Understanding the Effects of Physical and Relational Victimization: The Utility of Multiple Perspectives in Predicting Social-Emotional Adjustment

Relational Peer Victimization as a Predictor of Academic Engagement

Peer victimization can be detrimental to youth. This study examines a particular type of peer victimization, relational peer victimization, and its effect on students' engagement in the classroom. We specifically investigate the longitudinal relationship between relational peer victimization and academic engagement in a sample of 204 Black 3rd through 5th grade elementary school students by utilizing multiple informants: students and their parents reported on relational peer victimization, and teachers reported on students' academic engagement. Our findings showed convergence between student and parent reports of relational peer victimization and revealed that experiencing relational peer victimization during the beginning of the school year (fall) negatively predicts teacher reported academic engagement towards the end of the school year (spring). Our study suggests that relational peer victimization is a critical issue that educators and researchers should consider when trying to foster academic engagement. There is also a need for further research regarding the role that families play in providing support to Black relationally victimized youth.

Predicting the Social-Emotional Competence Based on Childhood Trauma, Internalized Shame, Disability/Shame Scheme, Cognitive Flexibility, Distress Tolerance and Alexithymia in an Iranian Sample Using Bayesian Regression

The purpose of this study was to predict Social Emotional Competence based on childhood trauma, internalized shame, disability/shame scheme, cognitive flexibility, distress tolerance, and alexithymia in an Iranian sample using Bayesian regression. The participants in this research were a sample of 326 (85.3% female and 14.7% male) people living in Tehran in 2021 who were selected by convenience sampling through online platforms. The survey assessments included demographic characteristics (age and gender), presence of childhood trauma, social-emotional competence, internalized shame, the Toronto Alexithymia scales, Young's measure of disability/shame together with measures of cognitive flexibility and distress tolerance. The results from Bayesian regression and Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) indicated that internalized shame, cognitive flexibility and distress tolerance can be predictive of Social Emotional Competence. These results suggested that Social Emotional Competence can be explained by some important personality factors.

Digital Media Used in Education: The Influence on Cyberbullying Behaviors among Youth Students

Students, colleagues, and other members of society are increasingly using digital media. Students utilize digital media for a variety of reasons, including communication, gaming, making new friends, and simply being curious. However, there are some disadvantages to using digital media. Cyberbullying, cyberharassment, and cyberstalking are examples of useful digital media activities that can have a negative impact on digital media users and lead to societal issues. Surprisingly, limited studies have investigated cyberbullying in depth, utilizing a broad and varied sample of Middle Eastern institutions. As a result, the purpose of this study is to fill a research vacuum by questioning students' use of digital media for cyber involvement. This research aims to create a model for assessing the ethical consequences of behaviors that directly impact students' psychological health because of their use of digital media. The questionnaire looked at how people used digital media to engage in cyberbullying and cyber engagement, the ethical implications of bullying, and being harassed, stalked, and bullied. The study employed a quantitative questionnaire to collect data to achieve the research goal. It was given to 1012 students who are digital media users. Partial least squares (PLS) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to examine the data. Considering the empirical data, nearly half of the participants admitted to being harassed, stalked, or bullied on different digital platforms. The evaluation of discriminant validity is a prerequisite factor for examining possible variables' relationships. The goodness-of-fit index indicates that the model is well-fit. Through the established model, decision-makers and school administration would be able to implement measures that would effectively reduce cyber harassment among students and improve the digital media usage experience.

Youth coping and cardiac autonomic functioning: Implications for social and academic adjustment

Extending literature on youth coping and stress physiology, this two-wave longitudinal study examined independent and interactive roles of youth coping with daily stressors (i.e., peer, academic) and cardiac autonomic functioning in subsequent social and academic adjustment across the transition to middle school. Our sample consisted of 100 typically developing youth (10-12 years old at Time 1, 53 boys, 43% ethnic minorities) who reported on their coping strategies in response to peer and academic stress. Youth participated in laboratory tasks (i.e., baseline, mother-youth conversations about youth's actual peer and academic challenges) during which sympathetic and parasympathetic activities were recorded, and cardiac autonomic functioning indicators were derived. Youth, mothers, and teachers reported on various aspects of youths' social and academic adjustment at Times 1 and 2. Results revealed that, for both peer and academic domains, greater use of engagement coping strategies was prospectively linked with better adjustment 7 months later, but only among youth who exhibited higher (greater sympathetic-parasympathetic coactivation) but not lower (limited coactivation, or coinhibition) cardiac autonomic regulation at baseline. Findings suggest that a match between more engagement coping behaviors and greater cardiac autonomic capacity to coactivate the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches is linked with better social and academic adjustment.

ADHD Symptoms, Peer Problems, and Emotion Dysregulation as Longitudinal and Concurrent Predictors of Adolescent Borderline Personality Features

OBJECTIVE

ADHD and borderline personality (BP) disorder are highly comorbid and characterized by emotion dysregulation and peer problems. However, limited research has examined social and emotional predictors of BP features in samples that include youth with ADHD.

METHOD

Using a sample of 124 youth with and without ADHD (52% female), ADHD symptoms, peer problems, and emotion dysregulation were assessed in childhood (8-13 years) and in adolescence, along with BP features (13-18 years).

RESULTS

In addition to the significant effect of ADHD symptoms, teacher-rated child peer victimization and adolescent-reported peer victimization, poorer close friendships, and emotion dysregulation domains significantly predicted adolescent BP features. Greater parent-rated child and adolescent emotion dysregulation domains also significantly predicted adolescent BP features, with ADHD symptoms no longer significant.

CONCLUSION

Even for youth with ADHD, peer and emotional vulnerabilities in childhood and adolescence may serve as important markers of risk for adolescent BP features.

