Moving against and away from the world: the adolescent legacy of peer victimization

Associations between forms of aggression and peer victimization: Does prosocial behavior matter?

Relatively little is known regarding factors that may mitigate the strength of the associations between forms of aggressive behavior and peer victimization. The goal of the current study was to investigate prosocial behavior as a moderator of these links over a 2-year period during middle childhood. Participants included 410 third-grade students (53% boys) and their homeroom teachers. Results indicated that prosocial behavior was associated with lower initial levels of victimization, whereas relational aggression was associated with higher initial levels of victimization. Physical aggression predicted more stable patterns of victimization over time, and prosocial behavior moderated the prospective link from relational aggression to peer victimization; specifically, relational aggression predicted decreases in victimization at higher levels of prosocial behavior and more stable patterns over time when levels of prosocial behavior were low. Further, gender differences were observed in the moderating effect of prosocial behavior on the prospective link from physical aggression to peer victimization, such that it served as a risk factor for boys and a protective factor for girls.

The Effect of Parents and Peers on the Neural Correlates of Risk Taking and Antisocial Behavior During Adolescence

Social and neurobiological factors independently associate with the development of antisocial behavior during adolescence, yet it is unclear how these factors contribute to antisocial behavior in girls. Using a longitudinal sample of 45 adolescent girls (age in years at scan: M = 15.38, SD = 0.33), this study examined the contributions of parent-adolescent relationship quality and deviant peer affiliation from 6th-8th grades along with the neural correlates of risk taking in 9th grade to later antisocial behavior. High parent-adolescent closeness in early adolescence predicted lower antisocial behavior for girls in later adolescence via lower affiliation with deviant peer groups and less activation of the medial prefrontal cortex during risk taking. Findings highlight the enduring role of parents and peers during adolescence, and the importance of investigating social relationships alongside the brain to identify a holistic understanding of the development of antisocial behavior in girls.

Need for approval and antisocial behavior moderate the effect of socioemotional cues on adolescent girls' cognitive control

To examine whether need for approval (NFA) and antisocial behavior (ASB) moderate the effects of socioemotional stimuli on cognitive control, 88 girls (Mage  = 16.31 years; SD = 0.84; 65.9% White) completed a socioemotional Go/No-go and questionnaires. At high approach NFA, girls responded more slowly during appetitive than control (b = -8.80, p < .01) and aversive (b = -5.58, p = .01) trials. At high ASB, girls responded more slowly (b = -6.12, p = .02) and less accurately (OR = 1.11, p = .03) during appetitive than aversive trials; at low ASB, girls responded more slowly during aversive than control trials (b = -4.42, p = .04). Thus, both context and individual differences influence adolescents' cognitive control.

Patterns of Elementary School Students' Bullying Victimization: Roles of Family and Individual Factors

Physical, verbal, and relational bullying victimization are common forms of bullying victimization. Some victims may suffer only one form of victimization and some may suffer multiple forms of victimization at the same time. Bullying victimization groups are heterogeneous and different forms of victimization may have different combination patterns. Previous studies assessed patterns of bullying victimization among junior and senior high school students. However, limited studies explored patterns among elementary students and explored possible factors in shaping these patterns from the integrated perspective of family and individual. We expanded and deepened research in this area using questionnaires to collect self-report data for 866 parent/child pairs. Latent profile analysis was used to explore patterns of elementary students. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine relations between patterns and family and individual factors. We found three bullying victimization groups: severe (5.4%), verbal (13.6%), and non-bullying victimization (81%). In family factors, the time parents spent with children was a protective factor for bullying victimization, and negative interactions with children was a risk factor. Individual-level protective factors for bullying victimization were coming from a single child household, positive coping style, and perceived peer support, whereas a negative coping style was a risk factor. These results indicate that different forms of bullying victimization co-occur among elementary school students. Some family and individual factors are associated with bullying victimization patterns. It is important to consider the heterogeneity among the bullying victimization groups of elementary students and influencing factors to develop targeted prevention interventions for different bullying victimization groups.

