Does Less Optimal Nonverbal Communication with Peers Predict the Development of Depression in Adolescent Boys and Girls?

Yolanda Van Beek,Anne Berg

doi:10.1007/s10802-019-00517-6

Yolanda Van Beek, Anne Berg

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-019-00517-6

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Abstract

A Social Skills Deficit Model for depression in adolescence was tested, proposing that less optimal nonverbal behavior elicits negative reactions in peer partners, which in turn result in depressive symptoms. Adolescents (12–17 years of age) participated in videotaped same-sex interactions. Several positive and negative nonverbal behaviors were coded. Two analyses were conducted using longitudinal data collected in four waves. First, the predictive role of nonverbal communication for depressive symptoms was tested in a normative sample of 170 adolescent dyads without (mild) depression at wave 1 (48% girls). Second, in a subsample of 31 adolescents who developed (sub)clinical depression in wave 2–4, behaviors during peer interactions prior to the development of depression were compared with behaviors of 31 matched controls that did not show mild depression in any wave (55% girls). Only gazing behavior showed the expected relationships. In girls, less gazing in targets was related to less gazing in peers, and if this response occurred, it subsequently predicted later depressive symptoms of targets. The importance of gazing behavior was confirmed in the (sub)clinical sample where girls, prior to increases in depressive symptoms, gazed less and boys gazed more as compared to controls. Interaction partners of these girls and boys also responded with less gazing. The findings indicate that nonverbal social skills are related to the development of depression in youth, particularly in girls.

Highlights

A Social Skills Deficit Model for depression in adolescence was tested, proposing that less optimal nonverbal behavior elicits negative reactions in peer partners, which in turn result in depressive symptoms
Backward Selection Backwards selection was applied to end up with a model in which only significant within- and between-person relations remained. This resulted in a good model fit (χ2 (99) = 100.48, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = .995, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = .013) for the overall multigroup model with both girls and boys
Predicting Depressive Symptoms The significant withinperson correlations and target to partners regression paths were included in the complete model with later depressive symptoms, resulting in the following model fit: χ2(171) = 165.99, CFI = 1.000, RMSEA =

Summary

Participants

Participants were selected from a larger sample of 606 participants recruited from two Dutch secondary schools, of which data were collected in four waves with on average 9 months apart. To examine nonverbal behavior of targets and partners, adolescents participated in 5-minute semi-structured conversations with a peer of the same sex and age that were recorded and coded. Other-Oriented (Positive) Nonverbal Behavior Gazing, talking, backchanneling and smiling of targets and interaction partners were coded one by one using Observer XT (Version 11), resulting in the following variables:. Gazing while talking as well as backchanneling were negatively related to partners’ ‘subtle displeasure cues’ As expected, these findings show that when targets show less other-oriented behavior, partners tend to show more negative responses. Negative behaviors of targets were not significantly related to nonverbal behaviors of partners, nor vice versa

Results

Subtle displeasure cues

Discussion

Conclusion and Discussion