How School Contexts Shape the Relations Among Adolescents' Beliefs, Peer Victimization, and Depressive Symptoms

Tessa Kaufman*, Hae Yeon Lee, Aprile D. Benner, David S. Yeager

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The present research examined how school contexts shape the extent to which beliefs about the potential for change (implicit theories) interact with social adversity to predict depressive symptoms. A preregistered multilevel regression analysis using data from 6,237 ninth-grade adolescents in 25 U.S. high schools showed a three-way interaction: Implicit theories moderated the associations between victimization and depressive symptoms only in schools with high levels of school-level victimization, but not in schools with low victimization levels. In high-victimization schools, adolescents who believed that people cannot change (an entity theory of personality) were more depressed when they were victimized more frequently. Thus, the mental health correlates of adolescents' implicit theories depend on both personal experiences and the norms in the context.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)769-786
JournalJournal of Research on Adolescence
Volume30
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2020
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'How School Contexts Shape the Relations Among Adolescents' Beliefs, Peer Victimization, and Depressive Symptoms'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this