Peer relationships and academic achievement as interacting predictors of depressive symptoms during middle childhood.

This article reports a longitudinal investigation that examines academic and social difficulties as predictors of depressive symptoms during middle childhood. Participants were 199 elementary school children (M = 9.1 years) who were followed for 2 consecutive school years. In both years of the project, children completed a questionnaire assessing depressive symptoms and a peer nomination inventory assessing friendships and social standing. Grade point averages (GPAs) were obtained from a review of school records. Low GPAs were predictive of depressive symptoms, but this effect did not hold for children who had numerous friends. Similarly, children who had relatively few friends tended to experience depressive symptoms. However, the effect was attenuated for children with high GPAs. Taken together, the findings suggest that competencies in 1 domain can moderate the risks associated with difficulties in the other domain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer victimization and academic achievement in a multiethnic sample: The role of perceived academic self-efficacy.

This study examines the link between perceived peer victimization and academic adjustment in an ethnically diverse sample of 1,895 Grade 6 students nested within 108 school classes. It was hypothesized that students' academic self-efficacy mediates the (negative) link between victimization experiences and academic achievement outcomes. Multilevel analyses were used to test this hypothesis and to explore whether there are differences between ethnic minority and majority group children. Results indicated that peer victimization was negatively associated with both relative class-based, and absolute test-based measures of academic achievement. These associations were similar across different school classes. As expected, the link between victimization and achievement was mediated by perceived academic self-efficacy, suggesting that victimized students did less well academically because they considered themselves to be less competent. The lower perceived self-efficacy of victimized children could be partly attributed to lower global self-esteem and depressed affect. Results were largely similar for ethnic minority and majority group children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer Academic Reputation in Elementary School: Associations With Changes in Self-Concept and Academic Skills.

The developmental significance of children's academic reputation among peers was examined in a longitudinal study of 400 children in Grades 3, 4, and 5. In the fall of Year 1, teachers rated children's academic skills and behavior, and peers provided nominations describing classmates' academic skills, social acceptance versus rejection, and aggressive behavior. In the fall and spring of Year 1, children provided reports of their academic self-concept, social self-concept, and global self-worth. In the fall of Year 2, teachers rated children's academic skills. Results indicated that 4 items assessing peer academic reputation formed an internally consistent scale that was correlated moderately and distinctively with teacher-rated academic skills. Peer academic reputation and teacher-rated academic skills each contributed independently to the prediction of fall-to-spring changes in children's academic self-concept. Peer academic reputation and academic self-concept contributed uniquely to the prediction of changes in teacher-rated academic effort and skills over a 1-year period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion dysregulation as a mechanism linking peer victimization to internalizing symptoms in adolescents.

Peer victimization experiences represent developmentally salient stressors among adolescents and are associated with the development of internalizing symptoms. However, the mechanisms linking peer victimization to adolescent psychopathology remain inadequately understood. This study examined emotion dysregulation as a mechanism linking peer stress to changes in internalizing symptoms among adolescents in a longitudinal design. Peer victimization was assessed with the Revised Peer Experiences Questionnaire (M. J. Prinstein, J. Boergers, & E. M. Vernberg, 2001) in a large (N = 1,065), racially diverse (86.6% non-White) sample of adolescents 11–14 years of age. Emotion dysregulation and symptoms of depression and anxiety were also assessed. Structural equation modeling was used to create a latent construct of emotion dysregulation from measures of discrete emotion processes and of peer victimization and internalizing symptoms. Peer victimization was associated with increased emotion dysregulation over a 4-month period. Increases in emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between relational and reputational, but not overt, victimization and changes in internalizing symptoms over a 7-month period. Evidence for a reciprocal relationship between internalizing symptoms and relational victimization was found, but emotion dysregulation did not mediate this relationship. The implications for preventive interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking Changes in Whole Family Functioning and Children's Externalizing Behavior Across the Elementary School Years.

