Depression and Victimization Among Girls: Where Does Academic Achievement Fit In?

1. Depression and Victimization Among Girls:Where Does Academic Achievement Fit In? Katie Sylvester New York University

2. Thank you • Dr. Elise Cappella for your dedication to my project and access to this data set. • Research Grants: Spencer Foundation, Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Johnson & Johnson Corp. • All research assistants who collected the data. • Research participants: Schools, teachers, and students.

3. Depression and Girls • As girls transition to adolescence, they experience an increase in depressive symptoms. • During adolescence twice as many girls as boys suffer from depressive disorders. • Peer relationships become increasingly important and complex. • Early interventions targeting girls might reduce symptoms and diagnoses of depression in adolescence.

4. Aggression Victimization • Broad range of aggressive behaviors and peer conflicts (e.g., malicious rumor spreading, threats). • Girls become increasingly engaged in subtle and indirect peer conflicts that involve intentional harm through the manipulation of social relationships. • Creates instability and conflict within one’s immediate peer context.

5. Depression & Victimization • Depressive symptoms are closely linked to experiences of aggression victimization. • Depressed children exhibit behaviors that signal to others that they will not be successful at defending themselves if attacked . • Girls who are victimized are likely to internalize their problems and experience emotional distress. • As a result, there seems to be a bidirectional relation between victimization and depression. Aggression Victimization Depressive Symptoms

6. Academic Achievement • Achievement differences favoring girls emerge by the end of elementary school. • Academic achievement is intertwined with internalizing problems and social relationships. • Children who experience psychosocial difficulties often experience concurrent academic difficulties. • Poor social experiences are linked to poor academic achievement. • Strained relationships with teachers and peers lowers motivation and generates poor achievement. • The presence of cognitive or academic skills might protect children from poor mental or social experiences.

7. Risk & Resilience • Positive academic experiences might protect children from negative consequences of depression and victimization. • Ecological Perspective • Within micro-level context • Developmental Cascades Model • Developmentally salient • Spillover effects

8. Research Questions • What is the relation between depressive symptoms and aggression victimization? • What is the relation between academic achievement and aggression victimization? • Does academic achievement moderate the relation between depressive symptoms and aggression victimization? Academic Achievement Depressive Symptoms Academic Achievement Aggression Victimization Aggression Victimization

9. Participants (N = 101) • Girls between the ages of 9-12 • 13 fifth grade classrooms • 6 low-middle income schools

10. Intervention Groups • Increase students' reading abilities • Oral reading of a chapter book and literacy activities • Students kept journals, read aloud from book, and participated in writing assignments and discussions • Reduce peer conflict and increase prosocial behaviors • Students participated in discussion, role playing, modeling, and games Academic Group (RC) Social Group (SAPP)

11. Measures

12. Preliminary Correlations

13. Results: RQ1 • Depression and victimization were positively correlated within and across time points. • Follow-up regressions showed that, controlling for intervention group assignment: T1 depression T2 victimization (β = .02, p < .05) • T1 victimization did not predict T2 depression. • Further analyses were run splitting the groups: • For both groups: T1 depression  T2 victimization (RC, β= .04, p < .01; SAPP, β= .07, p < .01) • SAPP group only: T1 victimization T2 depression (β=1.67, p < .01)

14. Results: RQ2 • Achievement was negatively correlated with victimization. • Follow-up regressions showed that, controlling for intervention group assignment: T1 achievement T2 victimization (β = .22, p < .01) T1 victimization did not predict T2 achievement. • Results of a Hierarchical Multiple Regression, controlling for • T2 depression,T2 achievement, and group assignment showed: • T1 achievement T2 victimization • (β = -.17, p < .001) • For RC only: • T1 achievement T2 victimization(β = - .17, p < .01) • T1 depression T2 victimization (β = .04, p < .05)

15. Results: RQ 3 • There was no moderation effect of achievement on the relation between depression and victimization.

16. Summary and Discussion • Depression positively predicted victimization across groups. • Victimization positively predicted depression for girls in the SAPP group only. • Results partially support past findings of a bidirectional relation between victimization and depression. • Involvement in short-term social intervention might make girls’ peer difficulties salient. • Achievement negatively predicted victimization across groups. • Once achievement was introduced, depression was no longer predictive of victimization for girls in the social intervention group. • For girls in the academic intervention group, achievement and depression both uniquely predicted victimization.

17. Limitations & Future Directions • Teacher reports of achievement • Academic performance reflects a combination of achievement, school behavior, and teacher-student relationships. • May be most predictive of success in school (e.g., proxy for grades). • Future research: use of other achievement indices (e.g., standardized test scores). • CDI: Limited variability • Two time points: Difficult to capture a dynamic and bidirectional relationship • Future research: Longitudinal, multi-time point study.

18. Thank you!