Table 1.
Brief Summary of Published Literature on Academic Achievement and Depressive Symptoms
| Study | r | p | Academic Achievement Measure | Depressive Symptom Measure | Sample | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bos, Sandfort, De Bruyn, & Hakvoort (2008) | .05 | Non-significant | GPA (in Dutch, English, biology, & math) | General Health Questionnaire (14 items) | N = 866 (479 boys, 387 girls), mean of 13.6 years old, 77.6% Dutch | |
| Zimmerman, Caldwell, & Bernat (2002) | −.03 | Non-significant | Actual GPA | Brief Symptom Index | N = 591, 9th graders, African Americans | Selection of participant GPAs of 3.00 or less in 8th grade |
| Johnson, McGue, & Iacono, 2006 | −.05 | Non-significant | GPA (composed of multiple indicators of grade) | Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescence (DICA) | N = 824 (443 pairs of girls, 381 pairs of boys), Caucasians | |
| Hong, Veach, & Lawrenz (2005) | −.09 (boys) −.10 (girls) |
< .05 | Self-reported GPA (what grades are mostly like) | Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (short version) | N = 1,672, Taiwanese, 10th & 11th graders, 2001–2002 | Depression was combined with anxiety, translated into Chinese |
| Zimmerman, Caldwell, & Bernat (2002) | −.10 | < .05 | Self-reported GPA | Brief Symptom Index | N = 591, 9th graders, African Americans | Participants restricted GPAs of 3.00 or less in 8th grade |
| Anderman (2002) | −.16 | < .01 | A=1, B=2, C=3, D or lower = 4; reverse scored | 9-item scale | N = 20,745, multi-ethnic | From the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health |
| Roeser & Eccles (1998) | −.09 (Time 1) −.27 (Time 2) |
< .01 < .01 |
A=5, B=4, C=3, D=2, Failing=1 (in core subjects) | Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) (at Time 1) Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) (at Time 2) | N = 1,046, 7th & 8th graders, African Americans and Euro-Americans | From the MacArthur Network on Successful Adolescent Development in High Risk Settings |
| Hishinuma, Foster et al. (2006) | −.18 | < .05 | Self-reported GPA | Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) Inventory | N = 1,250, 9th–12th graders, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders | From the National Center on Indigenous Hawaiian Behavioral Health (NCIHBH) |
| Shahar, Henrich, Winokur, Blatt, Kuperminc, & Leadbeater (2006) | −.27 | < .01 | Actual GPA (0 = F, 12 = A+) | Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) | N = 499, middle school, multi-ethnic, 1995–1996 | |
| Chen, Rubin, & Li (1995) | −.29 −31 |
< .001 < .001 |
Chinese language achievement Mathematics | Children’s Depression Inventory | N = 210 | |
| Gilman & Anderman (2006) | −.35 | < .01 | Self-reported GPA (mean across years) | Depression from Behavioral Assessment System for Children-2nd ed. (BASC-2) | N = 654, 9th graders, spring 2005, primarily Caucasian | |
| Juvonen, Nishina, & Graham (2000) | −.36 | < .001 | Actual GPA (spring report card) | Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) | N = 243, middle school students, multi-ethnic |
Note:
GPA = grade-point average.
The results from four studies are not reported above because the studies did not provide the correlation between depressive symptoms and GPA. Lehtinen, Raikkonen, Heinonen, Raitakari, & Keltikangas-Jarvinen (2006) reported t/F values separate for boys versus girls. Field, Diego, and Sanders (2001), Pelkonen, Marttunen, and Aro (2003), and Repetto, Caldwell, and Zimmerman (2004) contrasted different types of depressed groups on measures similar to GPA.