Does having vulnerable friends help vulnerable youth? The co‐evolution of friendships, victimization, and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents' social networks

Abstract

This study examined whether having vulnerable friends helps or hurts victimized and depressed (i.e., vulnerable) adolescents and whether this depends on classroom supportive norms. Students (n = 1461, 46.7% girls, 93.4% Han nationality) were surveyed four times from seventh and eighth grade (Mage = 13 years) in 2015 and 2016 in Central China. Longitudinal social network analyses indicated that having vulnerable friends can both hurt and help vulnerable adolescents. Depressed adolescents with depressed friends increased in victimization over time. Victimized adolescents with victimized friends increased in victimization but decreased in depressive symptoms. These processes were most likely in classrooms with high supportive norms. Having friends and a supportive classroom may hurt vulnerable adolescents' social position but help victims' emotional development.

Diversity protects: The role of school and classroom racial/ethnic diversity on the experience of peer victimization during the middle school years

“…First, we measured participants' friendships and the victimization experiences of those friends. Whereas some studies report that students are less victimized when they have friends, other research suggests that having friends who are also victimized is related to more victimization (e.g., Echols & Graham, 2016;Qin et al, 2023;Schacter & Juvonen, 2019). We also examined the time-varying role of an instructional practice known as teaming.…”

“…Previous research also suggests that youth who are victimized may be more likely than other youth to have victimized friends, and having victimized friends may be a risk factor for youth's own victimization (Hodges et al, 1997;Qin et al, 2023). For this reason, the average victimization score (described above) for participants' nominated friends at each wave was also included as a time-varying covariate (M = 1.82-1.96, SD = .52-.58).…”

“…Some recent studies report that having victimized friends has some advantages. For example, Qin et al (2023) found that middle school students experienced increases in victimization as friends' victimization increased, but they also felt less depressed. Similarly, Schacter and Juvonen (2019) found that middle school students were less likely to endorse characterological self-blame if their friends were also victimized, suggesting that sharing a social plight with others allows for attributions that do not implicate the self ("it's not just me").…”