THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PEER STATUS AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between spec ific symptoms of depression and particular styles of peer difficulties . Participants were 1687 students in fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, n inth, and eleventh grades from a midsized Midwestern city. Based on pr evious studies, it was hypothesized that rejected and neglected youths would report greater depressive symptomatology than other peers. In a ddition, aggressive-rejected youth were predicted to report more Inter personal Problems while submissive-rejected youths were expected to re port more Anhedonia. There were no sociometric group differences on gl obal scores of depression as measured by the Children's Depression Inv entory; however, the aggressive-and submissive-rejected youths did rep ort specific differences. Aggressive-rejected youths reported more Int erpersonal Problems and feelings of Ineffectiveness, while the neglect ed and submissive-rejected youths reported more Anhedonia. Taken toget her, such differences provide support for differentiating among types of rejected students and suggest that different interventions may be n ecessary to address the needs of these youths.