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A large body of literature has examined the relations between social support and depression. However, the exact nature and direction of these relations are not well understood. This study explored the relations between specific types of social support (peer support and teacher support) and depression. Adolescents (ages 11 to 17) for the first time (N = 2453) participated in a two-wave, 6-month longitudinal study. Structural equation modeling was used to test a social causation model (deficits in social support increase the likelihood of depression), interpersonal theories of depression (depression leads to social erosion), and a reciprocal influence model. Depression influenced peer support significantly and negatively. By contrast, the social causation model was not supported. These results held for males and females. Findings suggested that depression resulted in social support erosion. However, the effect was specific to perceived peer support but not to perceived teacher support.

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Background: Identifying deliberate self-harm (DSH) and peer victimization in adolescents is a public health issue. The present study evaluates a three-wave longitudinal model to examine the effect of peer victimization on DSH and the roles of internalizing problems (depression and anxiety) and perceived peer and teacher support climate in this relationship. Methods: The participants were 2381 adolescents (51.2% boys, Mage = 13.38, SD = .59) from Chinese middle schools. Self-report measures were used to collect data every 6 months in three waves. Results: (1) Peer victimization at T1 positively predicted DSH at T3. (2) Depression at T2, rather than anxiety, mediated the relationship between peer victimization at T1 and DSH at T3. (3) Perceived peer support climate at T1 played a moderating role between peer victimization at T1 and depression and anxiety at T2, but perceived teacher support climate did not. Peer victimization had a stronger predictive effect on depression and anxiety for students with high level of perceived peer support climate. Limitations: Study limitations include the short interval (6 months) of the longitudinal design, the reliance on self-report questionnaires, the inclusion of only one aspect of student-student and teacher–student relationships, and the age limitation. Conclusions: The results demonstrated the importance of prevention for improving social and emotional skills to reduce peer victimization and of interventions to promote a peer support climate in the classroom. The findings highlight the need to consider different types of internalizing problems and perceived support in studies of DSH in adolescents.

Though depressive symptoms tend to increase in early adolescence, the trajectories of these symptoms may vary strongly. This longitudinal study investigated the extent to which the distinct developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms were predicted by adolescents' academic achievement and perceived parental practices in a sample of Chinese young adolescents (N = 2,576). The results showed four trajectory profiles of depressive symptoms: low-stable (75%), low-increasing (11%), high-stable (9%), and high-decreasing (5%). Adolescents with high academic achievement were more likely to be classified into the low-stable, low-increasing, and high-decreasing profiles than into the high-stable depressive symptom profile. Moreover, students who perceived greater parental autonomy support were more likely to be in the low-stable and low-increasing profiles than the high-stable profile, whereas adolescents perceiving more parental psychological control had higher odds of being in the low-increasing rather than the low-stable profile. Parental educational involvement was unrelated to students' depressive symptom trajectories. In sum, Chinese adolescents with higher academic achievement and who perceived more parental autonomy support, and less psychological control, were at lower risk of experiencing depressive symptoms.

This study examined whether having vulnerable friends helps or hurts victimized and depressed (i.e., vulnerable) adolescents and whether this depends on classroom supportive norms. Students (n = 1461, 46.7% girls, 93.4% Han nationality) were surveyed four times from seventh and eighth grade (Mage = 13 years) in 2015 and 2016 in Central China. Longitudinal social network analyses indicated that having vulnerable friends can both hurt and help vulnerable adolescents. Depressed adolescents with depressed friends increased in victimization over time. Victimized adolescents with victimized friends increased in victimization but decreased in depressive symptoms. These processes were most likely in classrooms with high supportive norms. Having friends and a supportive classroom may hurt vulnerable adolescents' social position but help victims' emotional development.

IntroductionInternet addiction has garnered growing attention in recent years, and peer victimization plays a major contributor to adolescents' Internet addiction. However, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms in the association between peer victimization and Internet addiction. Guided by cognitive behavioral model and worldview verification model, this study examined a moderated mediation model in which anger rumination at Time 1 (T1) mediated the association between peer victimization at T1 and Internet addiction at Time 2 (T2), and this mediation effect was moderated by T1 social dominance orientation (SDO).MethodsA short‐term longitudinal design was adopted, incorporating two measurement occasions (with approximately 6‐month intervals). Participants were 2597 adolescents (51.5% male, Mage = 13.9, SD = 0.60) from seven secondary schools in Zhengzhou City, China. All participants were invited to complete the self‐reported questionnaires assessing peer victimization, anger rumination, SDO at T1 (December 2015) and Internet addiction at T2 (June 2016), respectively. A short‐term longitudinal moderated mediation model was conducted to analyze the association between variables.ResultsThe results showed that T1 peer victimization was positively associated with T2 Internet addiction in which association was mediated by T1 anger rumination. T1 SDO moderated the associations between T1 peer victimization and T1 anger rumination and this effect was stronger with lower levels of SDO. In terms of gender differences, SDO moderated the associations between peer victimization and anger rumination only for boys.ConclusionsResults highlight that anger rumination is a potential mechanism explaining how peer victimization is related to Internet addiction and that this relation may be moderated by SDO.