Our Grandmothers' Legacy: Challenges Faced by Female Ancestors Leave Traces in Modern Women's Same-Sex Relationships

Investigations of women's same-sex relationships present a paradoxical pattern, with women generally disliking competition, yet also exhibiting signs of intrasexual rivalry. The current article leverages the historical challenges faced by female ancestors to understand modern women's same-sex relationships. Across history, women were largely denied independent access to resources, often depending on male partners' provisioning to support themselves and their children. Same-sex peers thus became women's primary romantic rivals in competing to attract and retain relationships with the limited partners able and willing to invest. Modern women show signs of this competition, disliking and aggressing against those who threaten their romantic prospects, targeting especially physically attractive and sexually uninhibited peers. However, women also rely on one another for aid, information, and support. As most social groups were patrilocal across history, upon marriage, women left their families to reside with their husbands. Female ancestors likely used reciprocal altruism or mutualism to facilitate cooperative relationships with nearby unrelated women. To sustain these mutually beneficial cooperative exchange relationships, women may avoid competitive and status-striving peers, instead preferring kind, humble, and loyal allies. Ancestral women who managed to simultaneously compete for romantic partners while forming cooperative female friendships would have been especially successful. Women may therefore have developed strategies to achieve both competitive and cooperative goals, such as guising their intrasexual competition as prosociality or vulnerability. These historical challenges make sense of the seemingly paradoxical pattern of female aversion to competition, relational aggression, and valuation of loyal friends, offering insight into possible opportunities for intervention.

Depression and anxiety have a larger impact on bullied girls than on boys to experience self-harm and suicidality: A mediation analysis

BACKGROUND

The mechanism underlying the correlation between bullying victimization, self-harm and suicidality by gender are not well understood. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate whether the mediating effect of mental disorder (depression and anxiety) on the association between bullying victimization, and self-harm and suicidality vary across boys and girls.

METHODS

Overall, 2522 Australian adolescents aged 12-17-year-olds were analyzed from a nationally representative cross-sectional survey: Young Minds Matter. A series of logistic regressions were employed using Baron and Kenny's approach to test the mediating effect of each mental disorder on the relationship between bullying victimization, and self-harm and suicidality across gender. Further, the Sobel test was used to estimate the indirect effect.

RESULTS

Out of 784 (31.1%) bullied victims, 53.2% were girls and 46.8% were boys. A higher proportion of girls compared to boys experienced depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidality (p < 0.001 for all). The relationships between bullying victimization, and self-harm and suicidality were mediated by depression (p < 0.05) in both boys and girls. While anxiety disorder mediated the association only in girls (p < 0.05).

LIMITATIONS

Cross-sectional study design does not imply causality. Self-reported data about self-harm and suicidality may be susceptible to social desirability bias.

CONCLUSION

Girls were more affected by bullying, self-harm and suicidality than boys. Depression mediated the correlation between bullying, and self-harm and suicidality in both boys and girls. While anxiety influenced only bullied girls to experience self-harm and suicidality. These findings warrant the need for gender-specific prevention programs to combat bullying and subsequently self-harm and suicidality in adolescents.

Identifying Relationally Aggressive Students: How Aligned are Teachers and Peers?

Relational aggression is characterized by attempts to damage another's relationships or social status and is a major concern affecting academic, socioemotional, behavioral, and health outcomes, particularly for urban, minority youth. Teachers and peers frequently disagree about which students are relationally aggressive. Factors associated with peer and teacher discordant and concordant identification of relationally aggressive students were explored including prosocial behavior, perceived popularity, academic competence, and gender. Participants included 178 3rd-5th grade students across 11 urban classrooms. Findings revealed that students were more likely to be rated as relationally aggressive by their peers but not their teacher as scores on peer nominations for prosocial behavior decreased, while teacher-rated academic motivation/participation increased. Female students were more likely to be concordantly identified by peers and teachers as relationally aggressive when ratings for overt aggression increased. These results highlight the utility of obtaining ratings from multiple informants as well as the difficulty in accurately identifying all students who may benefit from interventions targeting relational aggression. Findings also suggest factors that may be related to the potential shortcomings of current measures and provide avenues for additional research to improve detection of relationally aggressive students.

Bullying Victimization, Coping Strategies, and Depression of Children of China

It is common knowledge that bullying victimization and coping strategies significantly affect the psychological well-being of children. However, which coping strategies are more effective at a particular level of bullying victimization is underexplored. Using survey data from 1,634 children from 10 schools in Wuhan, China, this study aims to investigate the abovementioned research gap. The results of factor analysis suggest that coping strategies of children in China can be divided into three types: help-seeking, avoidance, and self-defense. The results of multilevel modeling suggest that children adopting different coping strategies have distinct levels of depression. Help seekers show a significantly lower level of depression than self-defenders and avoiders. However, with increased bullying victimization, the effectiveness of the help-seeking strategy gradually decreases to offset the negative effect of bullying victimization on psychological well-being. Instead, those who adopt the self-defense strategy display a lower level of depression. The findings of this study suggest that there is no single coping strategy that is best for children, and the more effective strategy largely relies on the level of bullying victimization. The findings also imply that without external support, it is almost impossible for children to completely overcome the negative consequences of bullying on their own.

Relational victimization and depressive symptoms: The interactive role of physiological reactivity and narrative processing

Although previous studies have documented that relational victimization serves as a risk factor for depressive symptoms across developmental periods, heterogeneity in effects highlights the possibility that some individuals may be especially vulnerable. This study examined two factors that may influence the link between relational victimization and depressive symptoms: physiological reactivity and narrative processing during the recounting of a past victimization experience. In a sample of 200 college students, we examined narrative processing (i.e., use of disengagement coping strategies, positive resolution, and primary control coping strategies) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity, assessed during a standard laboratory interview, as moderators of the link between self-reported relational victimization and depressive symptoms. Although relational victimization was associated with increased rates of depressive symptoms, a combination of RSA activation and high disengagement coping appeared protective for individuals high in relational victimization. Similarly, a combination of RSA activation and high levels of positive resolution appeared protective against depressive symptoms among individuals high in relational victimization. The findings shed critical light on the interaction of physiological and cognitive processes in coping with relational victimization.

