Abstract
Although the variables of hope and basic psychological needs satisfaction at school (BPNSS) have both been shown to correlate inversely with depressive symptoms, researchers have not addressed the longitudinal relationships among all three variables together, especially with regard to within-person relations. This study thus examined the longitudinal associations among hope, BPNSS, and depressive symptoms in elementary schoolchildren, using a six-wave longitudinal design. A sample of 637 Chinese elementary schoolchildren completed self-report measures of hope, BPNSS, and depressive symptoms on six occasions at 6-month intervals. The findings from random intercept cross-lagged panel models indicated that: (a) Hope, BPNSS, and depressive symptoms reciprocally associated with each other directly; (b) hope indirectly predicted depressive symptoms via BPNSS, but not vice versa. The findings inform the development of prevention and intervention programs for children’s depressive symptoms.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31971005), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2021A1515012515), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2022A1515011233), “14th Five-Year” Plan of Philosophy and Social Science Development in Guangzhou City, 2022 (No. 2022GZGJ175) and Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project in Guangdong Province, 2022 (No. GD22CXL03).
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Su, M., Huebner, E.S. & Tian, L. Longitudinal associations among hope, basic psychological needs satisfaction at school, and depressive symptom in elementary schoolchildren. Curr Psychol 42, 28191–28204 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03752-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03752-1