This study used observational assessments of 57 2-parent families working and playing together when their eldest child was in kindergarten and again in Grade 4 to identify distinct patterns of family functioning derived from structural family systems theory for (a) cohesive, (b) separate, and (c) triangulated families. Little consistency in family type from early to middle childhood was indicated. No significant mean differences were found in teacher reports of children's externalizing behavior in their Grade 1 classrooms for children in cohesive or triangulated families. Fourth graders in triangulated families were seen as more aggressive at school than were their peers in cohesive or separate families. Changes in observed family functioning across a 4-year period (kindergarten to Grade 4) were also systematically linked to changes in teachers' ratings of children's externalizing behavior from Grades 1 to 4. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Relation of Children's Everyday Nonsocial Peer Play Behavior to Their Emotionality, Regulation, and Social Functioning.

The relations of children's nonsocial behavior to their emotionality, regulation, and social functioning were examined in a short-term longitudinal study. Parents (primarily mothers) and teachers rated children's effortful regulation, emotionality, asocial behaviors, problem behaviors, and social acceptance, and children's nonsocial play behaviors were observed for two semesters. Peers also rated likability. Children's observed reticent activities were related to adults' ratings of high regulation, low externalizing problems, and high asocial behavior, as well as to low anger and low positive emotion. On the other hand, solitary play was associated with low positive emotion and low regulation over time and with high asocial behavior and high peer exclusion. Peer rejection mediated the relation of internalizing emotions (anxiety, low positive emotion) and regulation to solitary play later in the school year, and asocial play mediated the relation of internalizing emotions to both solitary and reticent play behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer exclusion and victimization: Processes that mediate the relation between peer group rejection and children's classroom engagement and achievement?

Longitudinal data from a study of kindergarten through 5th graders were used to estimate a structural model in which chronic peer exclusion and chronic peer abuse were hypothesized to mediate the link between children's early peer rejection, later classroom engagement, and achievement. Peer exclusion and abuse were expected to predict changes in 2 forms of school engagement (classroom participation and school avoidance), and changes in both forms of engagement were expected to predict changes in achievement. The model fit the data well and lent support to the premise that distinct forms of peer maltreatment and classroom engagement mediate the link between early peer rejection and changes in children's achievement. Early peer rejection was associated with declining classroom participation and increasing school avoidance, but different forms of chronic peer maltreatment mediated these relations. Whereas chronic peer exclusion principally mediated the link between peer rejection and classroom participation, chronic peer abuse primarily mediated the link between rejection and school avoidance. Children's reduced classroom participation, more than gains in school avoidance, anteceded decrements in children's achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classroom Social Experiences as Predictors of Academic Performance.

A model linking children's peer acceptance in the classroom to academic performance via academic self-concept and internalizing symptoms was tested in a longitudinal study. A sample of 248 children was followed from 4th to 6th grade, with data collected from different informants in each year of the study to reduce respondent bias. A path analysis supported the model; a lack of peer acceptance in the classroom in 4th grade predicted lower academic self-concept and more internalizing symptoms the following year, which in turn, predicted lower academic performance in 6th grade. An alternative path with internalizing symptoms predicting declines in peer acceptance was tested and received some support as well. Implications of the findings for schools are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of victimization in Chinese children's peer groups.

This study reports a cross-sectional investigation of the behavioral and academic correlates of victimization in Chinese children's peer groups. The participants were 296 children (161 boys and 135 girls; mean age?=?11.5 years) from Tianjin, China. Multi-informant assessments (peer nominations, teacher ratings, and self-reports) of peer victimization, aggression, submissiveness-withdrawal, assertiveness-prosociability, and academic functioning were obtained. Structural equation models indicated that peer victimization was associated with poor academic functioning, submissive-withdrawn behavior, aggression, and low levels of assertive-prosocial behavior. These findings suggest that there is considerable similarity in the social processes underlying peer group victimization across Chinese and Western cultural settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Longitudinal Relations of Regulation and Emotionality to Quality of Indonesian Children's Socioemotional Functioning.

