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The snowball effect: Friendship moderates escalations in depressed affect among avoidant and excluded children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2010

William M. Bukowski ,
Brett Laursen  and
Betsy Hoza
William M. Bukowski*
Affiliation:
Concordia University
Brett Laursen
Affiliation:
Florida Atlantic University
Betsy Hoza
Affiliation:
University of Vermont
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: William M. Bukowski, Concordia University, Department of Psychology and Centre de Recherche en Développement Humain, 7141 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, Quebec H4B 1R6, Canada; E-mail: william.bukowski@concordia.ca.
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Abstract

A three-wave longitudinal study conducted with preadolescent boys and girls (N = 231 at Time 1 [T1]) was used to assess the hypotheses that aspects of social withdrawal would be predictors of a “snowball” cascade of depressed affect, and that friendship experiences would moderate these effects. Consistent with these hypotheses, multilevel modeling showed that measures of avoidance and exclusion at T1 were associated with concurrent levels of depressed affect and were antecedent to escalating trajectories of depressed affect over time. These accelerating growth curves fit a snowball cascade model. The analyses also showed the protective effects of friendship. Specifically, the snowball effect was limited to avoidant and excluded children who were friendless. Depressed affect did not increase among avoidant and excluded children who were friended.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 22 , Issue 4: Developmental Cascades: Part 2 , November 2010 , pp. 749 - 757
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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