1 - (SYM 14) School-related Worries in the Day-to-day Lives of Teen Girls: Links to Positive Affect and Depressive Symptoms

There is a mental health epidemic, with a 2021 CDC report revealing that 56% of female high school students report significant depressive symptoms.  Academic pressures have also increased, with intense pressure to excel resulting in high rates of depression in high achieving schools (Luthar et al., 2019). Yet little is known about how school worries may play a role in the mental health epidemic. We used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to assess day-to-day worries in early adolescent girls and their links to daily affect and depressive symptoms.

Participants were 117 girls ages 11-13, with 2/3^rd at risk for depression based on shy/fearful temperament (EATQ-R). They completed a 16-day EMA protocol which included a morning question: “What are you most worried is going to happen today?” and rated the intensity of the worry on a 0 to 100 scale. Responses were coded into 13 categories (e.g. school, family, health). Participants also rated their current positive and negative affect on the 0 - 100 scale 3-4 times a day and self-reported depressive symptoms (MFQ) at baseline and 1 year follow-up.

School-related worries were reported on 28% of days, which was more frequent than any other category (e.g., health, family, peers; F=59.54, p< .001). Mixed effects models showed that on days when girls worried about a school-related topic, they reported lower PA than on days they reported a different worry (e.g., family, peers; B=-3.01, p=.004). School worries were not associated with negative affect. The intensity of school worries interacted with risk status to predict depressive symptoms at 1 year follow-up, controlling for age and baseline (T1) depressive symptoms (B=-.16, p=.035). More intense academic worries predicted increases in depressive symptoms for low-risk (β=.60, p=.001), but not high-risk (β=.15, p=.308) participants. 

School worries are the most common daily concerns reported by teen girls, far surpassing worries about family, health, friends, and social media. These worries were associated in real time with decreased positive affect, suggesting that they may dampen mood and interfere with the ability to enjoy other experiences. Typical teens with intense school worries were at higher risk for developing depressive symptoms over a year, although temperamentally shy/fearful teens were less impacted by school worries, perhaps being more impacted by social issues. Findings suggest that school pressures warrant greater attention as a potential factor in the teen mental health epidemic.