Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40809859›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2025

Romantic relationships and adolescent depression in China: moderating effects of peer norms.

Anqin Zhu, Zeyu Kong, Aiping Zhou

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Anqin ZhuSchool of Government, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
Zeyu KongSchool of Government, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
Aiping ZhouSchool of Government, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective: Adolescent depression is a crucial determinant of an individual's developmental trajectories and long-term health-related quality of life. Romantic relationships are widely recognized as a risk factor of adolescent depression. Peer norms, as an important source of social influence in adolescence, have the potential to moderate the effects of romantic relationships. The present study aims to examine the moderating effects of peer norms, including descriptive norms and injunctive norms, on the association between romantic relationships and adolescent depression in China. Methods: The present study used a nationally representative sample of 6718 junior high school students from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS). The ordinary least squares regression model was used to assess both the main effects of romantic relationships on adolescent depression and the moderating effects of peer norms. The bounding approach was used for sensitivity analysis. Results: Romantic relationships were positively associated with adolescent depression (β=0.290, p<.001). Descriptive norms, including class norms (β=-0.634, p=.042) and friend norms (β=-0.206, p<.001), significantly mitigate the association between romantic relationships and adolescent depression, but injunctive norms (β=0.253, p=.035) significantly exacerbate the association. The sensitivity analysis reveals that the above results are robust to the potential confounding impact of unobserved variables. Conclusion: Peer norms were found to significantly moderate the correlation between romantic relationships and adolescent depression. It is important to play the role of descriptive and injunctive peer norms in the prevention and intervention for the depression of adolescents, especially for those who are in a romantic relationship.

Indexed as

adolescent depressiondescriptive normsinjunctive normsmental healthpeer normsromantic relationships

Identifiers

PMID40809859
PMCPMC12343576

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