The dyadic nature of bullying and victimization: testing a dual-perspective theory

Status Differences in Target-Specific Prosocial Behavior and Aggression

Previous studies exploring the link between social status and behavior have predominantly utilized measures that do not provide information regarding toward whom aggression or prosocial behavior is directed. Using a contextualized target-specific approach, this study examined whether high- and low-status adolescents behave differently toward peers of varying levels of status. Participants, aged 11-15 (N = 426, 53 % females), completed measures assessing aggression and prosocial behavior toward each same-sex grademate. A distinct pattern of findings emerged regarding the likeability, popularity, and dominance status of adolescents and their peer targets. Popular adolescents reported more direct aggression, indirect aggression, and prosocial behavior toward popular peers than did unpopular adolescents. Well-accepted adolescents reported more prosocial behavior toward a wider variety of peers than did rejected adolescents. Finally, compared to subordinate adolescents, dominant adolescents reported greater direct and indirect aggression toward dominant than subordinate peers. The results highlight the importance of studying target-specific behavior to better understand the status-behavior link.

Teacher characteristics and peer victimization in elementary schools: a classroom-level perspective

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is an association between teacher characteristics and peer victimization in elementary schools. We used data of 3,385 elementary school students (M age = 9.8) and 139 of their teachers (M age = 43.9) and employed Poisson regression analyses to explain the classroom victimization rate. Results showed a higher victimization rate in the classrooms of teachers who attributed bullying to external factors-factors outside of their control. In addition, the results suggest that both teachers' perceived ability to handle bullying among students and teachers' own bullying history were positively associated with the classroom victimization rate. We also took into account classroom composition characteristics and found lower victimization rates in multi-grade classrooms and in classrooms with older students. The results support the notion of an association between teacher characteristics and peer victimization. Findings are discussed with regards to current literature and suggestions for future research are made.

Structure Matters: The Role of Clique Hierarchy in the Relationship Between Adolescent Social Status and Aggression and Prosociality

Peer cliques form an important context for the social development of adolescents. Although clique members are often similar in social status, also within cliques, status differences exist. How differences in social status between clique members are related to behaviors of its individual members is rather unknown. This study examined to what extent the relationship of individual social status (i.e., perceived popularity) with aggression and prosocial behavior depends on the level of internal clique hierarchy. The sample consists of 2674 adolescents (49.8 % boys), with a mean age of 14.02. We focused specifically on physical and relational aggression, and practical and emotional support, because these behaviors have shown to be of great importance for social relationships and social standing among adolescents. The internal status hierarchy of cliques was based on the variation in individual social status between clique members (i.e., clique hierarchization) and the structure of status scores within a clique (pyramid shape, inverted pyramid, or equal distribution of social status scores) (i.e., clique status structure). The results showed that differences in aggressive and prosocial behaviors were particularly moderated by clique status structure: aggression was stronger related to individual social status in (girls’) cliques where the clique status structure reflected an inverted pyramid with relatively more high status adolescents within the clique than low status peers, and prosocial behavior showed a significant relationship with individual social status, again predominantly in inverted pyramid structured (boys’ and girls’) cliques. Furthermore, these effects differed by types of gender cliques: the associations were found in same gender but not mixed-gender cliques. The findings stress the importance of taking into account internal clique characteristics when studying adolescent social status in relationship to aggression and prosociality.

Understanding social hierarchies: The neural and psychological foundations of status perception

Social groups across species rapidly self-organize into hierarchies, where members vary in their level of power, influence, skill, or dominance. In this review, we explore the nature of social hierarchies and the traits associated with status in both humans and nonhuman primates, and how status varies across development in humans. Our review finds that we can rapidly identify social status based on a wide range of cues. Like monkeys, we tend to use certain cues, like physical strength, to make status judgments, although layered on top of these more primitive perceptual cues are sociocultural status cues like job titles and educational attainment. One's relative status has profound effects on attention, memory, and social interactions, as well as health and wellness. These effects can be particularly pernicious in children and adolescents. Developmental research on peer groups and social exclusion suggests teenagers may be particularly sensitive to social status information, but research focused specifically on status processing and associated brain areas is very limited. Recent evidence from neuroscience suggests that there may be an underlying neural network, including regions involved in executive, emotional, and reward processing, that is sensitive to status information. We conclude with questions for future research as well as stressing the need to expand social neuroscience research on status processing to adolescents.

