The Surprising Effects of Gendered Networks on Depression Contagion in School

• In Event: 475 - Section on Social Psychology Paper Session. Social Psychology of Health and Well-Being

Abstract

Recent research documents both the influence of social networks on adolescent depression and the influence of depression on the structure of adolescent friendship networks. Considerable research also documents differences between boys’ and girls’ friendship networks in childhood and adolescents. Adolescent friendship networks tend to be remarkably gender segregated. Moreover, girls’ friendship networks tend to be organized into tighter microstructures. Boys’ friendship networks, in contrast, tend to be larger and more diffuse. These structures have consequences for the diffusion or contagion of social properties. The present research examines the somewhat surprising implications of this classic gendered pattern of friendship structures for the contagion of depression among boys and girls. We propose that in girls’ friendship networks, where the network is compartmentalized into micro-structures, the tendency of depressed adolescents to withdraw from interaction effectively insulates the rest of the network from the contagious effects. In contrast, in boys’ denser friendship networks, where friendships are more inclusive, and less compartmentalized, there is less opportunity for withdrawal and greater diffusion of depression through the network. We test this argument using stochastic actor based models (SAB) in a meta-analysis of 421 adolescents from mixed-sex, all-girl, or all-boy classrooms in six Taiwanese high schools. Friendship networks in girls’ and boys’ classrooms have the predicted structure. Moreover, when controlling for the reciprocal effects of network dynamics and depression change, we find that depression is contagious in all-boy classrooms, but not all-girl classrooms. Also, depressed girls, but not depressed boys, withdraw from friendship networks in mixed-sex classrooms.

Authors

• Jun Zhao, University of Georgia

• Dawn T. Robinson, University of Georgia

• Chyi-In Wu, Academia Sinica