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Reciprocal, Longitudinal Associations Among Adolescents' Negative Feedback-Seeking, Depressive Symptoms, and Peer Relations

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This study examined reciprocal associations among adolescents' negative feedback-seeking, depressive symptoms, perceptions of friendship quality, and peer-reported social preference over an 11-month period. A total of 478 adolescents in grades 6–8 completed measures of negative feedback-seeking, depressive symptoms, friendship quality, global-self-esteem, and social anxiety at two time points. Peer-reported measures of peer status were collected using a sociometric procedure. Consistent with hypotheses, path analyses results suggested that negative feedback-seeking was associated longitudinally with depressive symptoms and perceptions of friendship criticism in girls and with lower social preference scores in boys; however, depressive symptoms were not associated longitudinally with negative feedback-seeking. Implications for interpersonal models of adolescent depression are discussed.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by grants from NIMH (R01-MH59766) and the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention awarded to the second author. Special thanks are due to Charissa S. L. Cheah, Julie Wargo Aikins, Valerie Simon, Annie Fairlie, Robin M. Carter, Daryn David, Carrie Hommel, and Erica Foster for their assistance with data collection, as well as all of the adolescents and families who participated in this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale University, Department of Psychology, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Jessica L. Borelli

  2. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

    Mitchell J. Prinstein

  3. Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Box 208205, Connecticut, USA

    Jessica L. Borelli

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  1. Jessica L. Borelli
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  2. Mitchell J. Prinstein
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Correspondence to Jessica L. Borelli.

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Borelli, J.L., Prinstein, M.J. Reciprocal, Longitudinal Associations Among Adolescents' Negative Feedback-Seeking, Depressive Symptoms, and Peer Relations. J Abnorm Child Psychol 34, 154–164 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-005-9010-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-005-9010-y

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