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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

A New Method for Inducing a Depression-Like Behavior in Rats
Published on: February 22, 2018
Peer relationships and academic achievement as interacting predictors of depressive symptoms during middle childhood
David Schwartz1, Andrea Hopmeyer Gorman, Mylien T Duong
1Department of Psychology, University Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
Abstract:
This article reports a longitudinal investigation that examines academic and social difficulties as predictors of depressive symptoms during middle childhood. Participants were 199 elementary school children (M=9.1 years) who were followed for 2 consecutive school years. In both years of the project, children completed a questionnaire assessing depressive symptoms and a peer nomination inventory assessing friendships and social standing. Grade point averages (GPAs) were obtained from a review of school records. Low GPAs were predictive of depressive symptoms, but this effect did not hold for children who had numerous friends. Similarly, children who had relatively few friends tended to experience depressive symptoms. However, the effect was attenuated for children with high GPAs. Taken together, the findings suggest that competencies in 1 domain can moderate the risks associated with difficulties in the other domain.
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