Why the bully/victim relationship is so pernicious: A gendered perspective on power and animosity among bullies and their victims

The bully/victim relationship was studied in a sample of elementary school children (N = 1,289 in first, third, and fifth grades). Three questions were tested. Does bullying involve a power differential between bully and victim? Are bully/victim dyads participants in a relationship, whether mutual liking or disliking? Does the gender composition of the bully/victim dyad moderate power differential and relational context patterns? Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze predictors of the reputational strength of bully/victim ties. The findings revealed that the bully/victim dyads most frequently nominated by peers were characterized by asymmetries in social status, where bullies were increasingly more popular than their victims, and by asymmetries in aggression, where bullies were increasingly less aggressive than their victims. Bullies and victims were likely to select one another as among the children that they least like. Most effects with respect to aggression, popularity, and relationships were moderated by the gender composition of the bully/victim dyad. Implications for a developmental psychopathology perspective on peer bullying and victimization are highlighted.

Victims, bullies, and their defenders: A longitudinal study of the coevolution of positive and negative networks

The complex interplay between bullying/victimization and defending was examined using a longitudinal social network approach (stochastic actor-based models). The (co)evolution of these relations within three elementary schools (Grades 2–5 at Time 1, ages 8–11, N = 354 children) was investigated across three time points within a year. Most bullies and defenders were in the same grade as the victims, although a substantial number of bullies and defenders were in other grades (most often one grade higher). Defenders were usually of the same gender as the victims, whereas most bullies were boys, with boys bullying both boys and girls. In line with goal-framing theory, multiplex network analyses provided evidence for the social support hypothesis (victims with the same bullies defended each other over time) as well as the retaliation hypothesis (defenders run the risk of becoming victimized by the bullies of the victims they defend). In addition, the analysis revealed that bullies with the same victims defended each other over time and that defenders of bullies initiated harassment of those bullies' victims. This study can be seen as a starting point in unraveling the relationship dynamics among bullying, victimization, and defending networks in schools.

Aggressive and prosocial behaviors

This study examined the social functioning of bistrategic youths (i.e., those who employ both aggressive and prosocial behavior) in order to further understand their social competence in peer social networks. Within our sample of 318 fifth-grade participants recruited from an urban school district in the northeastern US, bistrategic preadolescents were identified, along with aggressives, prosocials, typicals, and noncontrollers. Bistrategic youths were found to hold the highest individual status and group status among all five subtypes within the network. Bistrategic youths and other active controller youths (i.e., prosocials and aggressives) were more likely to associate with peers of the same subtype in social groups. In addition, bistrategics who associated with same subtype (i.e., homogenous) peers held elevated group status, whereas bistrategics who associated with non-homogenous peers held heightened individual status. Further, results illustrate how bistrategics selectively target highly popular peers as victims of social aggression. Findings extend previous research by demonstrating the social success of bistrategic youths based on their high individual and group status, and by illuminating their strategic employment of different forms of aggression towards peers of different popularity status.

Gendered-peer relationships in educational contexts

The goals of this chapter are to discuss the theories and evidence concerning the roles of gendered-peer interactions and relationships in children's lives at school. We begin by discussing the tendency of boys and girls to separate into same-sex peer groups and consider the theories and evidence concerning how gender segregation occurs and how peers influence children's learning and development. We then turn to the important and understudied question of why some children have more exposure to same-sex peers than others. We consider factors that contribute to variability in children's experiences with gender segregation such as the types of schools children attend and the kinds of classroom experiences they have with teachers. Finally, we review new evidence concerning the cognitive and affective factors that illustrate that children are actively involved in constructing the social world that surrounds them.

Behind bullying and defending: same-sex and other-sex relations and their associations with acceptance and rejection

Relatively little is known about bullying and defending behaviors of children in early elementary school. However, this period is crucial for children's development as at this age they start to participate in a stable peer group, and difficulties in social interactions can be detected early by professionals. An interactive animated web-based computer program was used in this study to assess peer relationships among young children. The computerized assessment was conducted among 2,135 children in grades 1-2 from 22 elementary schools to examine the association of bullying, victimization, and defending with being accepted or rejected. Same-sex and other-sex peer relations were distinguished using dyadic data. Both boys and girls were more likely to accept same-sex classmates than other-sex classmates, and boys were more often nominated than girls as perpetrators of bullying against both boys and girls. It was found that bullies were rejected by those for whom they posed a potential threat, and that defenders were preferred by those classmates for whom they were a potential source of protection. Bullies chose victims who were rejected by significant others, but contrary to expectations, children who bullied boys scored low on peer affection. It is possible that these bullies were not strategic enough to select the "right" targets. Overall, the current findings provide evidence for strategies involved in bullying and defending at early age.

