Peer Victimization and Depressive Symptoms During Adolescence: Examining the Roles of Social Support and Internalizing Coping

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how two coping strategies together moderate the relationship between peer victimization and adjustment among young adolescents. Sixth-grade adolescents from California, Oregon, and Wisconsin ( N = 1,058) self-reported peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and their utilization of social support seeking and internalizing coping. A regression analysis showed a significant three-way interaction between peer victimization, internalizing coping, and social support seeking in predicting depressive symptoms. Further analyses revealed that social support seeking only buffered the negative effects of peer victimization for participants who scored high on internalizing coping. Despite mean-level gender differences in these variables, gender did not moderate this association, suggesting that social support is an effective buffer against depressive symptoms following peer victimization for both boys and girls. These results suggest that attending to the variety of coping strategies adolescents employ simultaneously will help further our understanding of peer victimization outcomes.

Peer Victimization and Problematic Online Game Use Among Chinese Adolescents: The Dual Mediating Effect of Deviant Peer Affiliation and School Connectedness

“…As we all know, peer relations are vitally important for adolescence, and a good peer relationship can buffer an adolescent from adverse effects ( Hoorn et al, 2016 ). In contrast, peer victimization can seriously endanger the physical and mental health of an adolescent ( Farrell and Vaillancourt, 2019 ; Spiekerman et al, 2020 ). Previous studies have demonstrated that peer victimization is closely related to adolescent POGU ( Su et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2020a ).…”

Peer learning can modify the reciprocal relationship between peer support and victimization in middle school

“…Numerous studies have documented the pernicious effects of peer victimization on mental health, as well as the mitigating role of peer social support (Cooley et al, 2015; Fox & Boulton, 2006; Spiekerman et al, 2021). From a coping perspective, peer support may reduce victimization by promoting greater perceived control in managing stressful peer situations (Cicognani, 2011) and reducing sensitivity to rejection (Stroud et al, 2009).…”

Coping Strategies against Peer Victimization: Differences According to Gender, Grade, Victimization Status and Perceived Classroom Social Climate

“…By asking for less help, students would have less available social support. Social support is essential for reducing the negative psychological consequences of peer victimization [51,57,[66][67][68], but many victimized students may have difficulties in accessing it. Moreover, as no significant differences were found in the other coping strategies, classmates may differently perceive the same coping strategies depending on whether it was carried out by a victimized or non-victimized student.…”