The social withdrawal and social anxiety feedback loop and the role of peer victimization and acceptance in the pathways

Social withdrawal and social anxiety are believed to have a bidirectional influence on one another, but it is unknown if their relationship is bidirectional, especially within person, and if peer experiences influence this relationship. We investigated temporal sequencing and the strength of effects between social withdrawal and social anxiety, and the roles of peer victimization and acceptance in the pathways. Participants were 2,772 adolescents from the population-based and clinically referred cohorts of the Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey. Self- and parent-reported withdrawal, and self-reported social anxiety, peer victimization, and perceived peer acceptance were assessed at 11, 13, and 16 years. Random-intercept cross-lagged panel models were used to investigate within-person associations between these variables. There was no feedback loop between withdrawal and social anxiety. Social withdrawal did not predict social anxiety at any age. Social anxiety at 11 years predicted increased self-reported withdrawal at 13 years. Negative peer experiences predicted increased self- and parent-reported withdrawal at 13 years and increased parent-reported withdrawal at 16 years. In turn, self-reported withdrawal at 13 years predicted negative peer experiences at 16 years. In conclusion, adolescents became more withdrawn when they became more socially anxious or experienced greater peer problems, and increasing withdrawal predicted greater victimization and lower acceptance.

Measurement of peer and friend relational and physical victimization among early adolescents

INTRODUCTION

Peer victimization has been widely examined among children and adolescents; however, the majority of studies in the area of research have been conducted in Western cultures. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the utility of measures that assess different forms of victimization (physical and relational victimization; a two-factor model) against a global form of victimization (combined victimization; a one-factor model) in the peer groups and friendships among Japanese adolescents. It was hypothesized that peer and friend relational victimization would be conceptually distinct from peer and friend physical victimization in Japan.

METHODS

The participants were fourth and fifth graders (n = 222, 50% females, age 9-11) and their classroom teachers in Japanese elementary schools. The data were drawn from a short-term longitudinal study.

RESULTS

Results showed, as hypothesized, that peer and friend relational victimization was conceptually and empirically different from peer and friend physical victimization.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that children and teachers view peer and friend relational victimization and peer and friend physical victimization differently. Examining forms of victimization separately is promising for future peer relations research in Japan.

Emotion Regulation Attenuates the Prospective Links from Peer Victimization to Internalizing Symptoms during Middle Childhood

Objective: Peer victimization has been shown to be a robust predictor of depressive and anxiety symptoms over time. Relatively little is known, however, regarding what protective factors may attenuate these associations and render youth more resilient to this interpersonal stressor. Therefore, the current study examined sadness and worry regulation as moderators of the prospective links from peer victimization to internalizing symptoms over a 1-year period.Method: Participants included 464 predominantly Caucasian children (54.7% boys; ages 7-10), as well as their homeroom teachers, from an elementary school located in the Midwestern United States. Child and teacher reports of peer victimization and child reports of sadness and worry regulation were assessed at Time 1. Children also provided ratings of depressive and anxiety symptoms at Time 1, approximately 6 months later (Time 2), and again approximately 1 year later (Time 3). Moderating effects were evaluated using a series of multivariate latent growth curve models.Results: Consistent with expectations, sadness regulation attenuated the prospective links from both child- and teacher-reported peer victimization to internalizing symptoms. Worry regulation also attenuated the prospective links from teacher-reported peer victimization to internalizing symptoms. The moderating effects of emotion regulation did not differ according to gender.Conclusions: Findings suggest that the ability to effectively manage feelings of sadness and worry may serve as a buffer against the internalizing symptoms associated with peer victimization. Additional research is needed to determine whether interventions focused on enhancing victims' emotion regulation skills reduce their subsequent risk for depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Impact of Low Social Preference on the Development of Depressive and Aggressive Symptoms: Buffering by Children's Prosocial Behavior

Holding a low social position among peers has been widely demonstrated to be associated with the development of depressive and aggressive symptoms in children. However, little is known about potential protective factors in this association. The present study examined whether increases in children’s prosocial behavior can buffer the association between their low social preference among peers and the development of depressive and aggressive symptoms in the first few school years. We followed 324 children over 1.5 years with three assessments across kindergarten and first grade elementary school. Children rated the (dis)likability of each of their classroom peers and teachers rated each child’s prosocial behavior, depressive and aggressive symptoms. Results showed that low social preference at the start of kindergarten predicted persistent low social preference at the start of first grade in elementary school, which in turn predicted increases in both depressive and aggressive symptoms at the end of first grade. However, the indirect pathways were moderated by change in prosocial behavior. Specifically, for children whose prosocial behavior increased during kindergarten, low social preference in first grade elementary school no longer predicted increases in depressive and aggressive symptoms. In contrast, for children whose prosocial behavior did not increase, their low social preference in first grade elementary school continued to predict increases in both depressive and aggressive symptoms. These results suggest that improving prosocial behavior in children with low social preference as early as kindergarten may reduce subsequent risk of developing depressive and aggressive symptom.

