Peer Victimization Trajectories From Kindergarten Through High School: Differential Pathways for Children’s School Engagement and Achievement
Date
2017
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Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Abstract
This investigation’s aims were to map prevalence, normative trends, and patterns of continuity or change in school-based peer victimization throughout formal schooling (i.e., Grades K–12), and determine whether specific victimization patterns (i.e., differential trajectories) were associated with children’s academic performance. A sample of 383 children (193 girls) was followed from kindergarten (Mage 5.50) through Grade 12 (Mage 17.89), and measures of peer victimization, school engagement, academic self-perceptions, and achievement were repeatedly administered across this epoch. Although it was the norm for victimization prevalence and frequency to decline across formal schooling, 5 trajectory subtypes were identified, capturing differences in victimization frequency and continuity (i.e., high chronic, moderate-emerging, early victims, low victims, and nonvictims). Consistent with a chronic stress hypothesis, high-chronic victimization consistently was related to lower—and often prolonged— disparities in school engagement, academic self-perceptions, and academic achievement. For other victimization subtypes, movement into victimization (i.e., moderate-emerging) was associated with lower or declining scores on academic indicators, and movement out of victimization (i.e., early victims) with higher or increasing scores on these indicators (i.e., “recovery”). Findings provide a more complete account of the overall prevalence, stability, and developmental course of school-based peer victimization than has been reported to date (Author Text)
Description
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Keywords
Longitudinal Study, Bullying, Peer-on-peer Abuse, Child-on-child Abuse, Youth Violence, Youth Perpetrators, Students, School Safety, School Violence, Consequences, Harms, Coping, Resilience, Physical Assault, Verbal Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Peer Relations, School Engagement, Achievement, Gossip, Boys, Girls
Citation
Ladd, Gary; Ettekal, Idean and Kochenderfer-Ladd, Becky (2017). Peer Victimization Trajectories From Kindergarten Through High School: Differential Pathways for Children’s School Engagement and Achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology: 109(6), 826 – 841.