Data regarding individual differences in children's regulation, emotionality, quality of socioemotional functioning, and shyness were obtained from teachers and peers for 112 Indonesian 6th graders. Similar data (plus parents' reports) also were collected when these children were in 3rd grade. For boys, regulation and low negative emotionality generally predicted positive socioemotional functioning (e.g., social skills, adjustment, prosocial tendencies and peer liking, sympathy) within and across time and across reporters, even at the follow-up when initial levels of regulation or negative emotionality were controlled. For girls, relations were obtained primarily for concurrent teacher reports, probably because girls tended to be fairly well regulated and socially competent and variability in their scores was relatively low. Shyness for both sexes tended to be associated with concurrent measures of low regulation, high negative emotionality, and low quality of social competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of Pain on Functioning and Well-Being in Older Adults With Osteoarthritis of the Knee.

The effects of pain on functioning and well-being were examined in 367 older adults with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. The relationship of OA-related pain to depressive symptoms and perceived health was hypothesized to be direct as well as mediated by physical and social functioning. Results showed that OA-related pain was related to poorer physical and social functioning, had a direct effect on depressive symptoms, and direct and indirect effects on perceived health. Lower social functioning was related to more depressive symptoms, and both lower social and physical functioning predicted worse perceived health. Thus, distinguishing between physical and social functioning when examining the costs of OA-related pain is useful. Moreover, existing pain-psychological well-being models can be generalized to perceived health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

School functioning in early adolescence: Gender-linked responses to peer victimization.

Research indicates that peer victimization contributes to poor school functioning in childhood and adolescence, yet the processes by which victimization interferes with school functioning are unclear. This study examined internalizing and externalizing problems as domain-specific mediators of the association between subtypes of peer victimization (relational, physical) and school functioning (engagement, achievement) with a cross-sectional sample of 337 early adolescents. School engagement was examined further as a proximal process that intervenes in the associations between internalizing and externalizing problems and achievement. Gender differences in these associations were assessed. As expected, internalizing problems showed stronger links with relational than with physical victimization and partially mediated the influence of both on engagement for girls but not boys. Externalizing problems partially mediated the influence of both subtypes of victimization on school functioning for girls and physical victimization for boys. Notably, engagement was a robust mediator of the contributions of internalizing problems and physical victimization to achievement for girls and externalizing problems to achievement for girls and boys. Findings also suggest that physical (but not relational) victimization partially mediates the link between internalizing and externalizing problems and school functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chinese Children's Effortful Control and Dispositional Anger/Frustration: Relations to Parenting Styles and Children's Social Functioning.

Relations among authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles, children's effortful control and dispositional anger/frustration, and children's social functioning were examined for 425 first and second graders (7-10 years old) in Beijing, China. Parents reported on parenting styles; parents and teachers rated children's effortful control, anger/frustration, externalizing problems, and socially appropriate behaviors: and peers rated aggression and leadership/sociability. High effortful control and low dispositional anger/frustration uniquely predicted Chinese children's high social functioning, and the relation of anger/frustration to social functioning was moderated by effortful control. Authoritarian parenting was associated with children's low effortful control and high dispositional anger/frustration, which (especially effortful control) mediated the negative relation between authoritarian parenting and children's social functioning. Effortful control weakly mediated the positive relation of authoritative parenting to social functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Childhood ADHD and Adolescent Substance Use: An Examination of Deviant Peer Group Affiliation as a Risk Factor.

Deviant peer group affiliation was evaluated as a risk factor for substance use in adolescents with childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Results showed that deviant peer affiliation mediated the relationship between ADHD and substance use, suggesting that children with ADHD are more likely than children without ADHD to become involved with deviant peers and, as a result, more likely to use substances. Moreover, the relationship between deviant peer affiliation and substance use was stronger for adolescents with ADHD, suggesting that once they are immersed in a deviant peer group, adolescents with ADHD are more vulnerable to the negative social influences of that group. This study is the first step in identifying high-risk pathways from childhood ADHD to substance use in adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer rejection as antecedent of young children's school adjustment: An examination of mediating processes.