Relational victimization and elementary schoolchildren’s risk-taking behavior: Impact of the classroom norm toward risk-taking

The association between relational victimization and risk-taking development in children is understudied. Also, it is not clear how the social classroom norm may affect this link. The aim of this study was, therefore, to investigate the link between relational victimization and risk-taking behavior in elementary schoolchildren, and the potential moderating role of the classroom norm salience toward risk-taking. We expected that relationally victimized children would show an increase in risk-taking behavior in classrooms that are unfavorable toward risk-taking as a way to provoke and act against the classroom norm. However, alternatively, relationally victimized children could show an increase in risk-taking behavior in classrooms that are favorable toward risk-taking as a way to fortify the feeling of belonging to the classroom. Participants were 1,009 children (50% boys) in 69 classrooms of 13 mainstream elementary schools, followed annually across ages 7–11 (Grade 1–5). Risk-taking was assessed using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. Relational victimization was assessed using teacher reports. The classroom norm salience toward risk-taking was based on the within-classroom correlation of risk-taking with children’s social preference score among peers. Results from multilevel modeling showed that there was no significant main effect of relational victimization on risk-taking behavior. However, the classroom norm salience toward risk-taking significantly moderated the effect of relational victimization on risk-taking. Relational victimization was related to relative increases in risk-taking when classroom norms were unfavorable toward risk-taking. In classrooms where risk-taking was favored, relational victimization was related to relative decreases in risk-taking. These findings suggest that children who are relationally victimized may engage in norm-defying behavior in their classroom. Implications for further research are discussed.

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Different Forms of Bullying Perpetration, Bullying Victimization, and Their Co-occurrence

Bullying comes in different forms, yet most previous genetically-sensitive studies have not distinguished between them. Given the serious consequences and the high prevalence of bullying, it is remarkable that the aetiology of bullying and its different forms has been under-researched. We present the first study to investigate the genetic architecture of bullying perpetration, bullying victimization, and their co-occurrence for verbal, physical and relational bullying. Primary-school teachers rated 8215 twin children on bullying perpetration and bullying victimization. For each form of bullying, we investigated, through genetic structural equation modelling, the genetic and environmental influences on being a bully, a victim or both. 34% of the children were involved as bully, victim, or both. The correlation between being a bully and being a victim varied from 0.59 (relational) to 0.85 (physical). Heritability was ~ 70% for perpetration and ~ 65% for victimization, similar in girls and boys, yet both were somewhat lower for the relational form. Shared environmental influences were modest and more pronounced among girls. The correlation between being a bully and being a victim was explained mostly by genetic factors for verbal (~ 71%) and especially physical (~ 77%) and mostly by environmental factors for relational perpetration and victimization (~ 60%). Genes play a large role in explaining which children are at high risk of being a victim, bully, or both. For victimization this suggests an evocative gene-environment correlation: some children are at risk of being exposed to bullying, partly due to genetically influenced traits. So, genetic influences make some children more vulnerable to become a bully, victim or both.

Reactive Protection? Fear, Victimization, and Fighting Among U.S. High School Students

Youth violence in high schools is a pervasive and persistent problem in the United States. Students engage in physical fights, experience bullying and teen dating violence (TDV), are threatened with weapons, and miss school due to safety concerns. However, despite theoretical support, research has not sufficiently addressed the relationship between students' fear and fighting at school. This secondary analysis used data from the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (n = 13,583) to examine the relationship between fear at school, victimization, and engagement in fighting at school among high school students. We created a 3-item composite fear variable, conducted logistic regression to examine likelihood of fighting, and multinomial regression to examine risk for multiple fights, and stratified all models by gender. Findings indicate that both male and female students who experienced fear were more likely to engage in fights at school than peers who did not experience fear, even when controlling for other factors. Likewise, the more fear incidents a student experienced, the more at risk they were for engaging in multiple fights. Findings on victimization indicate that the relationship with fighting is more straightforward for male students than for female students. For males, being bullied and experiencing multiple incidents of physical and sexual TDV were all associated with fighting at school. For females, however, only one type of victimization was associated with fighting at school: experiencing multiple incidents of physical TDV. Overall, findings suggest that fear may be more than merely a by-product of fighting, but rather-as the extant research supports-fear also can be generalized across situations and displayed through patterns of aggression. Findings support the need for interventions aimed at skill-building in areas of communication, emotion regulation, conflict resolution, and healthy relationships to help youth-particularly those in younger grades-negotiate interpersonal relationships without the use of violence.

Examining ODD/ADHD Symptom Dimensions as Predictors of Social, Emotional, and Academic Trajectories in Middle Childhood

The goal of this article is to investigate the symptom dimensions of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD; irritability, defiance) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity) as predictors of academic performance, depressive symptoms, and peer functioning in middle childhood. Children (N = 346; 51% female) were assessed via teacher-report on measures of ODD/ADHD symptoms at baseline (Grades K-2) and academic performance, depressive symptoms, peer rejection, and victimization on 7 occasions over 4 school years (K-2 through 3-5). Self-report and grade point average data collected in Grades 3-5 served as converging outcome measures. Latent growth curve and multiple regression models were estimated using a hierarchical/sensitivity approach to assess robustness and specificity of effects. Irritability predicted higher baseline depressive symptoms, peer rejection, and victimization, whereas defiance predicted higher baseline peer rejection; however, none of these ODD-related effects persisted 3 years later to Grades 3-5. In contrast, inattention predicted persistently poorer academic performance, persistently higher depressive symptoms, and higher baseline victimization; hyperactivity-impulsivity predicted subsequent peer rejection and victimization in Grades 3-5. In converging models, only inattention emerged as a robust predictor of 3-year outcomes (viz., grade point average, depressive symptoms, peer rejection, and relational victimization). Broadly, ODD dimensions-particularly irritability-may be linked to acute disturbances in social-emotional functioning in school-age children, whereas ADHD dimensions may predict more persistent patterns of peer, affective, and academic problems. By examining all 4 ODD/ADHD symptom dimensions simultaneously, the present analyses offer clarity and specificity regarding which dimensions affect what outcomes, and when. Findings underscore the importance of multidimensional approaches to research, assessment, and intervention.

