Understanding the comorbidity of aggression and depression: The role of peer rejection, victimization, social support, and perceived effectiveness

One important objective of the present study is to investigate the effects of peer rejection and victimization as direct and indirect predictors of concurrent grade 4 and prospective grade 5 depression. The proposed study will expand upon previous research by examining an integrated model of depression that include interpersonal (peer victimization and rejection) and socio-cognitive (perceived peer social support and perceived effectiveness) predictors of depression. In addition, the present study explored a mediational model in which the relationship between poor peer relations and depression is mediated by the social cognitive factors. Participants were preadolescent children from the high-risk control and normative samples of a larger longitudinal investigation of the development and prevention of conduct disorders (Fast Track Program). The sample was drawn from four geographic regions that were reflective of a wide cross-section of the population in the U.S., with approximately 160 participants from each of the following sites: Durham, NC, Nashville, TN, Seattle, WA, and three different rural counties in central Pennsylvania. The results from hierarchical multiple regressions demonstrated support for a mediational model of concurrent depression, where problems with peers indirectly contributed to concurrent depressive symptoms, with social perceptions fully mediating that relationship. However, poor peer relations directly predicted prospective depression and social perceptions did not mediate that relationship.;Another important objective of the present study was to explore potential differences between profiles of children based on comorbid aggressive behavioral status and depressive symptoms. Scores from measures of aggression and depression were used to create 4 symptom groups: aggressive/depressed, nonaggressive/depressed, aggressive/nondepressed, and nonaggressive/nondepressed. Significant multivariate effects were demonstrated for the four groups on aggressive-disruptive behaviors, depression, social perceptions, and peer relations.