Coping with peer victimization predicts peer outcomes across the transition to middle school

The present study examined strategies for coping with peer victimization as predictors of peer victimization experiences and broader peer relationship outcomes across the transition to middle school, and tested for possible gender differences in these associations. Participants included 123 early adolescents (M_age = 12.03 years at T1; 50% males; 58.5% European Americans, 35% African Americans, 6.5% of other races/ethnicities) who reported on strategies for coping with peer victimization at T1 (summer before the transition to middle school) as well as experiences of peer victimization and loneliness at T1 and T2 (spring of the first year of middle school). Teachers reported on peer victimization and peer competence at T1 and T2. Conflict resolution predicted higher teacher‐reported peer competence. In contrast, revenge‐seeking predicted higher self‐reported peer victimization (among girls but not boys) and loneliness, and support‐seeking predicted higher teacher‐reported peer victimization and lower teacher‐reported peer competence. In addition, cognitive distancing predicted lower teacher‐reported peer victimization and lower self‐reported loneliness among boys but not girls. Results are discussed with reference to the specific context of peer victimization and developmental period of early adolescence.     

Unsociability in Chinese adolescents: Cross‐informant agreement and relations with social and school adjustment

We examined cross‐informant agreement of unsociability and associations of unsociability with social and school adjustment. Participants were 229 (48% girls; M _age = 14.25, SD = .78 years) seventh‐ and eighth‐graders in Liaoning, China. Unsociability and shyness were assessed with self‐reports and peer nominations. Social and school adjustment data were obtained from multiple sources (self‐, peer‐, teacher‐reports). Peer‐reported unsociability was not significantly correlated with self‐reported unsociability, but was positively correlated with self‐reported shyness. Path models indicated that controlling for shyness and demographic covariates, peer‐, but not self‐reported, unsociability was associated with low peer acceptance, high peer rejection and exclusion, low school liking, and low academic performance and achievement. The findings suggest that unsociable Chinese adolescents may have multifaceted adjustment difficulties with peers and at school, but only when perceived as unsociable by peers. Methodological and theoretical implications of the results and the lack of correspondence between self‐ and peer‐reports were discussed.     

The Friendship Features of Preschool Children: Links with Prosocial Behavior and Aggression

This study assessed features of young children's friendships and determined whether the features reported were associated with prosocial and aggressive behavior. Teachers completed the friendship features questionnaires (FFQ) on the mutual friendships in their class identified by the 98 children who were interviewed (M age =3.91 years). Four subscales (support, conflict, exclusivity/intimacy, and asymmetry) were differentiated from the 36‐item questionnaire. Teacher reports of friendship features showed moderate inter‐rater reliability and were associated with teacher reports of aggression and prosocial behavior and peer reports of acceptance and rejection. Friendship support was positively correlated with prosocial behavior, friendship conflict was positively correlated with overt aggression and peer rejection, and friendship exclusivity/intimacy was positively associated with relational aggression and negatively with peer acceptance. Findings are consistent with research on school age children's friendship features and their behavioral correlates.     

The Relationship Between Peer Victimization and Children's Humor Styles: It's No Laughing Matter!

This study assessed the concurrent and prospective (fall to spring) associations between peer victimization and four humor styles, two of which are adaptive (affiliative and self‐enhancing) and two maladaptive (aggressive and self‐defeating). Participants were 1234 adolescents (52 percent female) aged 11–13 years, drawn from six secondary schools in England. Self‐reports and peer reports of peer victimization were collected, as were self‐reports of humor styles. In cross‐sectional analyses, peer victimization was associated with all four humor styles, most strongly with self‐defeating and affiliative humor. Across the school year, peer victimization was associated with an increase in self‐defeating humor and a decrease in affiliative humor (and vice‐versa). These results have implications for models of humor development and how we understand the continuity of peer victimization.     

A Person‐Oriented Analysis of Social Withdrawal in Chinese Children

The goal of this study was to compare the socio‐emotional and academic adjustment of different subtypes of socially withdrawn (shy, unsociable, avoidant) school‐age children in mainland China. Participants were N = 1344 children ages 10–12 years from public elementary schools in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Multi‐source assessment included: child self‐reports of social withdrawal subtypes and internalizing difficulties (e.g., depression, social anxiety); peer nominations of children's peer relations (e.g., peer victimization, peer preference); and teacher ratings of children's school adjustment (e.g., academic success, internalizing problems). Results from person‐oriented analyses indicated that socially avoidant (i.e., shy‐unsociable) children reported the most pervasive internalizing difficulties compared to other groups. However, in contrast to findings among Western samples, unsociable children were as likely to have peer and academic difficulties as their shy and socially avoidant peers. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications of different subtypes of social withdrawal among children in collectivistic societies such as China.     

