(PS4-A17) Awe, Peer Social Support, and Depressive Symptoms in a Sample of Primarily Latinx Adolescents

Peer social support has been identified as a protective factor against depression (Luo et al., 2017), which often emerges during adolescence and can have cascading life-long effects (Avenevoli et al., 2015; Lewinsohn et al., 1998). What is less known is how to promote social support. One promising, but understudied, construct is awe of nature. Awe is characterized as a self-transcendent emotion that includes a sense of vastness that can’t be comprehended and requires a re-organization of cognition to make sense of (Chen & Mongrain, 2021; Keltner & Haidt, 2003). Awe has been found to induce a sense of “small-self” (Piff et al., 2015) and has been associated with greater focus on others (Bai et al., 2017; Stellar et al., 2018), prosocial behavior (Guan et al., 2019), and increased connectedness (Chen et al., 2020; Graziosi et al., 2019), but the direct relationship between awe and social support has yet to be evaluated. Further, the interpersonal impacts of awe have only begun to be explored in the context of depression. Preliminary results indicate self-transcendent emotions (including awe, gratitude, and love) are associated with fewer symptoms of depression in emerging adults, in part due to greater levels of social connectedness (Goyer et al., 2019). This has yet to be evaluated in adolescence, however. The current study, therefore, examined the mediating effect of peer social support on the relationship between awe of nature and depressive symptoms in a sample of 231 primarily Latinx adolescents.

Participants self-reported on peer social support, depressive symptoms, and awe of nature. Mplus (version 8; Muthén & Muthén, 2017) was used to construct a structural equation model testing the direct effects of 1) awe of nature and 2) peer social support on depressive symptoms, and the 3) indirect effect of peer social support in the association between awe of nature and depressive symptoms, controlling for sex. The model fit the data well (c²(2) = 2.316, p = 0.314, RMSEA = 0.03, CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.98). Awe of nature was not associated with depressive symptoms (b = -0.04, SE = 0.07, p = .55), but was positively associated with social support (b = 0.21, SE = 0.08, p = .008). Peer social support was also negatively associated with depressive symptoms (b = -0.46, SE = 0.06, p = .000). The indirect effect of social support on the relationship between awe of nature and depressive symptoms was small but significant (b = -0.10, SE = 0.04, p = .010), thereby supporting our hypothesis that more frequently experienced awe of nature is indirectly associated with fewer depressive symptoms through greater peer social support. The results have implications for interventions that promote social support through inducing awe of nature to reduce symptoms of depression during the formidable development period of adolescence. Cultural considerations will be discussed.