Depression and Social Self-Perceptions Linked

A study in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology found that depressive symptoms during middle childhood are related to unrealistic social self-perceptions. 667 children in grades 3–5 were evaluated at the beginning and end of the school year. Children rated how well they liked their classmates, predicted what ratings they would receive from classmates, and completed a self-report on depressive symptoms and perceived peer acceptance. Researchers predicted the accuracy of perceived acceptance using the mean difference between predicted and received ratings. Inaccurate self-perceptions predicted increases in depression, and depressive symptoms predicted decreased accuracy. http://www.springerlink.com/content/lx2779242l486737/?p=e75f5b2789c0439d882f656b79a0e5fd&pi=5

-LS