Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 13, 2025

Author Spotlight: Unveiling the Connection Between Sleep Disorders and Cognitive Symptoms in Depression
Published on: April 26, 2024
Gender Discrimination, Perceived School Unfairness, Depressive Symptoms, and Sleep Duration Among Middle School Girls
Ariana N Bell1, Jaana Juvonen1
1University of California, Los Angeles.
Abstract:
The current study examines how gender discrimination by adults in school is linked with depressive symptoms and sleep duration over time in middle school. The main goal is to test one psychological mechanism that can account for such associations: perceived school unfairness. Relying on a racially-ethnically diverse sample of girls (N = 2,718, Mage = 13.01, SDage = 0.39) from 26 middle schools, multilevel mediation analyses revealed that girls who experienced school-based gender discrimination by an adult in seventh grade reported higher levels of perceived school unfairness in eighth grade. Moreover, perceived unfairness, in turn, was associated with more depressive symptoms and shorter sleep durations by eighth grade. Implications of changes in adolescent girls' sleep and mood related to their experiences of gender discrimination are discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Depressive Disorders: MDD and Dysthymia
Insufficient Sleep and Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation is a more severe form of sleep loss...
Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development
Bullying
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Self-Discrepancy Theory

