More friends or good friends? The moderation effect of friendship on the relations between victimization, emotional resilience, and depression in early adolescence

This study sought to examine whether emotional resilience mediated the relation between victimization and depression, and whether friendship (quality and quantity) and gender moderated these relations among middle school students in China. Data were collected from 765 middle school students (seventh and eighth graders, Mage = 13.14 years) from three middle schools in Beijing, China in November 2019 (T1) and November 2020 (T2). Results showed that emotional resilience at T2 mediated the relation between victimization at T1 and depressive symptoms at T2 (indirect effect = 0.10, 95% CI [0.06, 0.14]). Friendship quality at T1 moderated the relation between victimization at T1 and emotional resilience at T2 ( β = 0.16, p < .05), and served as a buffer for girls, but not for boys. Friendship quantity at T1 moderated the relation between T1 victimization and T2 emotional resilience at T2 ( β = −0.09, p < .05), particularly for boys. Additionally, friendship quantity at T1 moderated the relation between T1 victimization and T2 depression ( β = 0.04, p < .05), especially for girls. Specifically, slope analysis showed that having more friends was protective for resilience and depression only for students who experienced lower levels of victimization, but not for those who experienced higher levels of victimization. Furthermore, the three-way interaction term between T1 friendship quality, T1 friendship quantity, and T1 victimization significantly predicted T2 emotional resilience ( β = 0.11, p < .05). Our findings clarified the effect of friendship quality versus quantity for Chinese youth who experienced victimization. The findings highlighted the importance of fostering high-quality friendships and emotional resilience to support the well-being of students who experienced peer victimization.