Assessment and management of bullied children in the emergency department

Bullying is an important public health issue in the United States. Up to 30% of children report exposure to such victimization. Not only does it hurt bully victim, but it also negatively impacts the bully, other children, parents, school staff, and health care providers. Because bullying often presents with accompanying serious emotional and behavioral symptoms, there has been an increase in psychiatric referrals to emergency departments. Emergency physicians may be the first responders in the health care system for bullying episodes. Victims of bullying may present with nonspecific symptoms and be reluctant to disclose being victimized, contributing to the underdiagnosis and underreporting of bully victimization. Emergency physicians therefore need to have heightened awareness of physical and psychosocial symptoms related to bullying. They should rapidly screen for bullying, assess for injuries and acute psychiatric issues that require immediate attention, and provide appropriate referrals such as psychiatry and social services. This review defines bullying, examines its presentations and epidemiology, and provides recommendations for the assessment and evaluation of victims of bullying in the emergency department.

Adolescent obesity and life satisfaction: perceptions of self, peers, family, and school

This study contributes to research on adolescent life satisfaction by considering its association with body weight, as mediated by perceptions of self, peers, family, and school. Data from the Health Behaviors in School-Age Children Survey (2001-2002) and OLS regression techniques are used to examine the association between body weight and life satisfaction. We also model these relationships by gender. Results indicate lower life satisfaction among adolescents that are overweight and obese relative to healthy weight youth, and that most of the negative association operates through perceptions of self, peers, parents, and school. We find little or no gender difference in the association between body weight and perceptions of self, peers, parents, and school; however, we find perceptions of body weight are generally more strongly associated with low life satisfaction among girls compared to boys.

Bullying in classrooms: participant roles from a social network perspective

The aim of this research was to investigate if and how the group process of bullying can be examined using a social network perspective. In two studies, bullying was investigated using a social network version of the participant-role questionnaire. Study 1 explored the social network structure of one classroom in detail. The findings provide evidence that ingroup and outgroup effects are important in explaining the group process of bullying, and shed new light on defending, suggesting that not only victims are defended. In line with Study 1, Study 2, using data from 494 children in 25 elementary school classes (M age = 10.5), revealed that victims as well as bullies were defended by their ingroup members. The social network perspective can be integrated in antibullying interventions by using it to inform teachers about the positive and negative relations among students, and the group structure of the classroom.

Adolescent Aggression: The Role of Peer Group Status Motives, Peer Aggression, and Group Characteristics

Recent studies of youth aggression have emphasized the role of network-based peer influence processes. Other scholars have suggested that aggression is often motivated by status concerns. We integrate these two veins of research by considering the effects of peer status motivations on subsequent adolescent aggression, net of their own status motivations, prior aggression, and peer behavior. We also explore different levels at which peer effects may occur, considering the effects of reciprocated and unreciprocated friendships as well as larger, meso-level peer groups. We anticipate that peer group effects are magnified by both size and boundedness as measured by Freeman's (1972) Segregation Index. We find that, net of the adolescent's aggression at time 1, both the aggressive behaviors and the status valuations of friends independently increase the likelihood of aggression at time 2, six months later. The aggressive behavior of friends who do not reciprocate the adolescent's friendship nomination has particular impact. The average status valuation of peer groups increases their members' likelihood of aggression, even after controlling for their own attitudes about status, their friends' attitudes, and their friends' aggressive behavior. This effect is magnified in large groups and groups with high Freeman segregation scores.

Longitudinal associations between teasing and health-related quality of life among treatment-seeking overweight and obese youth

OBJECTIVES

To examine concurrent and prospective associations between perceptions of teasing and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) over the course of a behavioral/educational intervention and the subsequent year in a sample of overweight and obese children and adolescents.