Within-person reciprocal associations between peer victimization and need for approval

Prior research links need for approval (NFA; the extent to which self-worth is contingent on peer approval or disapproval) to critical developmental outcomes, but little is known about how NFA develops over time or within social contexts. To address this gap, the present study used a sophisticated analytic approach (autoregressive latent trajectory modeling with standardized residuals) to examine dynamic associations between one salient social experience-peer victimization-and two dimensions of NFA, conceptualized in terms of approach motivation (NFAapproach; enhanced self-worth based on peer approval) and avoidance motivation (NFAavoid; depleted self-worth based on peer disapproval). Following 636 youth (338 girls; Mage = 7.96 years at Wave 1; 66.7% White; 35.0% subsidized school lunch) from second to seventh grade, analyses revealed that peer victimization predicts subsequent increases in NFAavoid, which in turn predicts subsequent increases in victimization. Findings also revealed that although mean levels of NFAavoid decrease during childhood, increases or decreases in NFA become more entrenched. Thus, childhood peer victimization may disrupt normative decreases in NFAavoid and contribute to a cycle in which negative peer judgments increasingly foster low self-worth and further peer difficulties. Preventing this cycle may require encouraging peer-victimized youth to base their self-worth on internal standards rather than peer feedback while helping them develop positive relationships that promote self-worth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

+Fièr : une application mobile pour aider les jeunes issus de la communauté LGBTQ+ et leur famille

Les personnes LGBTQ+ sont 1,5 à 4 fois plus à risque que les personnes hétérosexuelles de souffrir de troubles de santé mentale (p. ex. dépression, anxiété, comportements suicidaires).

Objectif L’objectif est de décrire le processus de développement d’une application mobile pour les jeunes LGBTQ+ et leur famille. L’article fait partie d’un programme de recherche ayant comme but général de doter les jeunes LGBTQ+ et leur famille d’outils technologiques leur permettant de développer et soutenir des stratégies d’adaptation face à la stigmatisation. En effet, ceux-ci sont confrontés à des stresseurs uniques, à la fois dans la sphère publique (p. ex. victimisation) et personnelle (p. ex. développement identitaire et le processus de coming out).

Méthode Nous adapterons l’application mobile +Fort © développée par l’équipe dirigée par de la docteure Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, conçue pour soutenir les jeunes vivant de l’intimidation à réduire ces expériences, et nous créerons +Fièr/+ Proud, qui fera l’objet d’un codesign et d’une étude pilote auprès de participants LGBTQ+ âgés de 13 à 25 ans.

Retombées À terme, notre espoir est que les jeunes LGBTQ+, à l’échelle nationale et internationale, puissent explorer et développer des stratégies d’adaptation soutenant leur mieux-être, apprendre à l’aide d’outils personnalisés, partager leurs expériences uniques et informer leurs proches des défis auxquels ils font face et se battent en silence.

Loneliness and Social Functioning in Adolescent Peer Victimization

Interpersonal adversity such as peer victimization has been shown to have complex associations with other socio-emotional difficulties, particularly during adolescence. We used a multidimensional peer nomination measure on a sample of 440 (52% girls) 11- to 17-year-old (M = 13.14 years, SD = 1.26) Portuguese youths to identify three groups, classified by peers as (1) victimized adolescents who showed anxious withdrawn behaviors in the context of the peer group (n = 111), (2) victimized adolescents who did not exhibit anxious withdrawn behaviors (n = 104), and (3) non-victimized adolescents (n = 225). We compared these groups on their peer-reported social functioning and on their self-reported feelings of social and emotional loneliness (with peers and family). Anxiously withdrawn victims were viewed by peers as more excluded, less aggressive, less prosocial, and less popular than non-withdrawn victims and non-victims. Non-anxiously withdrawn victims were considered more excluded than non-victims, and more aggressive than both anxiously withdrawn victims and non-victims. Finally, anxiously withdrawn victims reported feeling less integrated and intimate with their peers than non-withdrawn victims and non-victims, which is indicative of greater feelings of social and emotional loneliness at school. Youths in the current study did not report feeling lonely in their family environment. Our findings thus provide further evidence that victimized youths constitute a heterogeneous group, which differ in the way they behave toward their peers and experience loneliness.

Parental Corporal Punishment and Peer Victimization in Middle Childhood: A Sex-Moderated Mediation Model of Aggression

There is a peak in peer victimization during middle childhood, with multiple negative consequences. Parental use of corporal punishment and child aggression are the most widely studied predictors of this phenomenon. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether parental use of corporal punishment affects peer victimization through child aggression. This mediation model was explored for both mothers and fathers and for both physical and relational forms of aggression and peer victimization. Furthermore, we also analyzed whether the mediation models were moderated by the sex of the child. Participants were 234 third graders (46% girls). Child aggression and victimization were measured by peers using the Mini Direct Indirect Aggression Inventory. Independent measures of mother's and father's use of corporal punishment were obtained from a PCA of items from the Parental Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ). Conditional process modeling was carried out using a macro for SPSS developed by Hayes (2013). Results indicated that aggression mediated the relation of parental corporal punishment to peer victimization. Some interesting moderating effects of sex in this mediation model were found; specifically, physical, and relational aggression mediated the relation of maternal corporal punishment to peer victimization only in boys. Few studies to date have addressed the connection between aggressive behavior and peer victimization as outcomes of corporal punishment, taking into consideration the role of parent's and child's sex, and both physical and relational forms of aggression and victimization during childhood.

