Unraveling the long‐term links among adolescent peer victimization and somatic symptoms: A 5‐year multi‐informant cohort study

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the prospective associations among peer victimization and somatic symptoms across 5 years of adolescence using multiple informants and disaggregating effects at the within-person and between-person level.Methods: From age 13-17 years, 612 Canadian children (54% girls; 76% White) completed measures of peer victimization and somatic symptoms. Parents (89% mothers) reported on their child's somatic symptoms. We built autoregressive latent trajectory models with structured residuals, controlling for diagnosed medical and psychiatric conditions, sex, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.Results: Within-person, self-reported somatic symptoms were stable across time and there were bidirectional associations between peer victimization and somatic symptoms across the 5-year period. The magnitude of effect was strongest from somatic symptoms to peer victimization.Between-person, being a girl or having a psychiatric diagnosis predicted higher mean levels and rising trajectories of somatic symptoms and higher mean levels of peer victimization. The level of peer victimization among non-White participants increased over time. In the parent-reported model, somatic symptoms were less stable and did not predict peer victimization. Conclusions:The results highlight the dynamic processes between peer victimization and somatic symptoms.

The role of childhood generalized anxiety in the internalizing cluster

“…Consistent across informants and with prior research, comorbidity was the rule rather than the exception (within-person correlation 0.2–0.6; intercept correlations >0.4), and internalizing symptoms were strongest among girls (Lieb et al ., 2002; Nemeroff, 2002; Costello et al ., 2003; Kessler et al ., 2005). In addition to the high comorbidity between anxiety and depression, anxiety had strong links with somatization, converging with research showing that psychiatric diagnoses are longitudinally associated with youth- and parent reports of somatic pain and that somatization can be a consequence of psychological and social stress (Lee and Vaillancourt, 2019). The evolution of symptoms as reported by adolescents (anxiety→depression→somatization) may reflect a progression of symptom severity (Simms et al ., 2012), with physical pain being the end point.…”

Disentangling the effects of peer status and peer victimization on perceived physical health in adolescence

“…First, findings do not allow us to draw any conclusion on the direction of effects between peer victimization and perceived physical health problems. Recent research has shown that the associations between peer victimization and (perceived) physical health is likely bidirectional in nature, with poor (perceived) physical health also increasing the risk for subsequent peer victimization (Lee & Vaillancourt, 2019). As the focus of this study was on comparing the independent and conjoint effects of multiple peer stressors, multilevel models were used, in which bidirectionality of effects could not be tested.…”

“…Our design allowed us to address three clusters of hypotheses. First, we expected that high levels of peer victimization would be associated with poorer perceived physical health at both the between‐ and within‐person level (Gini & Pozzoli, 2013; Lee & Vaillancourt, 2019). Second, we expected that low levels of peer preference would be associated with poorer perceived physical health at both the between‐ and within‐person level (see de Bruine et al, 2019; Delfabbro et al, 2019; Temcheff et al, 2011).…”

“…Mounting evidence highlights the importance of examining associations at the within‐person level (e.g., Hygen et al, 2020; Lervåg, 2020; Masselink et al, 2018), as these are fundamental to provide knowledge that can more directly guide intervention and prevention efforts. To our knowledge, only Lee and Vaillancourt (2019) examined both the between‐ and within‐person effects of peer victimization on somatic symptoms. They found evidence that when adolescents reported higher levels of peer victimization (as compared with their own average level), they experienced more somatic complaints (as compared with their own average level) at the subsequent assessment.…”

Bullying Perpetration and Perceived Parental Monitoring: A Random Intercepts Cross-Lagged Panel Model

“…Prevention of bullying involvement is critical because bullying is related to long-term negative outcomes, not only for those who are bullied but also for those who bully others (Copeland et al, 2013). Longitudinal data from the McMaster Teen Study in Canada showed that 5th grade bullying victimization led to 6th grade bullying perpetration, which in turn led to disordered eating behaviors in 7th grade (Lee & Vaillancourt, 2019). Those who perpetrated bullying and those who were victims of bullying were at increased risk for eating disorder symptoms in a longitudinal study of participants ages 9 to 16 (Copeland et al, 2015).…”