Peer victimization trajectories and their association with children’s affect in late elementary school

Abstract

The current study examined peer victimization trajectories for 1528 children from third to fifth grade and the association of those trajectories to children’s positive and negative affect. On average, victimization was low to moderate and remained stable (self-report) or increased (peer-reports). In addition, five distinct trajectories were identified based on self-report: Low, Moderate, Increasing, Decreasing, and Chronic. Peer-reported victimization did not reveal distinct trajectories. Although the level of victimization was related to concurrent negative affect (self- and peer-reported victimization) and to positive affect (self-report victimization only), relations between change in victimization and change in affect were less consistent. Also, a chronic victimization trajectory was associated with greatest affective distress and a decreasing trajectory was associated with partial, but not full, recovery in terms of affect. Results largely support a chronic model of victimization’s effects in which victimization has compounding and enduring effects on adjustment. Intervention implications include the importance of including selective interventions for highly victimized youth with universal anti-bullying programs, assessing both past and current victimization, and including indicators of adjustment when evaluating anti-bullying interventions.

Why Does a Universal Anti-Bullying Program Not Help All Children? Explaining Persistent Victimization During an Intervention

“…Trajectory analyses revealed persistent, decreasing, and noninvolved victimization pathways in the intervention sample, mirroring previous research on victimization development in which the three-group model represented the best-fitting solution, with a small group of persistent victims, a larger group of individuals who were less victimized over time, and a large group of non-involved children (Barker et al, 2008b;Biggs et al 2010;Boivin et al 2010). In our sample, the group of children on a decreasing victimization pathway (15.3%) seemed large compared with previous studies.…”

Social Victimization Trajectories From Middle Childhood Through Late Adolescence

“…Giesbrecht et al () found that social victimization may decline from first through third grade. In contrast, the findings of Biggs et al () suggest that this form of victimization may slightly increase from third through fifth grade. Additional research is needed to examine the development of social victimization across the transition to adolescence.…”

“…We expected social victimization trajectories to be similar to those found in earlier work on general victimization. Based on past research we expected to find a low, increasing, and decreasing trajectory (Barker, Arsenault et al, ; Biggs et al, ; Boivin et al, ). Further, we hypothesized that we might find an elevated group (Biggs et al, ).…”

“…Several studies have examined victimization trajectories during middle childhood. Biggs et al () examined victimization from third through fifth grade. They identified five victimization trajectories: low (56.2%), moderate (31.72%), increasing (4.04%), decreasing (5.9%), and chronic (2.14%).…”

Developmental victimology

“…Three to five different trajectories have been uncovered through the small but growing body of research in this area. Prior work, though providing insights into developmental models of victimization, has been limited to specific periods in the life course including childhood (Biggs et al, 2010;Boivin et al, 2010;Leadbeater and Hoglund, 2009), adolescence (Brooks-Russell et al, 2013;Higgins et al, 2009;Jennings et al, 2010;Smith and Ecob, 2007;Sullivan et al, 2011), and college years (Swartout et al, 2012). Further inquiry is therefore needed to expand the time frame in which victimization is examined.…”