Gender differences in suicidal ideation and health-risk behaviors among high school students in Beijing, China

Background

Suicide is still the leading cause of death in the 15 to 34-year age group, especially for girls aging 15 to 19-year old. In China particularly, the suicide rate of female is 60% higher than male. The gender difference on suicidal ideation and its patterns with academic, family, social and health-risk factors is unknown among adolescents in Beijing, China.

Methods

A total of 33 635 students in grades 7-12 in Beijing participated in the 2014 Chinese Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance. Data were stratified by gender and associations with suicidal ideation were analyzed using χ² test and multivariate regression analyses. The interaction effects on suicidal ideation between gender and the related behaviors were also analyzed.

Results

The prevalence of suicidal ideation was significantly higher for girls (13.3%) than boys (10.7%). The multivariate regression analyses indicated that high academic pressure, running away from home, feeling lonely or sad/hopeless, being bullied, fighting, and binge drinking were significantly associated with suicidal ideation in boys and girls. Factors more strongly associated with suicidal ideation in girls than boys were being in junior vs senior high school (girl vs boys: 1.24 vs NA), high academic pressure (2.42 vs 1.55), ever smoking (1.52 vs NA), binge drinking (1.30 vs 1.17), fighting once (1.63 vs 1.06) and being sad/hopeless (2.39 vs 2.04) and their interaction with gender were all statistically significant (P < 0.05). A lower likelihood of suicidal ideation was found among boys, but not girls, who had PE class two or more days per week.

Conclusions

Girls showed more vulnerability to suicidal ideation than boys particularly among girls in junior school, reporting high academic pressure, smoking, binge drinking and fighting. The combinations of risk factors and differential patterns for boys and girls point to high-risk groups and potential targets for gender-specific suicide prevention.

Social Disconnection as a Pathway to Sexual Risk Behavior Among Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization is a strong predictor of women's sexual risk behavior. Social disconnection may be central to understanding this association. In a sample of 204 IPV victims, we (a) evaluated the extent to which social disconnection underlies the association between IPV severity and sexual risk behavior, and (b) tested the idea that the association between social disconnection and sexual risk behavior is stronger among women without alternative means to social connection (i.e., lack close friendships). The indirect effect of physical and sexual IPV, respectively, on sexual risk behavior via social disconnection was significant. The number of close friends women had moderated the association between social disconnection and sexual risk behavior, such that having multiple close friendships buffered the effects of social disconnection.

Emotional Underarousal and Overarousal and Engagement in Relational Aggression: Interactions between Relational Victimization, Physiological Reactivity, and Emotional Sensitivity

The present study examined if overarousal (i.e., dysregulation and high emotional sensitivity) and underarousal (i.e., fearlessness and emotional insensitivity) to peer stress, reflected in physiological reactivity and subjective emotional sensitivity, exacerbated risk for relational aggression in relationally victimized children. Participants were a community sample of 125 children (10-12 years, M = 11.34 years, SD = 0.89; 45% female). Teachers provided ratings of children's relational victimization and relational aggression. Children's physiological reactivity was assessed based on skin conductance level (SCL) reactivity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity to a standardized peer rejection task. Children's subjective emotional sensitivity was assessed using self-reported ratings of distress to hypothetical relational provocation vignettes. Results indicated that relational victimization was significantly associated with relational aggression only for children with high SCL reactivity and high emotional sensitivity (i.e., physiological and subjective overarousal) and for children with low SCL reactivity and low emotional sensitivity (i.e., physiological and subjective underarousal); relational victimization did not predict relational aggression among children with high SCL reactivity but low emotional sensitivity or among children with low SCL reactivity but high emotional sensitivity. Relational victimization was also marginally more strongly associated with relational aggression for children displaying RSA augmentation. Results suggest emotional overarousal and underarousal may both serve as vulnerabilities for relational aggression among relationally victimized youth, and underscore the importance of including physiological and subjective indices of emotional reactivity in studies of aggression. Implications for theory and intervention are discussed.

Bidirectional Associations between Peer Victimization and Functions of Aggression in Middle Childhood: Further Evaluation across Informants and Academic Years

The current 3-wave study examined bidirectional associations between peer victimization and functions of aggression across informants over a 1-year period in middle childhood, with attention to potential gender differences. Participants included 198 children (51% girls) in the third and fourth grades and their homeroom teachers. Peer victimization was assessed using both child- and teacher-reports, and teachers provided ratings of reactive and proactive aggression. Cross-classified multilevel cross-lagged models indicated that child-reports, but not teacher-reports, of peer victimization predicted higher levels of reactive aggression within and across academic years. Further, reactive aggression predicted subsequent increases in child- and teacher-reports of peer victimization across each wave of data. Several gender differences, particularly in the crossed paths between proactive aggression and peer victimization, also emerged. Whereas peer victimization was found to partially account for the stability of reactive aggression over time, reactive aggression did not account for the stability of peer victimization. Taken together with previous research, the current findings suggest that child-reports of peer victimization may help identify youth who are risk for exhibiting increased reactive aggression over time. Further, they highlight the need to target reactively aggressive behavior for the prevention of peer victimization in middle childhood.

Experiences of physical and relational victimization in children with ADHD: The role of social problems and aggression

The social risk factors for physical and relational peer victimization were examined within a mixed-gender sample of children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants were 124 children (ages 8-12 years; 48% boys), with 47% exhibiting sub-clinical or clinical elevations in ADHD symptoms. ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptom counts were assessed based on parent- and teacher-reports; parents rated children's social problems and teachers rated children's use of physical and relational aggression and experiences of physical and relational victimization. A multiple mediator model was used to test whether there were indirect effects of ADHD or ODD symptoms on physical and relational victimization through social problems, physical aggression, or relational aggression. At the bivariate level, ADHD and ODD symptoms were both significantly associated with higher rates of physical and relational victimization. In the mediational model, there were significant indirect effects of ADHD symptoms on relational victimization via social problems, of ODD on relational victimization via relational aggression, and of ODD symptoms on physical victimization via physical aggression. Results suggest that there are distinct risk factors implicated in the physical and relational victimization of youth with ADHD and that the co-occurrence of ODD symptoms is important to assess. Clinical implications for addressing victimization in children with ADHD are discussed.

