Year of Award

2012

Document Type

Professional Paper

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Department or School/College

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Margaret Beebe-Frakenberger

Commitee Members

Duncan Campbell, John Sommers-Flanagan

Keywords

academic achievement, academic self-concept, adolescents, depression, Facebook, online social networking

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between academic self-concept, academic outcome confidence, and academic estimation in depressed and non-depressed adolescents, with a focus on gender differences. The study also included exploratory questions on online social networking (OSN) usage. Participants (N = 66) were 9th and 10th grade students from one high school, with 40 females and 26 males. Academic self-confidence and outcome confidence were measured with the Student Self-Concept Scale (SSCS) and depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiological Studies’ Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC). Standardized test scores and grade point average (GPA) for each student were collected directly from school records. A researcher-created survey contained questions on diagnosis and treatment of depression and OSN usage. Results from regression analyses indicated that there were significant negative relationships between depressive symptoms and academic self-confidence and academic estimation in female students. Academic outcome confidence had no significant relationship with depression. Approximately 30 percent of the sample had scores on the CES-DC above the cutoff for significant depressive symptoms, 35% of females and 23% of males, and in the sample 7.5% of female students and 11.5% of male students reported receiving treatment for depression. Eighty-five percent (85%) of students identified as depressed by the CES-DC were not receiving any treatment. The exploratory data analysis for online social networking found a significant positive relationship between weekly time using OSN and depressive symptoms, irrespective of gender. There was also a significant negative correlation between weekly time using OSN and reading standardized test scores.

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© Copyright 2012 Jaime Rebekah Long