Abstract
pap201-10.2 Personality traits influence how peers respond towards depressed adolescents.
Yolanda van Beek, Marry Schreur
Utrecht University, Netherlands
Aim: Negative social consequences related to depression in adolescence are well documented. Previous studies indicate that negative social responses can precede, co-occur and follow depressive episodes, indicating that more stable characteristics of depressed (to-be) adolescents may influence such responses. Maybe personality traits, as expressed through social behavior, play a role? The present study examines the mediating and moderating role of observed personality traits in the nonverbal responses towards (mildly) depressed
adolescents.
Methods: Non-depressed adolescents were observed during two short semi-structured interactions, one with a (mildly) depressed peer and one with a non-depressed peer, matched for age and gender. A total of 195adolescents participated, 102 girls (52%) and 93 boys (48%), who interacted in 166 conversations. Adolescents were between 12 and 18 years old (M = 14.76, SD = 1.20). Multilevel mediation and moderation analyses were
used to analyze the data.
Results: As expected, the depressed group received more negative peer responses. Observed neuroticism predicted negative responses, whereas expressivity and dominance predicted positive responses. However, the
more negative response towards depressed persons was not mediated by observed personality traits. Personality traits did moderate the relationships between interacting with a depressed versus nondepressed peer and negative social responses. For girls, findings were as expected; neuroticism exacerbated the negative responses, while expressivity protected against negative responses towards depressed adolescents. For boys, results were less clear, as agreeableness, but also neuroticism, were found to lessen the lack of attention
towards depressed adolescents, while expressivity and dominance exacerbated the lack of attention.
Conclusions: The importance of personality in influencing how adolescents respond to depressed adolescents, through exacerbating or protecting from the negative responses, was clearly demonstrated for girls, and merits further research for boys.
Yolanda van Beek, Marry Schreur
Utrecht University, Netherlands
Aim: Negative social consequences related to depression in adolescence are well documented. Previous studies indicate that negative social responses can precede, co-occur and follow depressive episodes, indicating that more stable characteristics of depressed (to-be) adolescents may influence such responses. Maybe personality traits, as expressed through social behavior, play a role? The present study examines the mediating and moderating role of observed personality traits in the nonverbal responses towards (mildly) depressed
adolescents.
Methods: Non-depressed adolescents were observed during two short semi-structured interactions, one with a (mildly) depressed peer and one with a non-depressed peer, matched for age and gender. A total of 195adolescents participated, 102 girls (52%) and 93 boys (48%), who interacted in 166 conversations. Adolescents were between 12 and 18 years old (M = 14.76, SD = 1.20). Multilevel mediation and moderation analyses were
used to analyze the data.
Results: As expected, the depressed group received more negative peer responses. Observed neuroticism predicted negative responses, whereas expressivity and dominance predicted positive responses. However, the
more negative response towards depressed persons was not mediated by observed personality traits. Personality traits did moderate the relationships between interacting with a depressed versus nondepressed peer and negative social responses. For girls, findings were as expected; neuroticism exacerbated the negative responses, while expressivity protected against negative responses towards depressed adolescents. For boys, results were less clear, as agreeableness, but also neuroticism, were found to lessen the lack of attention
towards depressed adolescents, while expressivity and dominance exacerbated the lack of attention.
Conclusions: The importance of personality in influencing how adolescents respond to depressed adolescents, through exacerbating or protecting from the negative responses, was clearly demonstrated for girls, and merits further research for boys.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 197 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publication status | Unpublished - 30 Aug 2017 |
| Event | 18th European Conference on Developmental Psychology: 18th European Conference on Developmental Psychology - Dom Church & Dom Square, Utrecht, Netherlands Duration: 29 Aug 2017 → 1 Sept 2017 http://www.ecdp2017.nl/ |
Conference
| Conference | 18th European Conference on Developmental Psychology |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Netherlands |
| City | Utrecht |
| Period | 29/08/17 → 1/09/17 |
| Internet address |