This study examined the impact of various school‐related factors on adolescents’ depressive mood, including prosocial behavior, verbal aggression, and relationships with teachers. The data used in this study were collected in the context of a larger survey on victimization in secondary schools from the French Community of Belgium. Participants were 2896 secondary school students (1520 males; 1376 females) aged 12–18 years. Results showed that for both genders, the three strongest predictors of depressive mood were age, feeling of exclusion, and verbal aggression. This study focusing on school‐related predictors of depressive mood confirmed the importance of the social context in school as a predictor of depression in both girls and boys.

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Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the life stories of depressive adolescents and compare them with non-clinical adolescents’ life stories. Methods: For this purpose, we compared 20 life stories of hospitalized adolescents suffering from major depressive episode with 40 life stories of adolescents attending school divided into two groups: 20 non-depressed and 20 depressed adolescents. Results: Results showed that life stories differed as a function of psychopathology. Depressed hospitalized adolescents spoke about their disease and defined themselves by their depression. The depressed adolescents in school concentrated on schooling and school achievements, while the non-depressed group defined themselves by their family, friends and inclusion in a peer group. Conclusion: These analyses allowed us to highlight specific themes mentioned by each of the three groups of adolescents. Although life stories are personal and unique, analysis of such stories allows us to better understand the daily reality of depressive adolescents and the relationships between the life events they experience, daily stressors, depression and how they construct their personal history.

Numerous studies have shown that the risk of depression in girls and the risk of violent behavior in boys progressively increase during adolescence. However, studies that clearly link the social mechanisms of gender to these results are relatively rare and studies that clearly delve into roots of these phenomena are even rarer still. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the genderization of spaces and life experiences during adolescence and its effect on adolescent mental and behavioral health. The recent scientific literature dedicated to this topic and the results of our own previous research have led us to define our hypotheses and analysis procedures. Concretely, we've tested the links between depression and violent behavior in both gender groups separately and we've investigated the potential role of gendered stressors and expectations influencing the developmental processes that lead to either depression or violent behaviour. The data used to perform our analysis of male and female pupils halfway through secondary education were drawn from the 2016 Belgian ISRD-3 study (International Study on Self-Reported Delinquency, third wave) we have conducted. Our findings confirm that the stressors adolescents have to face and the significance they assign to them reflect the genderization of symbolic and material spheres (private and emotional for girls, public and competitive for boys). In terms of reaction to these stressors, depressive mood and violent attitude appear interlinked. Male gender norms appear to encourage boys to seek recognition through violent behaviors and to avoid emotional demonstrations. In this gender group, a high score of depression reflects sensitivity to stressors comparable to the female group but also, perhaps, a fear of rejection by peers. Nevertheless, these results must be considered with caution given the rapidly changing nature of the social world as well as the fact that the instru-How to cite this paper: Gavray, C., & Boulard, A. (2021). Depressive Mood and Violent Behaviour among Teenagers: A Gender Dynamic Approach to the Study of Stressor Effects. Psychology, 12, 785-804.