Het klinkt logisch dat gepest worden een negatieve invloed heeft op hoe een jongere zich voelt, maar kan er ook een omgekeerd verband gelegd worden? Deze vraag staat centraal in een onderzoek van Karen P. Kochel et al,  “Longitudinal Associations Among Youth Depressive Symptoms, Peer Victimization, and Low Peer Acceptance: An Interpersonal Process Perspective”.

Het blijkt effectief zo te zijn, dat depressieve gevoelens bij adolescenten pestgedrag kan uitlokken, daarom is het volgens de onderzoekers belangrijk om als ouder, opvoeder of leraar de signalen op te pikken. Het is volgens Kochel trouwens zo dat het extra belangrijk is voor de school:

“If adolescent depression forecasts peer relationship problems, then recognizing depression is very important at this particular age. This is especially true given that social adjustment in adolescence appears to have implications for functioning throughout an individual’s lifetime. We studied peer relationships within the school context. Parents tend not to observe these relationships. Because depression has the potential to undermine the maturation of key developmental skills, such as establishing healthy peer relationships, it’s important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of adolescent depression.” (bron)

Abstract van het onderzoek:

A longitudinal investigation was conducted to explicate the network of associations between depressive symptoms and peer difficulties among 486 fourth through sixth graders (M = 9.93 years). Parent and teacher reports of depressive symptoms; peer, self, and teacher reports of victimization; and peer reports of peer acceptance were obtained. A systematic examination of nested structural equation models provided support for a symptoms-driven model whereby depressive symptoms contributed to peer difficulties; no evidence was found for interpersonal risk or transactional models. Analyses further revealed that victimization mediated the association between prior depressive symptoms and subsequent peer acceptance. Results extend knowledge about the temporal ordering of depressive symptoms and peer difficulties and elucidate one process through which depressive symptoms disrupt peer relationships.