Reciprocal Peer Dislike and Psychosocial Adjustment in Childhood

Reciprocal peer dislike was examined as a predictor of school adjustment and social relationship quality. One hundred and fifty‐one [69 male and 74 female, mean (M)_age = 9.53, standard deviation (SD)_age = .63 years] children completed measures of school liking, loneliness, and friendship quality twice over three months. From ratings of the amount of time participants liked to spend with individual classmates, social network analyses were used to determine reciprocal peer dislike. Curvilinear regression analyses revealed that reciprocal peer dislike at Time 1 predicted changes in the children's loneliness and friendship quality assessed as help, security, and closeness over three months. The findings support the conclusion that reciprocal peer dislike predicts aspects of school adjustment and social relationship qualities.     

Peer Victimization,Self‐esteem,and Ego Resilience Types in Adolescents: A Prospective Analysis of Person‐context Interactions

This study examined bidirectional, longitudinal associations between peer victimisation and self‐esteem in adolescents, and tested for moderator effects of undercontrolling, overcontrolling, and ego‐resilient personality types in these associations. Data were used from 774 adolescents ages 11–16 years who participated in a three‐wave (i.e., 2005, 2006, and 2007) longitudinal study. Structural equation modelling analyses in Mplus demonstrated that, controlling for earlier levels of self‐esteem, self‐reported peer victimization was associated with lower self‐esteem across one‐year time intervals. Vice versa, however, low self‐esteem was not predictive of subsequent self‐reported victimization. Evidence was also found for a moderator effect of personality type on the longitudinal associations between self‐esteem and victimization. Only in the subgroup of overcontrolling adolescents was lower self‐esteem related to subsequently higher levels of peer victimization; their undercontrolling and ego‐resilient peers were unaffected.     

The Role of Perceived Friendship Self‐efficacy as a Protective Factor against the Negative Effects of Social Victimization

This study examined perceived friendship self‐efficacy as a protective factor against the negative effects associated with social victimization in adolescents. The sample consisted of 1218 participants (557 males, age range 12–17 years). Perceived friendship self‐efficacy was associated with lower internalizing scores irrespective of adolescents' social victimization level and with lower externalizing scores at low, but not high, levels of social victimization. Furthermore, the relationship between perceived friendship self‐efficacy and all forms of adjustment did not differ between boys and girls, or between adolescents in both reciprocated and unilateral very best friendships. The role of perceived friendship self‐efficacy as a protective factor amenable to intervention in social bullying at school is discussed.     

Is preventing peer victimization sufficient? The role of prosocial peer group treatment in children's socioemotional development

Despite extensive research on the harmful effects of peer victimization, little is known about whether prosocial treatment from peers contributes to healthy socioemotional development. To address this issue, 366 third and fourth graders (170 boys; M _age = 9.34) were followed over three time points. Children completed measures of prosocial peer treatment, peer victimization, depressive affect, and friendship quality. Teacher‐reports of depressive affect and peer‐reports of aggression, victimization, and friendships were also obtained. Controlling for peer victimization, number of friends, and friendship quality, prosocial peer treatment negatively predicted depressive affect. For boys, prosocial peer treatment mediated the association between victimization and teacher‐reported depressive affect. These findings underscore the importance of prosocial peer group treatment and the need to broaden the goals of anti‐bullying interventions to include the promotion of positive peer interactions.     

Refining victims’ self‐reports on bullying: Assessing frequency,intensity, power imbalance,and goal‐directedness

Bullying can be differentiated from other types of peer aggression by four key characteristics: frequency, intensity, power imbalance, and goal‐directedness. Existing instruments, however, usually assess the presence of these characteristics implicitly. Can self‐report instruments be refined using additional questions that assess each characteristic? We examined (a) what proportion of children classified as victims by the commonly used Revised Olweus’ bully/victim questionnaire (BVQ) also experienced the characteristics of bullying, and (b) the extent to which the presence of the characteristics was associated with emotional (affect, school, and classroom well‐being), relational (friendship, defending), and social status (popularity, rejection) adjustment correlates among victims. Using data from 1,738 students (M_age = 10.6; grades 5–8), including 138 victims according to the BVQ, the results showed that 43.1% of the children who were classified as victims by BVQ experienced all the four characteristics of bullying. Frequency ratings of victimization did not capture experiences that involved a power imbalance. Victims who reported all four key characteristics had greater emotional, relational, and social status problems than victims who did not report all characteristics. Thus, researchers who focus on victimization for diagnostic and prevention purposes can enrich self‐report measurements of bullying victimization by adding questions that assess the characteristics explicitly.     

