This application proposes a prospective study of peer victimization and peer rejection and their implications for youth adjustment among a sample of approximately 450 6th and 7th grade youth. The size of the sample was chosen to be large enough to provide adequate power for analyses with the entire sample as well as subgroup analyses testing for differences across selected demographic and background characteristics (e.g., minority/non- minority youth). A short-term longitudinal design will be utilized in which data are collected both in the fall of the school year (October) and again in the spring approximately 6 months later (April). Measures will assess multiple aspects of peer victimization (e.g., frequency), peer rejected status, and youth adjustment. Prospective analyses will be utilized to examine both the interrelationship of peer victimization and peer rejected status and their associations with adjustment over time. All analyses will include tests for bi-directional influences among the focal constructs.
Specific aims are to: (1) examine the relationship between peer victimization and rejection, including the contribution of multiple, distinct aspects of peer victimization to peer rejection and the reciprocal influences of rejected status on levels of victimization; (2) further understanding of the combined implications of peer victimization and peer rejection for youth adjustment, including (a) independent and hence cumulative effects and (b) interdependencies between victimization and rejected status in how they influence youth adaptation; (3) investigate the extent to which the psychosocial and academic adjustment of youth, in a reciprocal manner, influences their susceptibility to victimization and rejection by peers; and (4) address methodological limitations of prior research by (a) utilizing a prospective design, (b) employing a multidimensional assessment of victimization experiences, (c) examining peer rejection using a sample of young adolescents as opposed to younger, elementary school children, and (d) incorporating measurement and design features relevant to racial and ethnic minority youth.
These aims will be addressed through investigation of primary hypotheses focusing on general relationships between focal constructs and associated secondary hypotheses that are more refined in nature. Findings of the research may have useful implications for clinical assessment and treatment as well as the design and evaluation of preventive interventions.
| Lopez, Cristy; Dubois, David L (2005) Peer victimization and rejection: investigation of an integrative model of effects on emotional, behavioral, and academic adjustment in early adolescence. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 34:25-36 |