METHOD

A clinical sample of 93 overweight or obese youths (ages 7-17 years) and 1 parent/guardian completed measures of teasing and HRQOL at pre- and posttreatment and follow-up assessments. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the factor structure of the measures and to assess prospective associations over a 15-month period.

RESULTS

Results indicate that, concurrently, weight-related teasing is inversely associated with HRQOL and that, prospectively, HRQOL is inversely associated with subsequent teasing.

CONCLUSIONS

Study findings are suggestive of a directional relationship with lower quality of life predicting subsequent higher levels of teasing. Results suggest the potential for interventions designed to improve HRQOL to reduce teasing experiences for overweight and obese youth.

Longitudinal associations among youth depressive symptoms, peer victimization, and low peer acceptance: an interpersonal process perspective

A longitudinal investigation was conducted to explicate the network of associations between depressive symptoms and peer difficulties among 486 fourth through sixth graders (M = 9.93 years). Parent and teacher reports of depressive symptoms; peer, self, and teacher reports of victimization; and peer reports of peer acceptance were obtained. A systematic examination of nested structural equation models provided support for a symptoms-driven model whereby depressive symptoms contributed to peer difficulties; no evidence was found for interpersonal risk or transactional models. Analyses further revealed that victimization mediated the association between prior depressive symptoms and subsequent peer acceptance. Results extend knowledge about the temporal ordering of depressive symptoms and peer difficulties and elucidate one process through which depressive symptoms disrupt peer relationships.

An examination of network position and childhood relational aggression: integrating resource control and social exchange theories

Applying resource control theory and social exchange theory, we examined the social network conditions under which elementary age children were likely to engage in relational aggression. Data on classroom peer networks and peer-nominated behaviors were collected on 671 second- through fourth-grade children in 34 urban, low-income classrooms. Nested regression models with robust cluster standard errors demonstrated that the association between children's number of relationships and their levels of relational aggression was moderated by the number of relationships that their affiliates had. Children with more peer relationships (i.e., higher network centrality) exhibited higher levels of relational aggression, but only when these relationships were with peers who had fewer connections themselves (i.e., poorly connected peers). This finding remained significant even when controlling for common predictors of relational aggression including gender, overt aggression, prosocial behavior, victimization, social preference, and perceived popularity. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for advancing the literature on childhood relational aggression and their practical applications for identifying children at risk for these behaviors.

Aggression by whom-aggression toward whom: behavioral predictors of same- and other-gender aggression in early childhood

This study assessed girls' and boys' dominance-related behaviors (aggressive, commanding, submissive, and neutral behaviors) as they naturally occurred during interactions with male and female peers and evaluated the possibility that such behaviors elicit aggression from peers. Using a focal observational procedure, young girls' and boys' (N = 170; 54% boys) naturally occurring dominance-related behaviors and male and female peers' aggressive responses to those behaviors were recorded multiple times each week across the academic year. Findings suggested that same-gender aggression occurred at similar rates as other-gender aggression once tendencies toward gender-segregated play were controlled. Additionally, there were both gender-based similarities and differences in children's use of dominance-related behaviors in peer interactions and as antecedents for peers' aggression. The findings have implications for the literatures on aggression and gendered peer interactions.

School absenteeism as a perpetuating factor of functional somatic symptoms in adolescents: the TRAILS study

OBJECTIVE

To examine whether school absenteeism is a perpetuating factor of functional somatic symptoms and whether this holds true for bullied adolescents.

STUDY DESIGN

This study is part of the longitudinal population-based study Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey. Data from assessment wave 2 (n = 2149; 51.0% girls; mean age = 13.65, SD = 0.53) and assessment wave 3 (n = 1816; 53.3% girls; mean age = 16.25, SD = 0.72) were used. Peer victimization was assessed by peer nominations, school absenteeism by both parent and teacher reports, and functional somatic symptoms with the Youth Self-Report.

RESULTS

With structural equation modeling, school absenteeism at the second wave, adjusted for functional somatic symptoms at the second wave, was revealed to predict functional somatic symptoms at the third wave in the entire cohort (β = 0.12; 95% CI, 0.02-0.22), but not in the subgroup of bullied adolescents (β = -0.13; 95% CI, -0.62--0.26). However, the difference between bullied and unbullied adolescents did not reach significance.

