Reciprocal relations between peer stress and internalizing and externalizing symptoms during adolescence

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between peer stress and internalizing and externalizing symptoms across 4 years in adolescents whose risk for depression varied. The sample was comprised of 240 adolescents who were assessed in grades 6, 7, 8, and 9. Peer stress and symptoms were based on adolescents’ self-report. Path analyses indicated that peer stress prospectively predicts increases in internalizing and externalizing symptoms and that internalizing and externalizing symptoms prospectively predicts increases in peer stress. This reciprocal model fit better than either alternative model. Gender did not moderate the relations between stress and symptoms, but depression risk status did.