1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«In the current study, [the authors] examined the mediating role of school experiences in the association between MDSs [maternal depressive symptoms] and academic performance in boys and girls. Specifically, [they] tested the mediating role of peer victimization and children’s cognitive, behavioral, and emotional school engagement in middle childhood (6–10 years) in the association between early (5 months–5 years) exposure to MDSs and children’s academic performance at age 12.» (p. 1)

Questions/Hypothèses :
In this study, the authors «hypothesized that exposure to MDSs in early childhood would be negatively associated with cognitive, behavioral, and emotional engagement, but positively with peer victimization in older children. In turn, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional engagement would be positively associated with academic performance, whereas peer victimization would be negatively associated with performance. Due to evidence suggesting sex differences in the MDSs-academic performance association, [the authors] tested mediation models separately by sex.» (p. 1)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
In this study, «[p]articipants were part of the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, a cohort of 2120 families with a 5-month-old infant born in 1997–1998 conducted by the Institut de la Statistique du Québec (ISQ; Québec Institute of Statistics) (Orri et al., 2020). [The] analysis sample consisted of n = 1173 participants with academic performance data. Respondents were parents, teachers, and target children.» (p. 2) To assess the children’s competencies in mathematics, reading and writing at age 12 (their academic performance), the authors used the «Ministère de l’Éducation et de l’Enseignement Supérieur (Ministry of Education and Teaching) exams [that every student must write] at the end of grade 6 (age 12)». (p. 3)

Instruments :
Questionnaires

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

Results show «that children’s school experiences mediated the association between exposure to MDSs in early childhood and academic performance in late childhood. However, this association was only observed in girls. Specifically, cognitive and behavioral school engagement mediated the association between MDSs and mathematics, reading, and writing exam scores. Emotional engagement and peer victimization were not significant mediators. None of the potential mediators explained the association in boys.» (p. 5) The authors’ «findings are also in line with previous studies showing an association between exposure to early MDSs and increased risk of peer victimization (Côté et al., 2018; Tsypes & Gibb, 2015), with the distinction that [their] findings were only significant in girls. Although the indirect effect from MDSs to academic performance via peer victimization was not significant in [this] study, peer victimization was significantly associated with girls’ academic performance.» (p. 5-6) «Overall, these and previous data suggest that reducing peer victimization […] may help mitigate the negative impact of MDSs on child outcomes.» (p. 6) In conclusion, «[this] current study adds to the existing literature by showing that exposure to early MDSs was negatively associated with girls’ academic performance via its associations with cognitive and behavioral school engagement.» (p. 8)