Sexual orientation, peer relationships, and depressive symptoms: Findings from a sociometric design

la Roi C, Kretschmer T, Veenstra R, Bos H, Goossens L, Verschueren K, Colpin H, Van Leeuwen K, Van Den Noortgate W, Dijkstra JK (2020)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology Elsevier

Book Volume: 66

Article Number: 101086

DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2019.101086

Abstract

Sexual minority youth report poorer mental health than heterosexual youth. According to the minority stress framework, this results from sexual minority individuals being societally marginalized, which for sexual minority youth may include being poorly integrated in the peer context. A sociometric approach was used to test whether peer relationships, measured broadly as friendship, acceptance, disliking, and bullying relationships, mediated the link between a sexual minority orientation and depressive symptoms in adolescence. Analyses were conducted across three samples from the Netherlands and Belgium (N = 352; N = 1848; N = 263). Sexual minority respondents reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than heterosexual respondents, yet sexual orientation differences in peer relationships were small. Moreover, no link between peer relationships and depressive symptoms was found. Consequently, indirect effects were small too.

Involved external institutions

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) / Catholic University of Leuven BE Belgium (BE) University of Groningen / Rijksuniversiteit Groningen NL Netherlands (NL) University of Amsterdam NL Netherlands (NL)

How to cite

APA:

la Roi, C., Kretschmer, T., Veenstra, R., Bos, H., Goossens, L., Verschueren, K.,... Dijkstra, J.K. (2020). Sexual orientation, peer relationships, and depressive symptoms: Findings from a sociometric design. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2019.101086

MLA:

la Roi, Chaïm, et al. "Sexual orientation, peer relationships, and depressive symptoms: Findings from a sociometric design." Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 66 (2020).

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