Social Costs for Wannabes: Moderating Effects of Popularity and Gender on the Links between Popularity Goals and Negative Peer Experiences

Youth in early adolescence are highly concerned with being popular in the peer group, but the desire to be popular can have maladaptive consequences for individuals. In fact, qualitative work suggests that youth with high popularity goals who are nonetheless unpopular have negative experiences with their peers. However, little quantitative work has examined this possibility. The purpose of the current study was to examine if popularity goals were linked with physical (e.g., being hit) and relational (e.g., being excluded) victimization and peer rejection, particularly for individuals who strived for popularity but were viewed by their peers as unpopular. Late elementary and early middle school participants (N = 205; 54% female) completed self-reports of popularity goals and peer nominations of popularity and peer rejection. Teachers reported on students' experiences of relational and physical victimization. Peer nominated popularity and gender were moderators of the association between popularity goals and negative peer experiences. Consistent with hypotheses, girls who were unpopular but wanted to be popular were more likely to experience peer rejection and relational victimization. Unexpectedly, boys who were unpopular but did not desire to be popular were more likely to be rejected and relationally victimized. The findings suggest that intervention and prevention programs may benefit from addressing the social status goals of low status youth in a gender-specific manner.

The mediating role of shame in the relationship between childhood bullying victimization and adult psychosocial adjustment

Background: Psychological distress following experiencing bullying victimization in childhood has been well documented. Less is known about the impact of bullying victimization on psychosocial adjustment problems in young adulthood and about potential pathways, such as shame. Moreover, bullying victimization is often studied in isolation from other forms of victimization. Objective: This study investigated (1) whether childhood experiences of bullying victimization and violence were associated with psychosocial adjustment (distress, impaired functioning, social support barriers) in young adulthood; (2) the unique effect of bullying victimization on psychosocial adjustment; and (3) whether shame mediated the relationship between bullying victimization and these outcomes in young adulthood. Method: The sample included 681 respondents (aged 19-37 years) from a follow-up study (2017) conducted via phone interviews derived from a community telephone survey collected in 2013. Results: The regression analyses showed that both bullying victimization and severe violence were significantly and independently associated with psychological distress, impaired functioning, and increased barriers to social support in young adulthood. Moreover, causal mediation analyses indicated that when childhood physical violence, sexual abuse, and sociodemographic factors were controlled, shame mediated 70% of the association between bullying victimization and psychological distress, 55% of the association between bullying victimization and impaired functioning, and 40% of the association between bullying victimization and social support barriers. Conclusions: Our findings support the growing literature acknowledging bullying victimization as a trauma with severe and long-lasting consequences and indicate that shame may be an important pathway to continue to explore. The unique effect of bullying victimization, over and above the effect of violence, supports the call to integrate the two research fields.

Children of parents with a history of depression: The impact of a preventive intervention on youth social problems through reductions in internalizing problems

The current investigation examined if changes in youth internalizing problems as a result of a family group cognitive behavioral (FGCB) preventive intervention for families with a parent with a history of depression had a cascade effect on youth social problems over 24 months and the bidirectional nature of these effects. One hundred eighty families with a parent with a history of major depressive disorder (M age = 41.96; 88.9% mothers) and a youth age 9 to 15 years (49.4% females; M age = 11.46) participated. Findings from a panel model indicated that, compared to a minimum intervention condition, the FGCB intervention significantly reduced youth internalizing problems at 12 months that in turn were associated with lower levels of social problems at 18 months. Similarly, the FGCB intervention reduced internalizing problems at 18 months, which were associated with fewer social problems at 24 months. Changes in social problems were not related to reductions in subsequent internalizing problems. The findings suggest that reductions in youth internalizing problems can lead to lower levels of social problems. Youth social problems are difficult to change; therefore, targeting internalizing problems may be an effective way to reduce the social problems of children of parents with a history of depression.

Bullying and mental health and suicidal behaviour among 14- to 15-year-olds in a representative sample of Australian children

OBJECTIVE

To provide the first Australian population-based estimates of the association between bullying and adverse mental health outcomes and suicidality among Australian adolescents.

METHOD

Analysis of data from 3537 adolescents, aged 14-15 years from Wave 6 of the K-cohort of Longitudinal Study of Australian Children was conducted. We used Poisson and linear regression to estimate associations between bullying type (none, relational-verbal, physical, both types) and role (no role, victim, bully, victim and bully), and mental health (measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, symptoms of anxiety and depression) and suicidality.

RESULTS

Adolescents involved in bullying had significantly increased Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, depression and anxiety scores in all bullying roles and types. In terms of self-harm and suicidality, bully-victims had the highest risk of self-harm (prevalence rate ratio 4.7, 95% confidence interval [3.26, 6.83]), suicidal ideation (prevalence rate ratio 4.3, 95% confidence interval [2.83, 6.49]), suicidal plan (prevalence rate ratio 4.1, 95% confidence interval [2.54, 6.58]) and attempts (prevalence rate ratio 2.7, 95% confidence interval [1.39, 5.13]), followed by victims then bullies. The experience of both relational-verbal and physical bullying was associated with the highest risk of self-harm (prevalence rate ratio 4.6, 95% confidence interval [3.15, 6.60]), suicidal ideation or plans (prevalence rate ratio 4.6, 95% confidence interval [3.05, 6.95]; and 4.8, 95% confidence interval [3.01, 7.64], respectively) or suicide attempts (prevalence rate ratio 3.5, 95% confidence interval [1.90, 6.30]).

