Youth's School Experience: Testing the Role of Behaviors Associated With Anxiety and Co-Occurring Behaviors Associated With Depression

• In Event: 77.021 - Preventing Violence and Supporting Students

Abstract

Our study tested how behaviors associated with anxiety and behaviors associated with depression, when co-occurring, explained youth’s school experiences. Data on behaviors associated with the two types of problems, negative attitudes toward teachers and schools, and poor peer relations were collected from 203 ethnically and social-economically diverse youth. Behaviors associated with depression alone explained the youth’s negative attitude toward school (β=.27; R2=14.74%), negative attitude toward teachers (β=.28; R2=17.88%), and poor peer relations (β=.42; R2=44.60%) as effectively as the combination of both types of behaviors did (corresponding values: β=.31, R2=15.53%; β=.28, R2=17.90% and β=.39, R2=45.16% respectively). When the two types of behaviors co-occurred, the co-occurrence did not impair youth’s school experiences more so than behaviors associated with depression did alone.

Author

• Tony Xing Tan, University of South Florida