{"title":"Linking Friendship Quality Trajectories and Fluctuations to Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A Four-wave Longitudinal Study.","authors":"Jinwen Li, Dini Xue, Chengrui Xu, Xia Liu","doi":"10.1007/s10964-025-02213-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Adolescence is a period marked by significant changes in friendships; however, while existing research has focused on developmental trajectories of friendship quality, relatively less attention has been paid to fluctuations in friendship quality and their impact on psychological well-being. The present study sought to address this gap by examining whether and how friendship quality trajectories and fluctuations distinctly affect adolescent depressive symptoms. A sample of 1083 seventh-grade Chinese students (39.1% girls; baseline M<sub>age</sub> = 12.91 years, SD = 0.40) from three public junior high schools participated in a four-wave longitudinal study. Results indicated that a declining friendship quality trajectory contributed to increased depressive symptoms, primarily through the mechanisms of reduced self-esteem and heightened insecurity. Beyond the influence of mean initial friendship quality and its trajectory, friendship quality fluctuations also predicted depressive symptoms through reduced self-esteem and heightened insecurity. These findings highlight the critical and distinct roles of friendship quality decline and fluctuations during adolescence, revealing how friendship quality changes shape adolescent depressive symptoms and providing valuable insights for developing targeted interventions to mitigate adolescent depression.</p>","PeriodicalId":17624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Youth and Adolescence","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Youth and Adolescence","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-025-02213-9","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Adolescence is a period marked by significant changes in friendships; however, while existing research has focused on developmental trajectories of friendship quality, relatively less attention has been paid to fluctuations in friendship quality and their impact on psychological well-being. The present study sought to address this gap by examining whether and how friendship quality trajectories and fluctuations distinctly affect adolescent depressive symptoms. A sample of 1083 seventh-grade Chinese students (39.1% girls; baseline Mage = 12.91 years, SD = 0.40) from three public junior high schools participated in a four-wave longitudinal study. Results indicated that a declining friendship quality trajectory contributed to increased depressive symptoms, primarily through the mechanisms of reduced self-esteem and heightened insecurity. Beyond the influence of mean initial friendship quality and its trajectory, friendship quality fluctuations also predicted depressive symptoms through reduced self-esteem and heightened insecurity. These findings highlight the critical and distinct roles of friendship quality decline and fluctuations during adolescence, revealing how friendship quality changes shape adolescent depressive symptoms and providing valuable insights for developing targeted interventions to mitigate adolescent depression.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence provides a single, high-level medium of communication for psychologists, psychiatrists, biologists, criminologists, educators, and researchers in many other allied disciplines who address the subject of youth and adolescence. The journal publishes quantitative analyses, theoretical papers, and comprehensive review articles. The journal especially welcomes empirically rigorous papers that take policy implications seriously. Research need not have been designed to address policy needs, but manuscripts must address implications for the manner society formally (e.g., through laws, policies or regulations) or informally (e.g., through parents, peers, and social institutions) responds to the period of youth and adolescence.