CONCLUSION

This study presents the first national, population-based estimates of the associations between bullying by peers and mental health outcomes in Australian adolescents. The markedly increased risk of poor mental health outcomes, self-harm and suicidal ideation and behaviours among adolescents who experienced bullying highlights the importance of addressing bullying in school settings.

Peer victimization and changes in physical and relational aggression: The moderating role of executive functioning abilities

This study is the first to examine whether executive functioning (EF) abilities moderate longitudinal associations between peer victimization and engagement in physically and relationally aggressive behavior. Participants were 61 children (9-13 years, M = 10.68, SD = 1.28; 48% male) drawn from a partially clinical sample who were assessed at two time points, approximately 12 months apart. At time 1, children were administered a battery of EF tests; adult reports of children's relational and physical victimization and use of relational and physical aggression were collected. At time 2, adult-reported aggression was re-collected. Regression analyses tested whether EF ability moderated the association between peer victimization and increased engagement in aggression. Form-specific (e.g., physical victimization predicting physical aggression) and cross-form (e.g., physical victimization predicting relational aggression) models were tested. EF moderated the association between physical victimization and increases in physical aggression over time and between relational victimization and increases in relational aggression over time. Physical victimization predicted increases in physical aggression only among children with poor EF. However, relational victimization predicted increases in relational aggression for children with good EF skills but decreases in relational aggression for children with poor EF skills. Interaction effects for cross-form models were not significant. Results suggest that there are distinct risk factors implicated in children's engagement in physical and relational aggression. Established cognitive vulnerability models for engagement in physical aggression should not be assumed to apply to engagement in relational aggression.

Examining co-occurring and pure relational and physical victimization in early childhood

The current study took a novel approach to examining peer victimization experiences on a continuum in early childhood. A bifactor approach was used to examine co-occurring victimization as well as the relative contribution of subtypes of victimization, including both physical and relational victimization. To date, no known research has examined co-occurring victimization in early childhood. The fit of a bifactor model, as well as the utility of the model in testing associations with internalizing problems, was examined. The short-term longitudinal study (N=231; 109 girls; M_age=47.46months, SD=7.35) found support for a hierarchical structure of victimization, including co-occurrence and "pure" victimization dimensions, in early childhood. Regression analyses supported that both co-occurring victimization and relational victimization were associated with internalizing adjustment outcomes. These associations differed by gender. A bifactor model may be a useful statistical technique to address the common finding of co-occurrence of victimization to better understand peer harassment experiences and risk for adjustment problems.

Relationship between childhood bullying and addictive and anti-social behaviors among adults in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional national study

Background Bullying is a widespread public health problem among youth with potentially far reaching negative implications. Objective To determine the prevalence of childhood bullying and its association with addictive and anti-social behaviors among adults. Subjects Adults (n = 10,156) aged ≥18 years were invited to participate. Methods A cross-sectional, national study utilizing Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) was conducted in Saudi Arabia (SA). Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for bullying in relation to the outcome. Results Participant's mean age was 34.3 ± 11.3 years and 52% were male. Thirty-nine percent of the participants reported being bullied. Significant gender differences were found in terms of prevalence of different types of bullying. Men reported higher prevalence of physical (40% vs. 33%, p < 0.01) and sexual (19% vs. 10%, p < 0.01) types of bullying. In contrast, women tend to report higher prevalence of psychological (16% vs. 9%, p < 0.01) and social (14% vs. 10%, p < 0.01) types of bullying. Bullying victims were 1.8 (95% CI 1.6-2.1) times more likely to smoke, 2.3 (95% CI 1.9-2.7) times more likely to drink alcohol, 2.9 (95% CI 2.4-3.4) times more likely to use drugs, 2.1 (95% CI 1.8-2.4) times more likely to have ever had out of wedlock sexual relations, and 2.5 (95% CI 2.1-3.0) times more likely to have suicidal thoughts compared to those who were not bullied. Conclusion Childhood bullying increases the chances of risky behaviors among adults in SA. Prevention of bullying should be in the national agenda of the Ministry of Education.

Custom-fit Parenting: How Low- and Well-Accepted Young Adolescents Benefit from Peer-related Parenting

OBJECTIVE

The present study investigated whether longitudinal associations between peer-related parenting behaviors (facilitation of peer interactions, social coaching about peer problems) and peer adjustment were moderated by young adolescents' peer status.

DESIGN

Participants included 123 young adolescents (M age = 12.03 years; 50% boys; 58.5% European American) at Time 1. At Time1 (summer before the middle school transition), parents reported on their facilitation of peer interaction opportunities and coaching strategies to a hypothetical peer exclusion situation; teachers reported on youth peer acceptance. At Times 1 and 2 (spring after the middle school transition), youth reported on peer adjustment (friendship quality, loneliness, peer victimization).

RESULTS

Peer acceptance (pre-middle school transition) moderated prospective associations between peer-related parenting and peer adjustment, yielding two patterns of associations. Parental facilitation predicted better friendship quality and lower levels of loneliness over time among youth with high peer acceptance, but not among youth with low peer acceptance. In contrast, parental social coaching predicted better friendship quality among youth with low peer acceptance, but lower friendship quality among youth with high peer acceptance.

CONCLUSIONS

Not all forms of positive peer-related parenting are equally beneficial for all youth. Well-accepted youth may have the social opportunities to take advantage of parental facilitation, whereas low-accepted youth may have greater social needs and benefit from support in the form of social coaching. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the literatures on peer-related parenting and peer adjustment.

