Friendship interactions in children with and without depressive symptoms: observation of emotion during game-playing interactions and post-game evaluations.
This observational study supplements the strong and consistent link found between childhood depression and deficits in interpersonal functioning by examining the relationship between a high versus low score on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and children's emotions when interacting with their best friends. High-CDI and low-CDI target children (n=86) were paired for videotaped game-playing with self-reported best friends. Researchers found that although high-CDI target children were not distinguishable from low-CDI peers in their displays of positive and negative emotion. However, the partners of high-CDI target children displayed significantly more negative emotion during the competitive task and significantly less positive emotion during the cooperative task than did partners of low-CDI target children. In addition, high-CDI target children and their partners reported less enjoyment of their interactions than low-CDI target children and their partners. This combination of findings suggests that depressive symptoms were associated with a relative lack of success achieving an optimal friendship interaction even under highly favorable conditions.
Rockhill
Carol M
CM
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA 98195-6560, USA. rockhill@u.washington.edu
Fan
Ming-Yu
MY
Katon
Wayne J
WJ
McCauley
Elizabeth
E
Crick
Nicki R
NR
Pleck
Joseph H
JH
D000124:Achievement; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D005716:Game Theory; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012928:Social Desirability; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires