In High School Students

Depression is a common psychological adjustment problem and depression in individuals can lead to a range of behavioural and cognitive changes.Adolescence is an important stage of physical and mental development where various stresses and challenges can impact on them and depression may occur.As adolescents grow up,they become more concerned about their physical appearance.Negative body image is another important issue facing adolescents’ healthy development,and previous studies and related theories suggest that body image is one of the influencing factors of depression.Research has also shown that sociocultural factors can influence adolescents’ body image.Previous studies have examined the effects on adolescent depression from different aspects such as social media,parents,peers and individual factors.Therefore,this paper builds on previous studies and integrates the effects of intensity of use of social networking sites,peer teasing and parental teasing on depression and the underlying mechanisms from the perspective of body imagery,based on the triple influence model and others.A total of 880 high school students from Xinyang City were selected as subjects in this study,among which 404 were boys,476 were girls,360 were senior one,318 were senior two and 202 were senior three.The average age was 16.01±0.96.The Social Networking Site Use Intensity Scale,Peer teasing Scale,Parent teasing Scale,Short Negative Body Image Scale and Depression-Anxiet-Stress Scale were used for the test.SPSS and Amos were used for statistical analysis of the collected data.Statistical analysis of the collected data was performed using SPSS 23.0 and the Amos plugin,and the following results were obtained:(1)The detection rate of depression was 61.4%,of which 12.2% were very severe,10.7% were severe,28.9% were moderate and 9.5% were mild.(2)The intensity of social networking site use and peer teasing positively predicted depression;parental teasing did not have a direct predictive effect on depression,but positively predicted depression through the mediation of body image.(3)Social networking intensity,peer teasing and parental teasing positively predicted body imagery and body imagery positively predicted depression,and body image mediated the effect of social networking intensity,parental teasing and peer teasing on adolescents’ depression.Based on the above results,it can be concluded that the intensity of social networking site use,parental teasing,and peer teasing all have an effect on adolescents’ depression through body imagery.At the same time,the intensity of social networking site use and peer teasing directly influenced adolescents’ depression.The study enriches the research on the influencing factors of depression by considering two different social environments,online and offline,to focus on adolescent depression from the perspective of body imagery,and to provide insights to promote the development of adolescent mental health.By establishing a positive cultural and social environment,adolescents can be helped to establish positive body image and reduce adolescent depression,thus encouraging adolescents to maintain healthy and positive emotions.