Patterns of Adolescents' Appraisals of Responses to Problem Situations: Associations with Aggression, Victimization, and Contextual Factors

Although considerable research has examined factors that influence social-cognitive processes related to aggression, few studies have examined the factors that influence adolescents' appraisal of the effectiveness of responses, particularly nonviolent alternatives to aggression. This study addressed that gap by examining patterns of adolescents' perceived effectiveness of nonviolent and aggressive responses to hypothetical problem situations and their relations with aggression, victimization, and individual and contextual risk factors. The participants were a predominantly African American (90%) sample of 1469 students (55% female; mean age = 12.7 years; age range = 11-16) from three middle schools who completed measures of perceived effectiveness, self-efficacy, aggression and victimization, and contextual factors. Ratings of adolescents' physical, relational, and verbal aggression and victimization, nonviolent and prosocial behavior were also obtained from their teachers. Latent class analysis identified four subgroups of adolescents including distinguishes effective, mixed support, everything works, and nothing works. Subgroups differed on measures of aggression, victimization, prosocial and nonviolent behavior, self-efficacy for nonviolence, witnessing community violence, and parents' and peers' support for nonviolence and aggression. The findings underscore the importance of designing violence prevention programs to target the unique needs of subgroups of adolescents.

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.

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.

Allocation of attention to scenes of peer harassment: Visual-cognitive moderators of the link between peer victimization and aggression

As approximately one-third of peer-victimized children evidence heightened aggression (Schwartz, Proctor, & Chien, 2001), it is imperative to identify the circumstances under which victimization and aggression co-develop. The current study explored two potential moderators of victimization-aggression linkages: (a) attentional bias toward cues signaling threat and (b) attentional bais toward cues communicating interpersonal support. Seventy-two fifth- and sixth-grade children (34 boys; Mage = 11.67) were eye tracked while watching video clips of bullying. Each scene included a bully, a victim, a reinforcer, and a defender. Children's victimization was measured using peer, parent, and teacher reports. Aggression was measured using peer reports of overt and relational aggression and teacher reports of aggression. Victimization was associated with greater aggression at high levels of attention to the bully. Victimization was also associated with greater aggression at low attention to the defender for boys, but at high attention to the defender for girls. Attention to the victim was negatively correlated with aggression regardless of victimization history. Thus, attentional biases to social cues integral to the bullying context differentiate whether victimization is linked to aggression, necessitating future research on the development of these biases and concurrent trajectories of sociobehavioral development.

Preliminary Associations among Relational Victimization, Targeted Rejection, and Suicidality in Adolescents: A Prospective Study

This study examined associations between multiple types of interpersonal and noninterpersonal stressors and the subsequent occurrence of suicide ideation and attempts among female adolescents. Adolescents ages 12 to 18 years old (n = 160) at elevated risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors were followed for 18 months, divided into two 9-month epochs for data analysis (Periods 1 and 2). Exposure to acute relational victimization, targeted rejection, nonspecified interpersonal, and noninterpersonal life stressors over the first 9-month epoch (Period 1) was assessed using semistructured interviews and an independent life stress rating team. Participants also completed phone-based semistructured interviews of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Preliminary analyses showed significant prospective associations between acute targeted rejection and nonspecified interpersonal stress during Period 1 and suicide ideation during Period 2, as well as relational victimization and noninterpersonal stress during Period 1 and suicide attempts during Period 2. However, in logistic regression analyses that adjusted for prior suicidality and depressive symptoms, relational victimization during Period 1 (but not targeted rejection, nonspecified interpersonal or noninterpersonal events) was associated with increased odds of suicide attempt during Period 2. Therefore, acute relational victimization exposure is associated with heightened risk for suicidal behaviors in female adolescents. Future studies should examine potential mediators and moderators of this association, and these stressors should be considered for inclusion in clinical screening tools.

Disrupted amygdala-prefrontal connectivity during emotion regulation links stress-reactive rumination and adolescent depressive symptoms

Rumination in response to stress (stress-reactive rumination) has been linked to higher levels of depressive symptoms in adolescents. However, no work to date has examined the neural mechanisms connecting stress-reactive rumination and adolescent depressive symptoms. The present work attempted to bridge this gap through an fMRI study of 41 adolescent girls (M_age = 15.42, SD = 0.33) – a population in whom elevated levels of depressive symptoms, rumination, and social stress sensitivity are displayed. During the scan, participants completed two tasks: an emotion regulation task and a social stress task. Using psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses, we found that positive functional connectivity between the amygdala and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) during the emotion regulation task mediated the association between stress-reactive rumination and depressive symptoms. These results suggest that stress-reactive rumination may interfere with the expression and development of neural connectivity patterns associated with effective emotion regulation, which may contribute, in turn, to heightened depressive symptoms.

