Gender differences and social support: Mediators or moderators between peer victimization and depressive feelings?

Using self-report questionnaires, a survey among 606 Dutch primary school children aged 10 to 12 years examined relationships among social support, gender, victimization, and depressive feelings.Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that victims and bully/victims would report more depressive feelings than uninvolved children. There was no evidence that social support moderated the relationship between victimization and depressive feelings. However, social support appeared to influence the depressive feelings of victimized children, that is, pupils who were victimized received very little support and hence suffered depression. This general mediation effect couldbe observed in boys. In girls, the mediating effects of social support were more diffuse. For girls, the risk factor for the development of depressive feelings did not so much pertain to the type of bullying as to the subsequent lack of social support they experienced.