This study takes a life course perspective to examine the long-term effect of negative school experiences during early adolescence on depressive affect in middle adulthood. The study uses a prospective longitudinal panel dataset that spanned nearly three decades with three waves: when respondents were at 7th grade (Time 1, mostly 12–13 years of age), young adulthood (Time 2, in their 20 s), and middle adulthood (Time 3, in their mid-30 s to early 40 s). The OLS regression models yielded results demonstrating that early negative school experiences were contemporaneously associated with depressive affect at Time 1, which endured through Time 2 and Time 3. Furthermore, independently of Time 1 control variables and the stability effects of depressive affect at Time 1 and Time 2, early negative school experiences still exerted a direct effect on depressive affect in middle adulthood. Ad hoc analysis demonstrated that this significant direct effect was mediated by the economic attainment of the respondents in middle adulthood net of the stability effects of depressive affect. Apparently, part of the influences of early negative school experiences on depressive affect in middle adulthood may be explained by its impeding economic attainment in adulthood, which in turn was associated with depressive affect.

本研究从生命历程的角度考察了青春期早期负面学校经历对成年中期抑郁情绪的长期影响。该研究使用了一个前瞻性的纵向面板数据集，该数据集跨越了近 30 年的三个波浪：当受访者处于 7 年级（时间 1，主要是 12-13 岁）、青年期（时间 2，20 多岁）和中期成年（时间 3，在他们 30 年代中期到 40 年代初期）。OLS 回归模型得出的结果表明，早期的负面学校经历与时间 1 的抑郁情绪同时相关，这种情绪持续到时间 2 和时间 3。此外，独立于时间 1 控制变量以及时间 1 和时间抑郁情绪的稳定性影响时间 2, 早期的负面学校经历仍然对成年中期的抑郁情绪产生直接影响。临时分析表明，这种显着的直接影响是由中年受访者的经济成就介导的，并扣除了抑郁情绪的稳定性影响。显然，早期负面学校经历对成年中期抑郁情绪的部分影响可能是由于它阻碍了成年后的经济成就，而这反过来又与抑郁情绪有关。