CONCLUSION

This study provides evidence that school absenteeism is a perpetuating factor of functional somatic symptoms in adolescents. A clinical intervention study is necessary to examine whether preventing school absenteeism truly helps to reduce functional somatic symptoms in adolescents.

Associations between fifth graders' gender atypical problem behavior and peer relationships: a short-term longitudinal study

An accruing body of evidence supports associations between self-perceived gender typicality and peer relationship difficulties; however, researchers have yet to evaluate peers' perceptions of problem behaviors to gain insight into the social correlates of gender typicality. A short-term longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate associations between gender atypical problem behavior and subsequent peer relational difficulties for 2,076 fifth graders (M age= 10.27; 53% female). Peer nomination methodology was used to assess participants' classroom peer relationships, problem behaviors, and social-emotional characteristics. Findings showed that youth characterized by gender atypical, compared to gender typical, problem behavior (withdrawn boys/aggressive girls vs. withdrawn girls/aggressive boys, respectively) evidenced higher levels of subsequent peer difficulties; moreover, participation in a mutual friendship was associated with decreased risk for peer relationship maladjustment, particularly among youth characterized by gender atypical problem behavior. Results further revealed that, compared to friendless youth, friended youth earned higher prosocial and peer liking scores and, for withdrawn youth, lower emotional sensitivity scores. The present research contributes to our understanding of the potential short-term consequences of youth's gender atypical problem behavior. Findings underscore the need for supplemental conceptualizations of gender typicality as well as multifaceted interventions designed to promote the acceptance of gender nonnormativity, support the development of adaptive peer relationships, and reduce the occurrence of problem behaviors.

School bullying: its nature and ecology

BACKGROUND

Recent youth suicides only highlight a persistent problem in schools - bullying and sustained peer victimization. Being a target or victim of bullying has long been recognized has having short- and long-term psychological effects on children and adolescents across the world today. School bullying is one of the most significant public health concerns facing children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE

Involvement in the social phenomena of school bullying is often explained as emerging from a wide range of risk and protective factors within the social-ecology of youth. The social-ecological model posits that bullying behaviors are shaped by various interrelated contexts including individual characteristics, family, peers and the school environment.

METHODS

Research is reviewed to highlight the correlates of bullying involvement across these context using social-ecological and social-learning frameworks. Meta-analytic studies are reviewed on the short- and long-term impact of bullying involvement and efficacy of bullying prevention programs. Specific recommendations for prevention planning and future research efforts are provided.

CONCLUSIONS

Bullying is a multi-faceted issue, which is best understood in the larger social context in which it occurs. Individual characteristics of students contribute to bullying involvement when students have families that promote violence, teachers that ignore or dismiss bullying, schools that have negative climates and students who socialize with friends who bully. These social contexts need to be targeted in bully prevention programs to reduce bullying and peer victimization in schools.

Do physical and relational aggression explain adolescents' friendship selection? The competing roles of network characteristics, gender, and social status

The role of physical and relational aggression in adolescents' friendship selection was examined in a longitudinal sample of 274 Chilean students from 5th and 6th grade followed over 1 year. Longitudinal social network modeling (SIENA) was used to study selection processes for aggression while influence processes were controlled for. Furthermore, the effects of network characteristics (i.e., reciprocity and transitivity), gender, and social status on friendship selection were examined. The starting assumption of this study was that selection effects based on aggression might have been overestimated in previous research as a result of failing to consider influence processes and alternative characteristics that steer friendship formation. The results show that selection effects of both physical and relational aggression disappeared when network effects, gender, and social status were taken into account. Particularly gender and perceived popularity appeared to be far more important determinants of friendship selection over time than aggression. Moreover, a peer influence effect was only found for relational aggression, and not for physical aggression. These findings suggest that similarity in aggression among befriended adolescents can be considered to be mainly a by-product rather than a leading dimension in friendship selection.

Characterizing and comparing the friendships of anxious-solitary and unsociable preadolescents

Friendships matter for withdrawn youth because the consequences of peer isolation are severe. From a normative sample of 2,437 fifth graders (1,245 females; M age = 10.25), a subset (n = 1,364; 638 female) was classified into 3 groups (anxious-solitary, unsociable, comparison) and followed across a school year. Findings indicated that it was more common for unsociable than anxious-solitary children to have friends, be stably friended, and participate in multiple friendships. For withdrawn as well as nonwithdrawn children, peer rejection predicted friendlessness, but this relation was strongest for anxious-solitary children. The friends of unsociable youth were more accepted by peers than those of anxious-solitary youth. The premise that friendship inhibits peer victimization was substantiated for withdrawn as well as nonwithdrawn youth.

