Bias and accuracy of children's perceptions of peer acceptance: prospective associations with depressive symptoms.

Full Abstract

Are depressive symptoms in middle childhood associated with more or less realistic social self-perceptions? At the beginning and end of the school year, children in grades 3 through 5 (n=667) rated how much they liked their classmates, predicted the acceptance ratings they would receive from each of their classmates, and completed self-report measures of perceived acceptance and depressive symptoms. Accuracy of perceived acceptance was indexed by the mean difference between pairs of predicted and received ratings (absolute values). Standardized residual scores created by regressing self-reported perceived acceptance (either predicted ratings or children's responses to a questionnaire measure of perceived peer acceptance) onto peer acceptance ratings formed two measures of bias. Bi-directional associations were found for accuracy of perceived acceptance and depressive symptoms; inaccurate perceptions predicted increases in depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms predicted decreased accuracy. Neither measure of bias predicted changes in depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms predicted increases in negatively biased perceptions as assessed via questionnaire.

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Author information

Author/s: Kistner, Janet A (JA); David-Ferdon, Corinne F (CF); Repper, Karla K (KK); Joiner, Thomas E (TE);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-1270, USA. Kistner(-atsign-)psy.fsu.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of abnormal child psychology (J Abnorm Child Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Jun; vol 34 (issue 3) : pp 349-61

Dates: Created 2006/06/27; Completed 2006/12/19;

PMID: 16691457, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Association
Child
Child, Preschool
Depression - diagnosis; epidemiology; psychology
Female
Humans

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