Emotion Knowledge Skills in Low-income Elementary School Children: Associations with Social Status and Peer Experiences

This short‐term longitudinal study examined relations between emotion knowledge and social functioning in a sample of low‐income kindergarten and 1st graders. Individual differences in spontaneous emotion naming and emotion recognition skills were used to predict children's social functioning at school, including peer‐nominated sociometric status, and child self‐reports of negative experiences with peers in school (peer victimization and rejection). Children who had greater emotional vocabulary and recognized emotions more accurately had better outcomes in all areas, and many of the associations between fall emotion knowledge skills and spring social functioning outcomes held after covarying grade and children's previous status with regard to these outcomes. Results are discussed with regard to implications for prevention and intervention programs (e.g., the PATHS curriculum) that focus on teaching emotion knowledge skills in order to foster high‐risk children's social competence.     

Mother–Child Reminiscing About Peer Experiences and Children's Peer‐related Self‐views and Social Competence

This study examined mother–child reminiscing about children's experiences with peers and its relation to children's peer‐related self‐views and social competence. Sixty‐three mothers and their preschool‐aged children discussed at home two specific past events involving the child and his or her peers, one event being positive and one negative. The children's self‐views in peer relationships were assessed at school during individual interviews, and their social competence was rated by mothers. Both maternal and child participation in the reminiscing, in terms of reminiscing style and content, were uniquely associated with children's peer‐related self‐views and social competence. The results suggest the important role of family narrative practices in children's social development.     

An Integrative Examination of Peer Conflict: Children's Reported Goals, Emotions, and Behaviors

The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the interrelations among children's typical emotions, goals, and behavior during peer conflict and to examine emotions and goals as joint predictors of behavior. Children (7 to 11 years old) described recent conflicts with peers and were questioned about their emotions, goals, and behaviors. The friendliness of children's reported goals during conflict was associated with low anger intensity and with high intensity of sadness. Children who tended to report nonconstructive behavior also tended to report relatively intense anger and relatively unfriendly goals. Furthermore, in regression analyses, the friendliness of goals uniquely predicted the constructiveness of children's behavior after controlling for the effects of anger intensity, age, gender, provoking event, and friendship with the peer. Although boys and girls reported similar levels of anger and sadness, girls reported friendlier goals and more constructive behavior than did boys. The use of self‐reports of actual events to examine peer conflict during middle childhood is also discussed.     

Academic performance and peer relations among rural‐to‐urban migrant children in Beijing: Do social identity and self‐efficacy matter?

Due to the household registration system, millions of rural‐to‐urban migrant children in China are ineligible to receive urban social welfare benefits. These children potentially suffer from the evolving awareness of their perceived inferior social identity and experiences of inequalities at an early stage of life. This study examined whether self‐perceived social identity is related to academic performance and peer relations among rural‐to‐urban migrant children in Beijing. Data were collected from 136 children during 2013 and 2014 in three schools for migrant children in Beijing. Path analysis showed that children who identified as a Beijinger, compared with those who self‐identified with their rural hometown, had better self‐efficacy, which in turn was associated with better academic performance and better peer relations. Enlightened by Western theories, these findings suggest that migrant children’s performance in school could be enhanced by cultivating positive perceptions of their social identity through teachers’ practice and community‐ and policy‐level social support.     

Peer Victimization: The Role of Emotions in Adaptive and Maladaptive Coping

Mediator models were examined in which children's emotional reactions to peer aggression were hypothesized to mediate their selection of coping strategies and subsequent peer victimization and internalizing problems. Self‐report data were collected from 145 ethnically diverse kindergarten through fifth grade children (66 females and 79 males) who attended a predominantly low‐ to middle‐class school. Hypothetical scenarios were used to assess children's anticipated responses to peer aggression. Victims reported more intense negative emotions (e.g., fear and anger) than did nonvictims. Fear emerged as a predictor of advice seeking which, in turn, predicted conflict resolution and fewer internalizing problems. Conflict resolution was associated with reductions in victimization. Anger and embarrassment predicted revenge seeking which, in turn, was associated with increases in victimization. Additional pathways predicting changes in peer victimization across a single academic year as a function of children's emotional and coping responses to peer abuse are discussed.     

