Poster #232 - The Influence of Student-Student Relationships on Beliefs Against Fighting and Subsequent Anger Inhibition and Depressive Symptoms

• In Event: 3-106 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

This study examined the impact of student-student relationships on students’ beliefs against fighting, and the degree to which these beliefs predicted changes in anger inhibition and depressive symptoms during middle school. Middle school is a time when major developmental changes are paired with exposure to new social contexts which may put adolescents at risk for increases in depressive symptoms (Jia et al. 2009) and aggression (Sullivan, Farrell, & Kliewer, 2006). The impact of the quality of student relationships on beliefs against fighting, and longitudinal relations between these beliefs and anger inhibition and depressive symptoms are understudied in the peer literature. Particularly due to the increase in the prevalence of depressive symptoms during early adolescence, assessing the influence of these factors provides a novel perspective on risk and resilience in middle school.

Data were collected from a sample of 265 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students from an urban, public middle school in the Southeastern United States as part of a larger study assessing the effectiveness of a youth violence prevention program. Participants ranged in age from 11 to 15 years old across the three time points spanning approximately six months. The sample was 52.1% female and 74% African-American, 10.2% Multiracial, 4.2% Hispanic, and 1.5% White. The Student-student Relationship subscale of the Vessels School Climate Scale (Vessels, 1998) was used to assess positive relations between students (Time 1 α = .83). The Beliefs Against Fighting subscale of the Beliefs about Fighting and Nonviolent Alternative scale (Farrell et al. 2008, 2010) was used to assess student endorsement of fighting behaviors (Time 2 α = .72). Five items from the Children’s Anger Management Scale (Zeman et al. 2001) were used to assess anger inhibition (Time 3 α = .82). The 26-item Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovacs, 1992) was used to assess self-reported depressive symptoms in students (Time 3 α = .88).

Data analyses were conducted using Mplus software V8.0 (Muthen & Muthen, 2017). Covariates included age, gender, and intervention condition (dummy coded 0 – control and 1 – intervention). A path analysis examined longitudinal relations between study variables using bootstrapping resampling of 6,000 iterations. The model fit the data adequately well, χ2(9) = 18.61, p = .03, (CFI = .95; RMSEA = .06). Student-student relationships at Time 1 were positively associated with self-reported beliefs against fighting at Time 2, (β = .19, SE = .07, p = .01; 95% CI [.05, .32]). Student beliefs against fighting at Time 2 were positively associated with anger inhibition, (β = .24, SE = .06, p < .00; 95% CI [.11, .36]), and depressive symptoms, (β = .10, SE = .04, p = .02; 95% CI [.01, .18]), at Time 3. Anger inhibition at Time 3 was positively related to depressive symptoms at Time 3, (β = .37, SE = .06, p < .00; 95% CI [.27, .49]). Study implication and directions for future research will be discussed.

Authors

• Kathryn Behrhorst, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Presenting Author

• Terri Sullivan, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Non-Presenting Author