Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Nov;91(6):1865-1876.
doi: 10.1111/cdev.13388. Epub 2020 Jul 25.

Gender Discrimination, Perceived School Unfairness, Depressive Symptoms, and Sleep Duration Among Middle School Girls

Ariana N Bell  1 , Jaana Juvonen  1
Affiliations

Gender Discrimination, Perceived School Unfairness, Depressive Symptoms, and Sleep Duration Among Middle School Girls

Ariana N Bell et al. Child Dev. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

The current study examines how gender discrimination by adults in school is linked with depressive symptoms and sleep duration over time in middle school. The main goal is to test one psychological mechanism that can account for such associations: perceived school unfairness. Relying on a racially-ethnically diverse sample of girls (N = 2,718, Mage = 13.01, SDage = 0.39) from 26 middle schools, multilevel mediation analyses revealed that girls who experienced school-based gender discrimination by an adult in seventh grade reported higher levels of perceived school unfairness in eighth grade. Moreover, perceived unfairness, in turn, was associated with more depressive symptoms and shorter sleep durations by eighth grade. Implications of changes in adolescent girls' sleep and mood related to their experiences of gender discrimination are discussed.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. American Association of University Women Educational Foundation (AAUW). (2001). Hostile hallways: Bullying, teasing, and sexual harassment schools. American Journal of Health Education, 32, 307-309. https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2001.10603488
    1. Bartel, K. A., Gradisar, M., & Williamson, P. (2015). Protective and risk factors for adolescent sleep: a meta-analytic review. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 21, 72-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2014.08.002
    1. Benner, A. D., & Graham, S. (2011). Latino adolescents’ experiences of discrimination across the first 2 years of high school: Correlates and influences on educational outcomes. Child Development, 82, 508-519. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01524.x
    1. Benner, A. D., Wang, Y., Shen, Y., Boyle, A. E., Polk, R., & Cheng, Y.-P. (2018). Racial/ethnic discrimination and well-being during adolescence: A meta-analytic review. American Psychologist, 73, 855-883. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000204
    1. Bigler, R. S., & Liben, L. S. (2007). Developmental intergroup theory: Explaining and reducing children's social stereotyping and prejudice. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 162-166. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00496.x

Publication types

MeSH terms