Contextual variations in the effects of social withdrawal, peer exclusion, and friendship on growth curves of depressed affect in late childhood

The moderating roles of friendship and contextual variables on associations between social withdrawal and peer exclusion and growth curves of depressed affect were studied with a three-wave multilevel longitudinal design. Participants were 313 boys and girls aged 10-12 from Canada (n = 139), mostly of European and North African descent, and Colombia (n = 174), mostly mestizo, afrocolombian, and European descent. Depressed affect, peer exclusion, social withdrawal and friendship were assessed with peer-reports, and collectivism and individualism with self-reports. Group-level scores included gender, place and means of social withdrawal, peer exclusion, friendship, collectivism and individualism for each child's same-gender classroom peer-group. Results indicated that being friended weakened associations between peer exclusion and social withdrawal and depressed affect. The strength of this effect varied across peer-group contexts.