Mothers and children as informants of bullying victimization: results from an epidemiological cohort of children

Stressful events early in life can affect children's mental health problems. Collecting valid and reliable information about children's bad experiences is important for research and clinical purposes. This study aimed to (1) investigate whether mothers and children provide valid reports of bullying victimization, (2) examine the inter-rater reliability between the two informants, (3) test the predictive validity of their reports with children's emotional and behavioral problems and (4) compare the genetic and environmental etiology of bullying victimization as reported by mothers and children. We assessed bullying victimization in the Environmental-Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative sample of 1,116 families with twins. We collected reports from mothers and children during private interviews, including detailed narratives. Findings showed that we can rely on mothers and children as informants of bullying victimization: both informants provided information which adhered to the definition of bullying as involving repeated hurtful actions between peers in the presence of a power imbalance. Although mothers and children modestly agreed with each other about who was bullied during primary and secondary school, reports of bullying victimization from both informants were similarly associated with children's emotional and behavioral problems and provided similar estimates of genetic and environmental influences. Findings from this study suggest that collecting information from multiple informants is ideal to capture all instances of bullying victimization. However, in the absence of child self-reports, mothers can be considered as a viable alternative, and vice versa.

Bullying as strategic behavior: relations with desired and acquired dominance in the peer group

To examine whether bullying is strategic behavior aimed at obtaining or maintaining social dominance, 1129 9- to 12-year-old Dutch children were classified in terms of their role in bullying and in terms of their use of dominance oriented coercive and prosocial social strategies. Multi-informant measures of participants' acquired and desired social dominance were also included. Unlike non-bullying children, children contributing to bullying often were bistrategics in that they used both coercive and prosocial strategies and they also were socially dominant. Ringleader bullies also expressed a higher desire to be dominant. Among non-bullying children, those who tended to help victims were relatively socially dominant but victims and outsiders were not. Generally, the data supported the claim that bullying is dominance-oriented strategic behavior, which suggests that intervention strategies are more likely to be successful when they take the functional aspects of bullying behavior into account.

Gender differences in the relative impact of physical and relational bullying on adolescent injury and weapon carrying

Using structural equation modeling, concurrent associations were assessed among physical bullying, relational bullying, physical victimization, relational victimization, injury and weapon carrying using data from the population of 1300 adolescent girls and 1362 adolescent boys in grades 7-12 in a Colorado school district. For both genders, being a relational bully was a significantly stronger predictor of weapon carrying than being a physical bully, and both bullying types were significant predictors of more weapon carrying. For both genders, being a victim of physical bullying, a victim of relational bullying, or being a relational bully significantly predicted more injury. In latent means comparisons, adolescent girls reported more relational victimization and adolescent boys reported more physical bullying and victimization, more weapon carrying, and more injury. The relative strength of relational bullying on weapon carrying, and the health-related consequences of bullying on interpersonal violence and injury support concerted efforts in schools to mitigate these behaviors. Attention to differences related to age and gender also is indicated in the design of bullying mitigation programs.

Child and context characteristics in trajectories of physical and relational victimization among early elementary school children

Transactional models suggest that peer victimization results from both individual and context differences, and understanding these differences may point to important targets for prevention and interventions that reduce victimization. Multilevel modeling was used to examine within-person (aggression and emotional dysregulation), between-person (sex and age), and between-school (participation in a victimization prevention program) factors that influence changes in physical and relational victimization over the first three years of elementary school. Children (n = 423) reported their experiences of peer victimization at entry into Grade 1 and at the end of Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3. On average, trajectories of both physical and relational victimization declined. However, for individual children, teacher-rated aggression was associated with increases in physical and relational victimization, while emotional dysregulation was associated with attenuation of longitudinal declines in physical victimization and increases in relational victimization. Individual differences in sex and age at entry into Grade 1 did not significantly influence victimization trajectories over Grades 1 to 3. Children who participated in the WITS® victimization prevention program showed significant declines in physical and relational victimization. Levels of victimization among nonparticipants remained stable. Implications of child and context characteristics for preventing peer victimization in elementary school are discussed.

