Personal and familial predictors of peer victimization trajectories from primary to secondary school.

Abstract

Using a sample of 767 children (403 girls, 364 boys), this study aimed to (a) identify groups with distinct trajectories of peer victimization over a 6-year period from primary school through the transition to secondary school, and (b) examine the associated personal (i.e., aggression or internalizing problems) and familial (family status, socioeconomic status, the parent-child relationship) predictors. Peer victimization was assessed via self-reports from Grades 4 through 9 (ages 10 through 15 years), aggression and internalizing problems were assessed in Grade 4 via peer nominations, and the parent-child relationship was assessed in Grade 7 (i.e., right after the transition to secondary school) via parent-reports. Growth Mixture modeling revealed 1 group (62%) who experienced little victimization in primary school and even less in secondary school, another group (31%) who was victimized in primary but not or much less in secondary school, and a third group (7%) who was chronically victimized in both school contexts. Boys were more likely than girls to follow any elevated victimization trajectory. Chronic victimization across primary and secondary school was predicted by nonintact family status and a combination of both internalizing problems and aggression compared with nonvictimized youth. In contrast, transitory victimization during primary but not in secondary school was predicted by aggression, but not internalizing problems. Support as well as conflict in the parent-child relationship also showed significant, albeit distinct associations with the different peer victimization trajectories.

Peer Victimization and Adjustment in Young Adulthood: Commentary on the Special Section

“…Victimization beginning in middle school is rare; many of the students who are targeted in adolescence have been in that situation for a long time. This has been well illustrated also by previous studies of some of the present authors (Brendgen et al 2016;Haltigan and Vaillancourt 2014) examining the trajectories of victimization from elementary to middle school. The impact of adolescent victimization may last into adulthood not only because adolescence is closer in time to adulthood than middle childhood is, but also because among adolescent victims, a long history of victimization is more likely.…”

Disparities in Persistent Victimization and Associated Internalizing Symptoms for Heterosexual Versus Sexual Minority Youth

“…Research on disparities in patterns of victimization, based on two waves of retrospective reports, showed that the risk of being victimized in childhood or adolescence (<18 years old) as well as adulthood was about three times higher among bisexual or lesbian women than among exclusively heterosexual women (Hughes, Johnson, Steffen, Wilsnack, & Everett, ). Furthermore, the findings of research on victimization patterns in exclusively LGB or exclusively heterosexual samples suggest that persistent victimization occurs in about 7% of the general adolescent population (Brendgen, Girard, Vitaro, Dionne, & Boivin, ; Sheppard, Giletta, & Prinstein, ) as compared to 15.4–28.9% of the sexual minority adolescents (Mustanski et al., ; Sterzing et al., ). Although these findings suggest elevated risks for persistent victimization among sexual minority adolescents, we aim to examine this assumption by testing differences in victimization trajectories in a general sample of adolescents.…”

Early social behaviors and the trajectory of peer victimization across the school years.

“…For example, children who show both aggression and prosocial behavior may follow a different trajectory of victimization than those who are aggressive but not prosocial. Of note, Brendgen and colleagues (2016) found that aggression in 4 th grade put children at risk for heightened levels of victimization across the transition to middle school only if they showed more internalizing problems at the same time. Fourth, we did not examine the mediating roles of gender norms between early social behaviors and victimization explicitly.…”

“…Additionally, victims who became less aggressive were victimized less whereas youth who became more aggressive began to be victimized over a one-year-period (Goldbaum, Craig, Pepler, & Connolly, 2003). In one longer-span investigation, youth with higher levels of aggression in 4 th grade were more likely to experience higher levels of victimization through 9 th grade (Brendgen et al, 2016). …”