“Addressing adolescents’ depressive symptoms and risky behavior: The role of perceived parents’ and teachers’ social support”

​Postdoctoral scholar Charlott Rubach (pictured left) is first author of an article published in the Journal of Organizational Psychology examining the relationship between social support and adolescent behavior.
 
The title of the article is “Addressing adolescents’ depressive symptoms and risky behavior: The role of perceived parents’ and teachers’ social support.”
 
Co-authors are Associate Project Scientist Anna-Lena Dicke (pictured right), Professor Rebecca Lazarides (Universität Potsdam), Professor Sandra Simpkins, and Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles.

Rubach studies social relations, motivation, family-school partnerships, and well-being in adolescence with Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Potsdam, M.A. in Educational Science and B.A. in Philosophy and Educational Science from the University of Rostock in Germany.

Dicke’s work examines how structural and instructional features of the school environment influence students’ motivational well-being, academic success, career, and life choices in the short- and long-term. She received her B.A. in English and American Studies and Psychology from the University of Freiburg, Germany; her M.A. in Psychology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich; Germany, and her Ph.D. from the Eberhard-Karls-University of Tuebingen, Germany.
 
Abstract
 
Socializer-driven processes were analyzed by investigating effects of perceived mothers’, fathers’, and teachers’ social support on adolescents’ depressive symptoms and risky behavior across each academic year in high school. Furthermore, we analyzed the co-development of parents’ and teachers’ social support and adolescents’ depressive symptoms and risky behavior using data from 402 adolescents from the Childhood and Beyond Study. Perceived mothers’ social support protected adolescents from depressive symptoms from 9th to 11th grade. Gender-specific associations were identified. Teachers’ social support predicted declines in depressive symptoms only for females. Perceived fathers’ social support predicted an increase in depressive symptoms for their sons only.