Ashort-term longitudinal design (N?=?399) was used to examine peer relations processes that may mediate the relation between peer rejection and children's emotional and academic adjustment during kindergarten. These proposed mediating processes extend the current literature by explicating behavioral pathways via which the attitudinal construct of peer rejection may affect adjustment outcomes. Structural equation modeling results supported the hypothesis that negative peer treatment (e.g., victimization, refusal of peer group entry bids, and exclusion from peer activities) and classroom participation partially mediate the relationship between rejection and adjustment outcomes. Rejected children were more likely to experience negative peer treatment, more likely to show decreases in classroom participation, and more likely to report loneliness, to express a desire to avoid school, and to perform less well on achievement measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family Functioning and Children's Adjustment: Associations Among Parents' Depressed Mood, Marital Hostility, Parent-Child Hostility, and Children's Adjustment.

Relations between parents' depressed mood, marital conflict, parent-child hostility, and children's adjustment were examined in a community sample of 136 ten-year-olds and their parents. Videotaped observational and self-report data were used to examine these relations in path analyses. A proposed model was tested in which mothers' and fathers' depressed mood and marital hostility were associated with children's adjustment problems through disruptions in parent-child relationships. Results showed that both mothers' and fathers' marital hostility were linked to parent-child hostility, which in turn was linked to children's internalizing problems. Fathers' depressed mood was linked to children's internalizing problems indirectly through father-child hostility. Fathers' depressed mood was directly linked to children's externalizing problems and indirectly linked through father-child hostility. For mothers, marital hostility was directly linked to children's externalizing problems, and marital hostility in fathers was indirectly linked to children's externalizing problems through father-child hostility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's coping strategies: Moderators of the effects of peer victimization?

Coping strategies were examined as potential moderators of the effects of peer victimization on children's adjustment. Self-report data on victimization experiences, coping strategies, and loneliness were collected on ethnically diverse 9-10-year-old children (177 girls, 179 boys). Teacher ratings of children's anxious-depressed and social problems and peer nominations of social preference were also obtained. Findings revealed that strategies such as problem solving that were beneficial for nonvictimized children exacerbated difficulties for victimized children. The effects of specific forms of coping were dependent on gender: Social support seeking buffered victimized girls from social problems but was associated with lower peer preference for victimized boys. Data also revealed the need to examine the effects of coping on multiple adjustment outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental Cascades: Linking Academic Achievement and Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms Over 20 Years.

A developmental cascade model linking competence and symptoms was tested in a study of a normative, urban school sample of 205 children (initially 8 to 12 years old). Internalizing and externalizing symptoms and academic competence were assessed by multiple methods at the study outset and after 7, 10, and 20 years. A series of nested cascade models was tested through structural equation modeling. The final model indicated 2 hypothesized cascade effects: Externalizing problems evident in childhood appeared to undermine academic competence by adolescence, which subsequently showed a negative effect on internalizing problems in young adulthood. A significant exploratory effect was consistent with internalizing symptoms containing or lowering the net risk for externalizing problems under some conditions. These 3 cascade effects did not differ by gender and were not attributable to effects of IQ, parenting quality, or socioeconomic differences. Implications are discussed for developmental models of cascades, progressions, and preventive interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental Problem Drinking and Children's Adjustment: Attachment and Family Functioning as Moderators and Mediators of Risk.

Children's perceived attachments with parents, and family cohesion and adaptability were examined as predictors, mediators, and moderators in the parental problem drinking-child outcomes link. A total of 216 6- to 12-year-olds (110 boys, 106 girls) participated. Data were obtained from children and their mothers, fathers, and teachers. A higher level of family cohesion and adaptability functioned as (a) a robust protective factor against adjustment and cognitive difficulties otherwise associated with problem drinking and (b) a mediator of adjustment problems. Children's perceptions of attachments to mothers and fathers were consistent predictors of behavioral, social, and cognitive problems and further moderated relations between problem drinking and child functioning. The results support that child-parent and family functioning variables act as either pathways and/or vulnerability and protective factors for children exposed to a high-risk environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)