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Article Excerpt
The goal of the current study was to investigate whether peer rejection and peer victimization mediated the relation between children's aggressive behaviors and depressive symptoms. Participants were 533 fourth- and fifth-grade children (289 girls and 244 boys). Data on aggression and peer victimization were collected through teacher and peer report, whereas data on depressive symptoms were collected through self-, teacher, and peer report. Peer rejection was measured through peer nominations of liking and disliking. Through testing two competing concurrent structural models, results revealed that peer rejection and peer victimization jointly mediated the overall relation between aggression and depressive symptoms, although this mediation was only partial. Furthermore, peer rejection partially mediated the relation between aggression and peer victimization, and peer victimization partially mediated the relation between peer rejection and depressive symptoms. Suggestions for other factors that may contribute to these mediated relations are provided.
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Aggressive behaviors and depressive symptoms frequently co-occur in children. This robust relation has been documented with community and clinical samples through diverse assessment methods (Angold & Costello, 1993). In community samples of children, research has documented moderate correlations across multiple measures of aggression and depressive symptoms (Messer & Gross, 1994; Panak & Garber, 1992). Additionally, in clinical studies children and adolescents demonstrate higher-than-chance comorbidity rates for depressive disorders and behavioral disorders characterized by aggression (Angold & Costello, 1993).
Patterson and Capaldi's (1990) failure model provides a useful framework for conceptualizing the link between aggression and depression. In this model, children's aggressive behaviors predict pervasive failures across various domains. Over time children internalize these negative experiences, which increases their vulnerability to depression. Within this broad model, they stipulate a mediational pathway in which children's aggressive behaviors predict rejection from peers, which in turn contributes to the development of depressive symptoms. Supporting this hypothesized sequence, a plethora of studies has demonstrated the stable connection between aggression and peer rejection (e.g., Dodge, Coie, Pettit, & Price, 1990). In addition, research has found that children high in peer rejection are at risk for depressive symptoms (e.g., Little & Garber, 1995). Nevertheless, few studies have specifically assessed whether peer rejection mediates the relation between aggression and depressive symptoms.
To our knowledge, three studies have directly addressed this question, two of which found support for a mediational relation. Messer and Gross (1994) tested separate concurrent structural models for preadolescent boys and girls. Their results revealed that peer rejection partially mediated the relation between aggression and depressive symptoms for both genders. Panak and Garber (1992) conducted a one-year prospective study with late-elementary school students. Through a series of regression analyses, they determined that changes in peer rejection partially mediated the effect of changes in aggression on depressive symptoms. However, this finding has been challenged, given that the mediated effect was minimal and the authors failed to evaluate its statistical significance (Kiesner, 2002).
Using an Italian middle-school sample, Kiesner (2002) conducted a two-year longitudinal study. In contrast to the studies reviewed above, Kiesner tested a path model yet failed to find that peer rejection mediated the relation between earlier aggression and later depressive symptoms. Given the conflicting findings from these three studies, it is unclear whether peer rejection plays a mediating role in the pathway from aggression to depression. Therefore, one goal of the current study was to reexamine this mediational model.
A second goal was to examine the role of peer victimization in the link between aggression and depressive symptoms. Peer rejection specifically refers to being disliked (and not liked) by one's peers, whereas peer victimization reflects behaviors that peers enact to harm other children. We hypothesize that peers victimize children to convey their dislike toward them and that the experience of victimization plays a significant role in explaining the link between aggression and depressive symptoms. In many previous studies, researchers have typically measured peer rejection yet neglected to assess actual behaviors such as peer victimization. Thus, in the current study we measured not only the degree to which peers dislike children but also the extent to which peers victimize children.
Studies indicate that the experience of peer victimization is related to future depressive symptoms (Boivin, Hymel, & Bukowski, 1995; Olweus, 1993). Moreover, research by Boivin and colleagues reveals that peer victimization makes a significant contribution to internalizing problems, even after accounting for the effect of peer rejection. In addition, research has documented a consistent positive relation between peer victimization and peer rejection (e.g., Khatri, Kupersmidt, & Patterson, 2000). Thus, while peer victimization and peer rejection are strongly related, both constructs independently contribute to depressive symptoms.
However, the connection between peer victimization and aggression is less clear. Reasonable hypotheses have been posed for both positive and negative relations. For example, aggressive behaviors tend to disrupt group activities; thus, peers might use victimization to isolate aggressive children and restore group functioning (Bukowski & Sippola, 2001). In this case, a positive relation would exist between aggression and peer victimization. Contrarily, peers might avoid harassing aggressive children out of concern for their own well-being (Boivin & Vitaro, 1995), and in this case a negative relation would exist.
Whereas some researchers have found support for a positive association (Boivin & Vitaro, 1995), others have failed to observe this relation (Perry, Kusel, & Perry, 1988). However, recent research by Huesmann (2006) provides preliminary yet compelling support for stable positive relations between children's aggressive behaviors and their experience of peer victimization. In a large inner-city sample of children, the relations between aggression and overt forms of peer victimization were strong to moderate across a five-year period. Moreover, cross-lagged analyses revealed that aggression was a stronger prospective predictor of peer victimization than peer victimization was of aggression. Accordingly, we can cautiously conclude from these results that aggression places children at risk for victimization by peers.
In the current investigation, we propose a model in which peer rejection and peer victimization mediate the relation between aggression and depressive symptoms. We specifically hypothesize that aggression elicits peer rejection, which peers express by directing victimizing behavior toward aggressive children. Consequently, these children internalize their experience of victimization by developing negative views about themselves and expectations of others, which contributes to the development of depressive symptoms. It must be noted that the data for this project are entirely concurrent; thus, it is not possible to draw conclusions about the temporal sequence of the constructs in our model. Given this limitation, this project should be viewed as a preliminary test of the potential mediating roles of peer rejection and peer victimization in the relation between children's aggressive behaviors and depressive symptoms.
Method
Overview
Participants were 555 boys and girls from 37 fourth- and fifth-grade public school classrooms within one school district in the Mid-Atlantic region. Children completed self-report measures of depressive symptoms and peer-report measures of aggression, peer rejection, peer victimization, and depressive symptoms. Additionally, teachers completed measures of aggression, peer victimization, and depressive symptoms.
Participants
Parental consent forms were distributed to 901 children, and 581 children (64%) returned their forms with parental permission. During data collection, 7 children were absent, and 19 children refused to participate. Therefore, data were collected for 555 children; 54% of the participants were female (N = 289). The sample reported the following racial groups: White (49%), Black (41%), mixed race (6%), Asian (3 %), Native American (1%), and Pacific Islander (N = 1). Overall, 22% reported ethnicity as Hispanic.
The average age was 10.13 years (range of 9 to 14 years). We selected a fourth- and fifth-grade sample for this study for two reasons. First, research indicates that aggressive behaviors and depressive symptoms become increasingly stable by this age (Cole, Peeke, Martin, Truglio, & Seroczynski, 1998; Schaeffer, Petras, Ialongo, Poduska, & Kellam, 2003). Second, by fourth and fifth grades, aggression is becoming much less acceptable to peers and is more likely to elicit negative feedback from the peer group (Coie, Dodge, Terry, & Wright, 1991; Dodge, Coie, Pettit, & Price 1990).
In collecting peer nominations, we chose to use complete class rosters for each item. As a result, we obtained peer-report data for each child in every class. Using these data, we compared...
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