Depressed Children's Friendships

"Eighty-six pairs of children from the larger sample were selected as target children for an observational study. Fifty depressed target children and 36 nondepressed target children were each paired with their self-reported best friend to participate in a videotaped game-playing interaction and to report on the characteristics of that friendship. Target dyads were selected so that the depressed and nondepressed groups contained comparable frequencies of ""reciprocal friendships"" (i.e., both children selected one another as one of their top three friends) and ""nonreciprocal friendships"" (i.e., the target child selected the partner as one of their top three friends, but the partner did not reciprocate). Children's self-reports, teacher's reports, and observations of the game-playing interactions were examined, to assess differences in social competence for: (a) depressed versus nondepressed target children, and (b) reciprocal versus nonreciprocal friendships. Results indicated that the lack of friendship reciprocity was associated with significantly lower perceptions of friendship quality. Behavioral coding and post-game evaluations revealed few significant differences between depressed versus nondepressed children, but depressed children's partners were observed to display more negative emotion than the partners of nondepressed children. Implications will be discussed."

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human and Community Development

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Rockhill, Carol Mary

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pleck,Joseph H.
• Nicki R. Crick

• Health Sciences, Mental Health

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI9971179

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/87204