Academic competence perceptions moderate the effects of peer support following academic success disclosures

Academic successes are a common part of children's daily lives. Prior research indicates that children frequently attempt to capitalize on these events by sharing the good news with peers. This short‐term longitudinal study of third‐ through seventh‐grade students (N = 359) provides evidence that, for children with low academic competence perceptions, peer academic support in the form of enthusiastic responses to academic success disclosures can be a double‐edged sword. Regardless of their self‐views, perceptions of enthusiastic responses to academic success disclosures were associated with a greater willingness to disclose academic successes to friends and higher perceptions of peer academic support over time. For children with low academic competence perceptions, however, perceptions of enthusiastic responses to academic success disclosures also predicted heightened academic worry which, in turn, predicted greater endorsement of performance–avoidance goals over time. Future research will be critical in developing interventions that can assist children with low academic competence perceptions in more fully enjoying the benefits that can accrue from capitalization attempts.     

Secondary School Transition and the Use of Different Sources of Information for the Construction of the Academic Self‐concept

This study focuses on processes involved in students' academic self‐concept constructions before, during, and after secondary school transition. The study is based on a four‐wave longitudinal dataset (N = 1953). Structural equation modeling showed that during school transition, the impact of grades on students' academic self‐concepts in Math and English decreased whereas the effects of maternal competence perceptions increased. After the transition, the effects of grades increased, while the effects maternal competence beliefs decreased again. The results are interpreted in terms of differential emphasizing of sources of information for students' self‐concept construction. During school transition, elementary school grades lost informational value for self‐evaluations due to the changed frame of reference. To secure stable and valid self‐assessments, students emphasized other sources than grades; in this, case information obtained through parental competence appraisals. After transition, when valid grades were available for the students' constructions again, the temporarily heightened parental influence decreased again.     

Gender-linked Risks for Peer Physical and Relational Victimization in the Context of School-level Poverty in First Grade

In a short‐term longitudinal study of 432 first‐grade children, we examined whether gender interacted with contextual differences (school‐level poverty) and individual differences at school entry (behavioral problems, emotional problems, and social competence) to predict changes in peer physical and relational victimization and receipt of prosocial acts. Gender differences in peer victimization were observed in schools with low levels of student poverty, such that girls showed significant decreases in peer victimization relative to boys. Girls in schools with high levels of student poverty were at greater risk for increases in victimization relative to girls in low‐poverty schools. Individual differences at school entry also contributed to risks for physical (but not relational) victimization. Girls with high levels of behavioral problems and boys with low levels of social competence showed increased risks for physical victimization. We discussed the implications of the present findings for school‐based peer‐victimization prevention programs.     

Relational Aggression and Victimization in Young Adults' Romantic Relationships: Associations with Perceptions of Parent, Peer, and Romantic Relationship Quality

This study had three goals: (a) To investigate gender differences in relational aggression and victimization within young adults' romantic relationships, (b) to investigate associations between romantic relational aggression and victimization and perceptions of romantic relationship quality, and (c) to explore parent and peer predictors of romantic relational aggression and victimization. College students (70 females and 34 males) completed self‐reports of romantic relational aggression and victimization, and parent, peer, and romantic relationship quality. Men and women reported equal levels of romantic relational aggression, and men reported higher levels of victimization than women. Aggression and victimization were positively correlated with negative romantic relationship qualities and negatively correlated with positive relationship qualities. Regression analyses indicated that both romantic relational victimization and romantic relational aggression explained variance in romantic relationship quality. There were several significant associations between parent and peer relationship quality and romantic relational aggression and victimization, which suggest that poor relationships with parents and peers may play a role in the development and maintenance of these behaviors.     

Self-perceived Social Acceptance and Peer Social Standing in Children with Aggressive–Disruptive Behaviors

Examining children's perceptions of their social acceptance in conjunction with others’ ratings of their peer social standing can enhance our understanding of the heterogeneity in children exhibiting disruptive behavior problems. Using a sample of 213 youth rated in the top 31 percent of their class on aggressive–disruptive behaviors, the current study examined the interaction between children's perceptions of their social acceptance and their peer‐rated social standing in predicting emotional and behavioral problems. Overall, lower peer‐rated social standing was associated with higher levels of antisocial behavior, academic problems, and hyperactivity/inattention. On the other hand, higher self‐perceived social acceptance was associated with increased levels of peer‐rated fighting at school. For children who were rated as having high social standing among their peers, poorer self‐perceived social acceptance was associated with increased oppositional behaviors and conduct problems at home. In addition, children who reported lower self‐perceived social acceptance exhibited increased levels of depressive symptoms, even when they were relatively well liked by their peers. The potential implications for working with subgroups of children with aggressive–disruptive behaviors are discussed.