Resilience in the face of peer victimisation and discrimination: The who, when and why in five patterns of adjustment

Victimisation has a negative effect on psychosocial functioning. Based on the resilience theory, and with a sample of 2975 Portuguese students, the present study aims to: i) identify patterns of adjustment in the face of peer victimisation and perceptions of discrimination; ii) explore the association between the patterns of adjustment and the characteristics of participants (the who) and of the victimisation (the when and why). Cluster analysis revealed five patterns of adjustment: Unchallenged; Externally Maladjusted; Internally Maladjusted; Resilient, and At-Risk. The results suggest that there is no complete resilience in the face of social victimisation. Group differences were found regarding: i) gender, type of course, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, parental educational level and religious beliefs; ii) the age at which peer victimisation was more frequent, and; iii) the motives underlying discrimination. Globally considered, peer victimisation is representative of the wider cultural environment and interventions should also target social prejudices.

Moderating Effects of Relational Interdependence on the Association Between Peer Victimization and Depressive Symptoms

This short-term longitudinal study examined the association between relational and physical victimization and subsequent depressive symptoms together with the roles of social cognitive processes (i.e., relational interdependence) and gender in this association. A total of 580 Japanese adolescents in the seventh and eighth grades (52 % girls; age range 12-14) participated in this study across an academic year. Results of structural equation modeling demonstrated that relational and physical victimization, which was assessed via self- and teacher- reports, was concurrently associated with greater depressive symptoms, regardless of the gender of the youth and the level of relational interdependence. Furthermore, after controlling for the stability and co-occurrence between each construct, relational victimization (not physical victimization) was predictive of elevated depressive symptoms only for boys who exhibited relatively higher relational interdependence. The findings are discussed from developmental, gender, and cultural perspectives.

Method Variance in Adolescents', Mothers', and Observers' Reports of Peer Management: Nuisance or Information?

The purpose of this investigation was to examine discrepancies among three informants' (adolescents, mothers, and observers) reports of maternal consulting in regard to peer relationships and the relation of the discrepancies to four social adjustment variables (prosocial behavior, loneliness, positive friendship quality, and physical victimization). An ethnically diverse sample of 70 early adolescents (51 % female) and their mothers participated in this multimethod investigation. Adolescent reports of parental consulting, but not mother or observer reports, were significantly associated with adolescent reports of four psychosocial outcomes. Recognizing that comparison of equivalent regression models can inform interpretations of the data such as the monomethod associations found in this study, this article describes and discusses a strategy for analyzing data from multiple informants. The associations of adolescent reports of parental consulting with loneliness and physical victimization could be fully explained in terms of adolescent bias or other systematic variance uniquely associated with adolescent reports, but those with prosocial behavior and positive friendship quality could not. The view that discrepancies between mother and adolescent reports of parental consulting reflect poor relationship quality appeared most applicable in models of positive friendship quality, somewhat applicable in models of prosocial behavior and physical victimization, and not applicable in models of loneliness. The view that discrepancies might reflect normative and adaptive autonomy was not supported. In addition to adding to our understanding of maternal consulting in regard to peer relationships, it is also hoped that the analytic approach developed for this study will stimulate developments in research that uses multiple informants.

Teachers’ Perceptions of Female Student Aggression at an All-Girls School

There has been limited research into how teachers view and respond to relational aggression in girls. The existing research is largely quantitative and questionnaire based and has indicated that gender stereotypes may influence teachers’ perceptions of female aggression. The present study adopted a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews to explore how seven teachers (six females and one male) working in a single-sex girls’ school experienced and perceived female student aggression. The results were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and three themes were identified: the physicality of female aggression, aggression as the presence or absence of control, and community—aggression as a means of expressing belonging. These themes were discussed in the context of the need for a new language of female aggression, which promoted a genuine language of assertion for girls and women.

The origins of belonging: social motivation in infants and young children

Our reliance on our group members has exerted a profound influence over our motivation: successful group functioning requires that we are motivated to interact, and engage, with those around us. In other words, we need to belong. In this article, I explore the developmental origins of our need to belong. I discuss existing evidence that, from early in development, children seek to affiliate with others and to form long-lasting bonds with their group members. Furthermore, when children are deprived of a sense of belonging, it has negative consequences for their well-being. This focus on social motivation enables us to examine why and in what circumstances children engage in particular behaviours. It thus provides an important complement to research on social cognition. In doing so, it opens up important questions for future research and provides a much-needed bridge between developmental and social psychology.

Peer Victimization and Adolescent Adjustment: The Moderating Role of Sleep

The present study examined multiple indices of sleep as moderators of the association between peer victimization and adjustment among typically developing adolescents. Participants included 252 adolescents (M = 15.79 years; 66 % European American, 34 % African American) and their parents. A multi-method, multi-informant design was employed to address the research questions. Sleep was assessed objectively with actigraphy (sleep minutes and sleep efficiency) and subjectively with self-reports. Adolescents reported on peer victimization and internalizing symptoms. Externalizing behaviors were examined with mother and father reports. Subjective sleep/wake problems moderated the associations between peer victimization and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. A stronger relation emerged between peer victimization and internalizing symptoms among adolescents who reported higher versus lower levels of sleep/wake problems. Adolescents with elevated sleep/wake problems had higher levels of externalizing symptoms across the range of peer victimization. However, for those with fewer sleep/wake problems, a positive relation between peer victimization and externalizing symptoms was observed. Actigraphy-based sleep minutes and sleep efficiency also moderated the relations between peer victimization and internalizing symptoms. Although peer victimization was associated with higher levels of internalizing symptoms for all youth, those who reported the lowest levels of such symptoms had longer and more efficient sleep in conjunction with low levels of peer victimization. Findings are novel and highlight the importance of considering both bioregulatory processes and peer relations in the prediction of adolescents' adjustment.