Effects of Poly-Victimization on Adolescent Social Support, Self-Concept, and Psychological Distress

Abstract

Past research has demonstrated the particularly damaging effects of exposure to multiple forms of victimization, or "poly-victimization," on youth mental health. The primary objective of the present study is to begin to identify the mechanisms that help explain its powerful impact. Analyses are based on two waves of longitudinal data from the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), conducted in 2008 and 2010, that comprised a telephone sample of 1,186 youth ages 10 to 17. Using structural equation modeling, we examine direct and indirect effects on distress symptoms of increased, decreased, and stable high poly-victimization between Waves 1 and 2 compared to no or low victimization in both waves. Specifically, we consider the extent to which reductions in core psychosocial resources, including family support, peer support, self-esteem, and mastery, mediate the relationship between these poly-victimization conditions and distress. Relative to stable low victimization, both increased poly-victimization and stable high poly-victimization were associated with declines in all four resources. However, only self-esteem and mastery significantly mediated the association between poly-victimization and distress, with mastery showing the strongest effect. Although significant indirect effects were evident, poly-victimization still had a strong direct effect on distress with resource factors controlled. Findings support the hypothesis that the potent effect of poly-victimization on youth mental health is, in part, due to its damaging influence on core psychosocial resources.

Childhood maltreatment, psychopathology and well-being: The mediator role of global self-esteem, attachment difficulties and substance use

“…This supports the results of previous studies in other populations (Arslan, 2016;Turner et al, 2015).…”

“…Studies have also reported associations between low self-esteem and poor QoL or well-being in general adolescent populations and adolescent and adult populations with psychiatric problems . Some studies are also suggesting a mediating effect of self-esteem between childhood maltreatment and mental health problems (Arslan, 2016;Turner, Shattuck, Finkelhor, & Hamby, 2015). However, we…”

“…Self-liking was found partially to mediate associations between victimization and both internalizing (girls and boys) and externalizing (girls only) symptoms. Turner et al found that self-esteem and mastery (a sense of having one's life chances under one's own control) had mediating associations between poly-victimization and psychological distress symptoms in a large sample (n = 1186) of US youths ages 10-17 with stable high or increasing levels of victimization (Turner et al, 2015). Furthermore, the current study expands our knowledge by showing that self-esteem also acts as a mediator of the association between childhood maltreatment and well-being.…”

Victimización en la escuela, ocio digital e irritabilidad: análisis mediante ecuaciones estructurales

“…En base a lo expuesto, un constructo íntimamente relacionado con las situaciones de acoso en la escuela es la victimización. Este término es definido por Turner, Shattuck, Finkelhor y Hamby (2017) como aquella condición mediante la cual un sujeto se considera víctima de algún tipo de situación transgresora -abuso físico, violencia familiar, asilamiento social, etc.-la cual genera vulnerabilidad y consecuencias traumáticas, especialmente cuando se sufre desde edades tempranas como es el caso de la victimización en edad escolar (Hiduja & Patchin, 2010;Turner et al, 2017).…”

Temporal patterns and predictors of bullying roles among adolescents in Vietnam: a school-based cohort study

“…At follow-up six months later, the estimates were: not involved (62.1%); victims only (17.6%); bullies only (4.7%); and bully-victims (15.5%). Subsequently, we measured temporal patterns of each bullying role by following Turner and his colleague's classification (Turner, Shattuck, Finkelhor, & Hamby, 2015) to categorise the respondents into four levels of bullying involvement: stable-low, declining, increasing, and stable-high. Further details of generating the patterns of bullying roles over Times 1 and 2 have been provided elsewhere (Le et al, 2016b).…”