title: The role of social skills and school connectedness in preadolescent depressive symptoms.
abstract: In the current study, we tested whether school connectedness mediates more distal deficits in social skills in influencing depressive symptoms in a sample of 127 sixth- and seventh-grade students. Results demonstrated that school connectedness and social skills accounted for 44% and 26% of variance in depressive symptoms respectively and 49% in a combined model. Although the full mediation model hypothesis was not supported, follow-up analyses revealed that school connectedness partially mediated the link between social skills and preadolescent depressive symptoms. Thus, school connectedness appears to play as strong a role in depressive symptoms in this younger preadolescent age group.
authors.affiliation: Queensland University of Technology.
authors.forename: Anthony G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: Ian M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Shochet
authors.forename: Rachael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bellair
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012574:Schools; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires