Predictors of Latent Trajectory Classes of Physical Dating Violence Victimization

This study identified classes of developmental trajectories of physical dating violence victimization from grades 8 to 12 and examined theoretically-based risk factors that distinguished among trajectory classes. Data were from a multi-wave longitudinal study spanning 8th through 12th grade (n = 2,566; 51.9 % female). Growth mixture models were used to identify trajectory classes of physical dating violence victimization separately for girls and boys. Logistic and multinomial logistic regressions were used to identify situational and target vulnerability factors associated with the trajectory classes. For girls, three trajectory classes were identified: a low/non-involved class; a moderate class where victimization increased slightly until the 10th grade and then decreased through the 12th grade; and a high class where victimization started at a higher level in the 8th grade, increased substantially until the 10th grade, and then decreased until the 12th grade. For males, two classes were identified: a low/non-involved class, and a victimized class where victimization increased slightly until the 9th grade, decreased until the 11th grade, and then increased again through the 12th grade. In bivariate analyses, almost all of the situational and target vulnerability risk factors distinguished the victimization classes from the non-involved classes. However, when all risk factors and control variables were in the model, alcohol use (a situational vulnerability) was the only factor that distinguished membership in the moderate trajectory class from the non-involved class for girls; anxiety and being victimized by peers (target vulnerability factors) were the factors that distinguished the high from the non-involved classes for the girls; and victimization by peers was the only factor distinguishing the victimized from the non-involved class for boys. These findings contribute to our understanding of the heterogeneity in physical dating violence victimization during adolescence and the malleable risk factors associated with each trajectory class for boys and girls.     

Victimization and Relational Aggression in Adolescent Romantic Relationships: The Influence of Parental and Peer Behaviors, and Individual Adjustment

Consistent with the view that adolescent relationships are established in the context of important characteristics of their social networks, we examined the effects of adolescents’ experiences of parenting (psychological control and positive monitoring) and of peer aggression and victimization, on their self reports of dating victimization and aggression. We also examined the effects of individual differences in emotional and behavioral problems. We used questionnaire data from a population-based sample of youth 12–18 years old who were in dating relationships (n = 149). Parental monitoring emerged as a protective factor in reducing both dating victimization and relational aggression. Our findings also point to a significant transfer of aggression in peer relationships to relational aggression in dating relationships.

Depression,Anxiety, and Peer Victimization: Bidirectional Relationships and Associated Outcomes Transitioning from Childhood to Adolescence

Experiences of depression, anxiety, and peer victimization have each been found to predict one another, and to predict negative outcomes in the domains of school connectedness, social functioning, quality of life, and physical health. However, the common co-occurrence of depression, anxiety, and peer victimization experiences has made it difficult to disentangle their unique roles in these associations. The present study thus sought to characterize the precise nature of the bidirectional relationships between depressive symptoms, anxiety, and victimization over time, and to examine their unique sequelae during the transition from childhood to early adolescence. Longitudinal multi-informant (child-reported, parent-reported, and teacher-reported) data from a nationally representative sample were analyzed using path analysis when the study child was aged 10–11 (n=?4169; M_age?=?10.3; 48.8% female) and aged 12–13 (n=?3956; M_age?=?12.4; 48.2% female). Depressive symptoms, anxiety, and peer victimization had small but significant unique bidirectional relationships. All three constructs also uniquely and prospectively predicted poorer life functioning across all domains examined. These results demonstrate that current interventions should broaden their scope to simultaneously target depression, anxiety, and peer victimization, as each of these experiences independently act as additive risk factors for subsequent negative outcomes.

     

Peer Victimization and Social Anxiety in Adolescents: Prospective and Reciprocal Relationships

This study used a 2-month prospective research design to examine the bi-directional interplay between peer victimization and social anxiety among adolescents. Participants included 228 adolescents (58% female) in grades 10–12. Three types of peer victimization were examined: overt (physical aggression or verbal threats), relational (malicious manipulation of a relationship, such as by friendship withdrawal), and reputational (damaging another’s peer relationships, such as through rumor spreading). Adolescents’ self-reported feelings of social anxiety and peer victimization experiences were assessed at two time points, in November and January of the same school year. Peer victimization was strongly related to adolescents’ social anxiety, and relational victimization explained additional unique variance. Moreover, peer victimization was both a predictor and consequence of social anxiety over time, with the most robust results found for relational victimization. Limited support was obtained for gender as a moderating variable. Findings highlight the deleterious effects of peer victimization, especially relational victimization, and suggest avenues for future research and clinical intervention for adolescents experiencing such victimization.

The Broader Context of Relational Aggression in Adolescent Romantic Relationships: Predictions from Peer Pressure and Links to Psychosocial Functioning

The broader context of relational aggression in adolescent romantic relationships was assessed by considering the ways such aggression emerged from prior experiences of peer pressure and was linked to concurrent difficulties in psychosocial functioning. Longitudinal, multi-reporter data were obtained from 97 adolescents and their best friends at age 15 and from adolescents and their romantic partners at age 18. Teens’ relational aggression and romantic partners’ victimization were predicted from levels of best friends’ pressuring behaviors toward teens in an observed interaction as well as from best friends’ ratings of how much pressure teens experienced from their peer group. Romantic partner relational aggression and teen victimization were predicted by pressure from teens’ peer group only. Adolescents’ romantic relational aggression and victimization were also associated with elevated levels of depressive symptoms and increased alcohol use. Results are discussed in terms of the connection of relational aggression in romantic relationships to the broader task of establishing autonomy with peers in psychosocial development.

Daily School Peer Victimization Experiences Among Mexican-American Adolescents: Associations with Psychosocial, Physical and School Adjustment

School bullying incidents, particularly experiences with victimization, are a significant social and health concern among adolescents. The current study extended past research by examining the daily peer victimization experiences of Mexican-American adolescents and examining how chronic (mean-level) and episodic (daily-level) victimization incidents at school are associated with psychosocial, physical and school adjustment. Across a two-week span, 428 ninth and tenth grade Mexican-American students (51 % female) completed brief checklists every night before going to bed. Hierarchical linear model analyses revealed that, at the individual level, Mexican-American adolescents’ who reported more chronic peer victimization incidents across the two-weeks also reported heightened distress and academic problems. After accounting for adolescent’s mean levels of peer victimization, daily victimization incidents were associated with more school adjustment problems (i.e., academic problems, perceived role fulfillment as a good student). Additionally, support was found for the mediation model in which distress accounts for the mean-level association between peer victimization and academic problems. The results from the current study revealed that everyday peer victimization experiences among Mexican-American high school students have negative implications for adolescents’ adjustment, across multiple domains.     

Relational Victimization and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: Moderating Effects of Mother, Father, and Peer Emotional Support

Adolescence heralds a unique period of vulnerability to depressive symptoms. This longitudinal study examined relational victimization in adolescents?? peer relationships as a unique predictor of depressive symptoms among a primarily (85%) Caucasian sample of 540 youth (294 females) concurrently and across a 6-year period. The moderating effects of emotional support received from mothers, fathers, and peers on the association between relational victimization and adolescents?? depressive symptoms were also investigated. Findings revealed that adolescents who were relationally victimized consistently had higher depressive symptoms than their non-victimized peers. However, high levels of emotional support from fathers buffered this relationship over time. Emotional support from mothers and peers also moderated the longitudinal relationship between relational victimization and depressive symptoms, with high levels of support predicting increases in adolescents?? symptoms. Relational victimization presents a clear risk for depressive symptoms in adolescence, and emotional support may serve either a protective or vulnerability-enhancing role depending on the source of support.     

The Bidirectional Relationships Between Online Victimization and Psychosocial Problems in Adolescents: A Comparison with Real-Life Victimization

Although peer victimization is of major concern and adolescents spend increasing amounts of time on the Internet, relatively little is known about the psychosocial antecedents and consequences of online victimization. The main aim of this study was to compare the psychosocial antecedents and consequences of online versus real-life victimization. More specifically, the bidirectional relationship between online and real-life victimization on the one hand and psychosocial problems (i.e., loneliness and social anxiety) on the other was examined. In addition, the moderating role of online aggression in the relationship between online victimization and subsequent psychosocial problems was studied. This prospective study, consisting of three annual measurements, was conducted among a sample of 831 adolescents (50.3 % girls) aged 11–15, of which most (80.2 %) had a Dutch ethnic background. The results indicate a unidirectional relationship whereby loneliness and social anxiety predict an increase in latter online victimization rather than the reverse. A bidirectional relationship was found for real-life victimization: loneliness (but not social anxiety) predicted an increase in latter real-life victimization, which in turn predicted an increase in subsequent social anxiety (but not loneliness). No moderating effects of online aggression were found. The findings of the present study suggest that negative online and in real life peer interactions have a differential meaning for, and impact on adolescents’ well-being.     

Bullying Victimization and Adolescent Self-Harm: Testing Hypotheses from General Strain Theory

Self-harm is widely recognized as a significant adolescent social problem, and recent research has begun to explore its etiology. Drawing from Agnew’s (1992) social psychological strain theory of deviance, this study considers this issue by testing three hypotheses about the effects of traditional and cyber bullying victimization on deliberate self-harm and suicidal ideation. The data come from a school-based survey of adolescents in a rural county of a southeastern state (n = 426); 50% of subjects are female, their mean age was 15 years, and non-Hispanic whites represent 66% of the sample. The analysis revealed that both types of bullying are positively related to self-harm and suicidal ideation, net of controls. Moreover, those relationships are partially mediated by the negative emotions experienced by those who are bullied and partially moderated by features of the adolescent’s social environment and self. Regarding the latter, exposure to authoritative parenting and high self-control diminished the harmful effects of bullying victimization on self-harm and suicidal ideation. The article concludes by discussing the implications of these conclusions for future research and for policy efforts designed to reduce self-harm.     

Bullying and Victimization Among Adolescents: The Role of Ethnicity and Ethnic Composition of School Class

The present study examined the relationships between ethnicity, peer-reported bullying and victimization, and whether these relationships were moderated by the ethnic composition of the school classes. Participants were 2386 adolescents (mean age: 13 years and 10 months; 51.9% boys) from 117 school classes in the Netherlands. Multilevel analyses showed that, after controlling for the ethnic composition of school class, ethnic minority adolescents were less victimized, but did not differ from the ethnic majority group members on bullying. Victimization was more prevalent in ethnically heterogeneous classes. Furthermore, the results revealed that ethnic minority adolescents bully more in ethnically heterogeneous classes. Our findings suggest that, in order to understand bullying and victimization in schools in ethnically diverse cultures, the ethnic background of adolescents and the ethnic composition of school classes should be taken into account.     

Adolescent Sexual Activity: Links Between Relational Context and Depressive Symptoms

Little is known about the impact of the relational context of adolescent sexual activity on depressive symptoms. The present study examined trajectories of depressive symptoms among 6,602 adolescents (44% male, 60% White) taken from a nationally representative study (Add Health). Sexually active youth in romantic and casual relationships were first compared to virgins and then to each other by relational context. Longitudinal, multilevel models examined differences in the course of depressive symptoms based on sexual activity separately by gender and age group (ages 12–14 and 15–18). Results indicated that when compared to virgins, any differences in depressive symptoms by relational context of sex were present prior to youth’s sexual debut. The few significant differences found between youth who had sex in romantic relationships verses those who had casual sex were present before sexual initiation and not maintained over time, suggesting that casual sex in adolescence is not associated with long-term risks for depressive symptoms.

Bullying and Victimization Trajectories in the First Years of Secondary Education: Implications for Status and Affection

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Bullying is known to be associated with social status, but it remains unclear how bullying involvement over time relates to social position (status and...     

Cyber Bullying and Physical Bullying in Adolescent Suicide: The Role of Violent Behavior and Substance Use

The impact of bullying in all forms on the mental health and safety of adolescents is of particular interest, especially in the wake of new methods of bullying that victimize youths through technology. The current study examined the relationship between victimization from both physical and cyber bullying and adolescent suicidal behavior. Violent behavior, substance use, and unsafe sexual behavior were tested as mediators between two forms of bullying, cyber and physical, and suicidal behavior. Data were taken from a large risk-behavior screening study with a sample of 4,693 public high school students (mean age = 16.11, 47 % female). The study’s findings showed that both physical bullying and cyber bullying associated with substance use, violent behavior, unsafe sexual behavior, and suicidal behavior. Substance use, violent behavior, and unsafe sexual behavior also all associated with suicidal behavior. Substance use and violent behavior partially mediated the relationship between both forms of bullying and suicidal behavior. The comparable amount of variance in suicidal behavior accounted for by both cyber bullying and physical bullying underscores the important of further cyber bullying research. The direct association of each risk behavior with suicidal behavior also underscores the importance of reducing risk behaviors. Moreover, the role of violence and substance use as mediating behaviors offers an explanation of how risk behaviors can increase an adolescent’s likelihood of suicidal behavior through habituation to physical pain and psychological anxiety.     

The Role of the School Environment in Relational Aggression and Victimization

Research conducted over the last decade has documented both the high rates of and serious consequences associated with both victimization and perpetration of relational aggression. This study examines risk for involvement in relational aggression and victimization among middle school youth, evaluating both individual beliefs about violence, as well as aspects of the school environment, including interpersonal school climate and school responsiveness to violence. A sample of 5,625 primarily urban minority middle school youth (49.2 % female) participating in a violence prevention project completed measures of relational aggression and victimization as well as indicators of individual beliefs about aggression, school norms for aggression, student–teacher and student–student interpersonal climate, and school responsiveness to violence. Unlike results previously found for physical aggression, no school-level indicator of climate was related to relational aggression or victimization. However, individual beliefs about aggression and individual perceptions of the school environment were related strongly to both the perpetration of and victimization by relational aggression. These results suggest not only that individual beliefs and perceptions of the school environment are important in understanding perpetration and victimization of relational aggression, but also that risk for involvement in relational aggression is distinct from that of physical aggression. Implications for school interventions are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.     

Individual and Contextual Factors Associated with Patterns of Aggression and Peer Victimization During Middle School

Peer victimization is a common problem among adolescents that has been linked to a variety of adjustment problems. Youth involved in peer victimization represent a heterogeneous group who may differ not only in their levels of victimization and perpetration, but also in the factors that influence their behavior. The current study used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify subgroups of aggressive and victimized youth, and to examine social-cognitive and environmental factors that differ across these subgroups. Participants were a predominantly African-American (i.e., 68 %) sample of 502 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders (45 % male, Mean age = 12.6 years) attending three urban public middle schools, who completed self-report measures of aggression, victimization, and associated individual and contextual factors. LCA identified four classes of adolescents representing non-victimized aggressors, aggressive-victims, predominantly victimized youth, and well-adjusted youth. Class differences were found on measures of beliefs supporting fighting, beliefs against fighting, perceived effectiveness of inept nonviolent responses to conflict, behavioral intentions to engage in aggressive and nonviolent behavior, self-efficacy for nonviolent behavior, and peer and parental support for aggression and nonviolence. For example, within the two classes of victimized youth, aggressive-victims reported greater intentions to engage in physical aggression and inept nonviolent behavior, and were more likely to agree with beliefs supporting the use of instrumental and reactive aggression, and beliefs that fighting is sometimes necessary compared to predominantly victimized youth. These findings emphasize the importance of developing preventive interventions that target the specific needs of distinct subgroups of adolescents.     

The Association Between Cyber Victimization and Subsequent Cyber Aggression: The Moderating Effect of Peer Rejection

Adolescents experience various forms of strain in their lives that may contribute jointly to their engagement in cyber aggression. However, little attention has been given to this idea. To address this gap in the literature, the present longitudinal study examined the moderating influence of peer rejection on the relationship between cyber victimization at Time 1 (T1) and subsequent cyber aggression at Time 2 (T2; 6 months later) among 261 (150 girls) 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Our findings indicated that both peer rejection and cyber victimization were related to T2 peer-nominated and self-reported cyber aggression, both relational and verbal, after controlling for gender and T1 cyber aggression. Furthermore, T1 cyber victimization was related more strongly to T2 peer-nominated and self-reported cyber aggression at higher levels of T1 peer rejection. These results extend previous findings regarding the relationship between peer rejection and face-to-face aggressive behaviors to the cyber context. In addition, our findings underscore the importance of utilizing multiple methods, such as peer-nomination and self-report, to assess cyber aggression in a school setting.