Best friends' and adolescents' depressive symptoms in early adolescence: gendered pathways and distinct roles of peer acceptance.

INTRODUCTION: Although best friends' depressive symptoms have been linked to adolescents' own depressive symptoms, inconsistent findings point to the need to examine potential pathways and the peer-status contexts in which these links unfold. METHODS: Using cross-sectional data from 939 Chinese early adolescents (Mage = 13.31 years; 49.2% girls), this study tested whether best friends' depressive symptoms were associated with adolescents' depressive symptoms through friendship quality and rumination, and whether these associations varied according to peer acceptance of best friends and adolescents themselves. Depressive symptoms, friendship quality, and rumination were assessed using self-reports, whereas peer acceptance and best-friend identification were obtained through peer nominations. RESULTS: Among girls, best friends' depressive symptoms were indirectly associated with adolescents' depressive symptoms through poorer friendship quality and greater rumination. Among boys, these indirect pathways were not significant; however, the association between best friends' depressive symptoms and boys' own symptoms was stronger when best friends' peer acceptance was higher. Among girls, higher peer acceptance was related to a weaker association between rumination and depressive symptoms and a smaller indirect association through rumination. DISCUSSION: These findings highlight potentially different patterns across gender-stratified analyses and the peer-status contexts of both adolescents and their best friends in understanding adolescent depressive symptoms.