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. 2013 May;122(2):406-19.
doi: 10.1037/a0032501.

Does supportive parenting mitigate the longitudinal effects of peer victimization on depressive thoughts and symptoms in children?

Sarah A Bilsky  1 , David A Cole, Tammy L Dukewich, Nina C Martin, Keneisha R Sinclair, Cong V Tran, Kathryn M Roeder, Julia W Felton, Carlos Tilghman-Osborne, Amy S Weitlauf, Melissa A Maxwell
Affiliations

Does supportive parenting mitigate the longitudinal effects of peer victimization on depressive thoughts and symptoms in children?

Sarah A Bilsky et al. J Abnorm Psychol. 2013 May.

Abstract

Cohen and Wills (Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A., 1985, Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310-357) described two broad models whereby social support could mitigate the deleterious effects of stress on health: a main effect model and stress-buffering model. A specific application of these models was tested in a three-wave, multimethod study of 1888 children to assess ways parental support (social support) mitigates the effects of peer victimization (stress) on children's depressive symptoms and depression-related cognitions (health-related outcomes). Results revealed that (a) both supportive parenting and peer victimization had main effects on depressive symptoms and cognitions; (b) supportive parenting and peer victimization did not interact in the prediction of depressive thoughts and symptoms; (c) these results generalized across age and gender; and (d) increases in depressive symptoms were related to later reduction of supportive parenting and later increase in peer victimization. Although supportive parenting did not moderate the adverse outcomes associated with peer victimization, results show that its main effect can counterbalance or offset these effects to some degree. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Two-wave cross-panel analyses (w1 → w2 and w2 → w3) of supportive parenting (Supp. Par.), depressive symptoms (Depress.), and peer nomination measures of peer victimization (Peer Vic.).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Two-wave cross-panel analyses (w1 → w2 and w2 → w3) of supportive parenting (Supp. Par.), depressive symptoms (Depress.), and self-report measures of peer victimization (Peer Vic.).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Compensatory effect of high supportive parenting given high peer victimization.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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