The Relationship Between Hope and Depression in Adolescents and the Mediating Role of Social Support

Abstract

Depression can have a major detrimental impact on adolescents during this important time of development. A sense of hope is associated with reduced depressive symptoms, as is the degree of social support experienced. However, how these factors interact to protect against depression during adolescence remains unclear, and specifically whether social support mediates the relationship between hope and depression. The aim of this study was to investigate whether different sources of social support mediate the relationship between hope and depression in adolescents. A self-report cross-sectional survey was used to measure hope, social support and depression in 44,037 high school students aged 12-18 years (M = 14.17, SD = 1.62), including 20,189 (45.8%) males, 21,937 (49.8%) females, 963 (2.2%) identifying as 'other' and 948 (2.2%) who preferred not to report gender. Results show that after controlling for individual age and socioeconomic status, hope was a significant predictor of depression. Family, teacher and friend support all partially mediated this relationship, with family support being the strongest mediator, followed by friend support and then teacher support. This study, which had a very large sample of Australian adolescents, demonstrates the importance of a sense of hope on mental health outcomes, specifically depression, but importantly outlines the role that social support structures have on this relationship. These results help us to identify areas of young people's lives that can be used to better promote mental health outcomes. Keywords: adolescents, hope, depression, social support