Perceived Peer Victimization Predicts Anxiety Outcomes in a Prevention Program for Offspring of Anxious Parents

Abstract

Objective. Offspring of anxious parents are at heightened risk for developing anxiety disorders. Preventive interventions for these youths are promising but not universally effective, creating a need to identify outcome predictors. Peer experiences (e.g. peer victimization, social support) are associated with youth anxiety trajectories, but have been relatively unexplored in this context. Thus, this study tested whether peer experiences predicted anxiety-related outcomes in families participating in a randomized-controlled trial of a child anxiety prevention program for families with a clinically anxious parent. Parental anxiety severity was also examined as a moderator of relations between peer experiences and subsequent child anxiety. Method. Participants were 121 families (child mean age=8.69, 55.90% girls). Hierarchical logistic and linear regressions were used to test whether baseline peer-related factors predicted increased anxiety symptom severity and anxiety disorder onset over 12 months. Results. Youths reporting greater perceived peer victimization at baseline were more likely to develop an anxiety disorder and had more severe anxiety symptoms 12 months later. Lower social support from classmates also predicted increased anxiety severity, but this effect became nonsignificant after accounting for peer victimization. Further, parental anxiety severity moderated the peer victimization-child anxiety severity link: higher child-reported peer victimization predicted increased anxiety in offspring of highly- and moderately-anxious but not low anxious parents. Conclusions. Children’s reports of peer victimization appear important for understanding which youth may not respond to preventive interventions in high risk families—especially for children with more severely anxious parents. Implications for the focus of selective anxiety prevention programs are discussed.

Bidirectional relations between internalizing symptoms and peer victimization in late childhood

“…Though studied less frequently, similar findings emerge for anxious symptoms. Schleider, Ginsburg, and Drake () found that youth who reported more peer victimization at baseline were more likely to develop an anxiety disorder one year later. In another investigation, adolescents who were frequently victimized at age 13 were two to three times more likely to develop an anxiety disorder by age 18 than non‐victimized adolescents (Stapinski et al, ).…”

Children of parents with a history of depression: The impact of a preventive intervention on youth social problems through reductions in internalizing problems

“…These findings are in contrast to previous research (e.g., Hoglund & Chisholm, 2014). However, much of this past research investigated how victimization is related to changes in internalizing problems (Schleider et al, 2017), whereas the current study focused on indicators of rejection. Many researchers view peer rejection as a precursor to peer victimization (e.g., Serdiouk et al, 2015); in fact, some research suggests that victimization helps explain the link between rejection and increased internalizing problems (e.g., Buhs & Ladd, 2001).…”

“…These peer difficulties in turn have been shown to perpetuate risk for future internalizing problems (e.g., Hoglund & Chisholm, 2014; Schleider, Ginsburg, & Drake, 2017), perhaps because such experiences reinforce the negative self-evaluations of these youth (Reijntjes et al, 2010). A strength of Rudolph et al’s (2008) developmentally based interpersonal model of youth depression is that the bidirectional nature of the relation between internalizing and social problems is emphasized.…”

Family and Parent Predictors of Anxiety Disorder Onset in Offspring of Anxious Parents

“…Findings from a recent study support this interpretation. Using this same dataset, Schleider, Ginsburg, & Drake (2017) found that children’s perceived peer victimization at baseline predicted increased anxiety severity at a one year follow-up among children with highly or moderately anxious parents, but not among children with low-anxiety parents (Schleider et al, 2017). It is also plausible that family and parental factors may play a role in maintaining anxiety, rather than causing anxiety disorder onset, as most studies linking family factors and anxiety have been cross sectional and focused on clinically anxious youth.…”