Reactivity to Peer Rejection Moderates the Effect of Victimization on Adolescent Girls' Depressive Symptoms: A Prospective Study

Overview

Journal Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol

Specialties Pediatrics
Psychiatry
Psychology

Date 2024 Sep 17

PMID 39287770

Authors

Rachel Slimovitch

Sharon Y Lee

Chrystal Vergara-Lopez

Margaret H Bublitz

Laura R Stroud

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Peer victimization and bullying behaviors are prevalent during adolescence and have been linked to depression. This study examined whether peer rejection reactivity, defined as physiological responses to peer exclusion, moderated the associations of victimization and bullying behaviors with depressive symptoms 12 months later in a sample of female youths (N = 79, M = 13.37 ± 2.31). Participants underwent the Yale Interpersonal Stressor-Child, during which systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were continuously measured. Parent and youth reports of the youth's depressive symptoms were utilized. Our results demonstrate that peer rejection reactivity moderates the relationship between victimization and subsequent depressive symptoms but does not moderate the relationship between bullying behaviors and subsequent depressive symptoms. Higher victimization was associated with increased youth-reported depressive symptoms among girls with high reactivity but decreased depressive symptoms among girls with low reactivity. Future research can explore whether reducing emotional and physiological reactivity to peer rejection, as well as increasing interpersonal effectiveness in peer relationships, can reduce depressive symptoms in adolescent girls experiencing victimization.

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