Victims and their defenders: A dyadic approach

This study focused on the dyadic defending relationships of victimized children in grades 3, 4, and 5 (N = 7481 children from 356 school classes, mean ages 10—12 years). Most of the victims (72.3%) had at least one defender. Being defended was positively related to victims’ adjustment and social status. Analyses on victim—defender dyads showed that they were usually same-gender relationships. Victims usually liked their defenders and perceived them as popular, although the latter effect was weaker. Also other classmates perceived defenders as popular, indicating that defenders enjoy a high status among their peers in general.

It Takes Two to Fight in School Too: A Social Relations Model of the Psychometric Properties and Relative Variance of Dyadic Aggression and Victimization in Middle School

Aggressive behavior has been well-studied in terms of interindividual differences among aggressors and victims, but has been understudied, especially within naturalistic contexts, in terms of aggressor-victim relationships. The Social Relations Model (SRM) is a powerful conceptual and analytic tool for studying dyadic phenomena, and we describe the use of multivariate SRM to study aggression. Boys and girls (N = 210) in middle schools (sixth and seventh grades) completed a newly created Dyadic Aggression and Victimization Inventory (DAVI). Results support the reliability and validity of the DAVI in assessing interindividual and interdyadic differences in aggression and victimization. Occurrences of aggression were accounted for primarily by interdyadic variability, indicating the importance of considering aggressor-victim relationships. We discuss the implications of this relationship focus for future research and intervention efforts.

Bullying victimization in youths and mental health problems: 'much ado about nothing'?

Bullying victimization is a topic of concern for youths, parents, school staff and mental health practitioners. Children and adolescents who are victimized by bullies show signs of distress and adjustment problems. However, it is not clear whether bullying is the source of these difficulties. This paper reviews empirical evidence to determine whether bullying victimization is a significant risk factor for psychopathology and should be the target of intervention and prevention strategies. Research indicates that being the victim of bullying (1) is not a random event and can be predicted by individual characteristics and family factors; (2) can be stable across ages; (3) is associated with severe symptoms of mental health problems, including self-harm, violent behaviour and psychotic symptoms; (4) has long-lasting effects that can persist until late adolescence; and (5) contributes independently to children's mental health problems. This body of evidence suggests that efforts aimed at reducing bullying victimization in childhood and adolescence should be strongly supported. In addition, research on explanatory mechanisms involved in the development of mental health problems in bullied youths is needed.

Peer stressors and gender differences in adolescents' mental health: the TRAILS study

PURPOSE

This study tested two hypotheses about gender-specific mental health effects of peer stressors during early adolescence: (1) boys and girls are sensitive to different types of peer stressors, and (2) peer stress is associated with different mental health problems in boys and girls.

METHODS

These two hypotheses were tested in a prospective large population cohort of 2,084 Dutch young adolescents. Internalizing and externalizing problems were measured at baseline and follow-up, whereas stressful life events in the period between baseline and follow-up were measured retrospectively at follow-up. We performed the analyses with two types of peer stressors; victimization at school and relationship losses.

RESULTS

Relationship losses were more strongly associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in girls than boys, supporting the first hypothesis. Peer victimization at school was also associated with both types of mental health problems, but equally strong in boys and girls.

CONCLUSIONS

Peer stress is unlikely to be associated with different mental health problems in boys and girls. Instead, boys and girls are more likely to be susceptible to different types of peer stressors.

Bullying in German Primary Schools

The study discussed herein assessed the prevalence of bullying and analysed possible predictors for bullying in a sample of urban primary school-age children. Factors considered were students’ gender and age differences as well as parents’ educational level and migration backgrounds. Using a cross-informant approach (self- and teacher-reports), bullying was assessed among 550 children between the ages of 6.5 and 10.8 years attending 12 regular primary schools in Bremen and Lower Saxony, Germany. Overall, 10 percent of children were classified as bullies, 17.4 percent as victims and 16.5 percent as bully/victims, with boys being bullies and bully/victims more often than girls. Direct bullying was more likely directed at, and employed by, boys. Indirect/relational bullying occurred less frequently and mainly within same-gender groups. Results from logistic regression analyses showed that, apart from age and gender, low parental educational levels were a significant predictor for a child’s bullying status (bully, victim, bully/victim). Implications for bullying assessment, prevention and intervention programs are discussed.