Peer victimization in adolescence: The nature, progression, and consequences of being bullied within a developmental context

Since Dan Olweus's seminal work on bullying in the 1970's (Olweus, 1978), there has been a concerted effort by investigators to identify the confluence of factors that contribute to peer victimization and its role in psychosocial development. Although the cause and consequences of peer victimization may include underlying, age-invariant processes, the manifestation of these factors is, in part, driven by the developmental stage being studied. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of peer victimization requires an explicit developmental perspective. This paper examines how peer victimization in adolescence is unique from other developmental periods. Changes in the nature of peer victimization, associated risk factors, the contexts in which victimization is experienced, and the psychosocial outcomes affected are addressed. A primary focus is how maturational processes and interpersonal contexts characteristic of adolescence contribute to changes in victimization, with the objective of informing future research directions and the development of effective interventions.

Electrodermal Reactivity Moderates the Prospective Association Between Peer Victimization and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence

The present study examined whether skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) moderated prospective associations linking peer victimization with externalizing behaviors and depressive symptoms across the transition to middle school. Participants included 123 early adolescents (M age = 12.03 years at T1; 50% male; 58.5% European Americans, 35% African Americans, 6.5% of other races/ethnicities). At Time 1, SCLR was measured in the context of peer-evaluative challenges, and early adolescents and teachers reported on peer victimization. At Time 1 and Time 2, early adolescents and parents reported on depressive symptoms and externalizing behaviors, respectively. SCLR moderated prospective associations between peer victimization and depressive symptoms, such that both adolescent- and teacher-reported peer victimization predicted higher Time 2 depressive symptoms more strongly at lower levels of SCLR compared to higher levels of SCLR. SCLR did not moderate the prospective association between peer victimization and externalizing behaviors. Results of the present study suggest that low reactivity in the inhibitory dimension of the sympathetic nervous system may increase vulnerability to depressive symptoms in the context of peer victimization, whereas higher reactivity may operate as a protective factor.

Adding insult to injury: neural sensitivity to social exclusion is associated with internalizing symptoms in chronically peer-victimized girls

Despite evidence documenting activation of the social pain network in response to social rejection and its link to temporary distress, far less is known regarding its role in pervasive emotional difficulties. Moreover, research has not considered the intersection between neural activation to experimentally induced social exclusion and naturally occurring social adversity. This study examined an integrated social pain model of internalizing symptoms, which posits that (i) neural sensitivity in the social pain network is associated with internalizing symptoms, (ii) this linkage is more robust in youth with than without a history of social adversity, and (iii) heightened avoidance motivation serves as one pathway linking neural sensitivity and internalizing symptoms. During a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan, 47 adolescent girls (M age = 15.46 years, SD = .35) with well-characterized histories of peer victimization were exposed to social exclusion. Whole-brain analyses revealed that activation to exclusion in the social pain network was associated with internalizing symptoms. As anticipated, this linkage was stronger in chronically victimized than non-victimized girls and was partially accounted for by avoidance motivation. This research indicates the importance of integrating neural, social and psychological systems of development in efforts to elucidate risk for internalizing symptoms among adolescent girls.

Contributions of Socialization of Coping to Physiological Responses to Stress

The messages mothers communicate to their children about coping may play an important role in children's emotional development by shaping children's responses to stress. Building on prior research demonstrating associations between maternal socialization of coping (SOC) and children's self-reported coping and emotional functioning (Abaied & Rudolph, 2010; 2011), we examined the contribution of SOC to children's physiological responses to stress. Mothers completed a measure of SOC with peer victimization. Children (N = 118; M age = 9.46 years, SD = 0.33) completed a measure of peer victimization and participated in a laboratory social challenge task. Saliva samples were collected prior to and following the task and were assayed for alpha-amylase (sAA), a marker of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activation. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that SOC contributed to sAA reactivity. Peer victimization predicted greater sAA reactivity when mothers made few engagement suggestions (orienting toward stress and associated emotions and cognitions) but not when mothers made many engagement suggestions. Mothers' distress responses predicted greater sAA reactivity. These findings provide novel evidence that the messages parents communicate about coping have implications for children's physiological reactivity to stress during middle childhood.