TY - JOUR
T1 - Peer Victimization in Middle Childhood Impedes Adaptive Responses to Stress
T2 - A Pathway to Depressive Symptoms
AU - Troop-Gordon, Wendy
AU - Rudolph, Karen D.
AU - Sugimura, Niwako
AU - Little, Todd D.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2015/5/4
Y1 - 2015/5/4
N2 - Although associations between peer victimization in childhood and later psychopathology are well documented, surprisingly little research directly examines pathways accounting for these enduring effects. The present study addresses this issue by examining whether maladaptive responses to peer aggression (less effortful engagement coping and more involuntary responses) mediate associations between peer victimization and later depressive symptoms. Data were collected on 636 children (338 girls, 298 boys; M = 8.94 years, SD = .37) for three consecutive years beginning in 3rd grade. Findings supported the proposition that peer victimization predicts lower levels of effortful engagement coping and higher levels of involuntary engagement and disengagement responses to stress. Moreover, these responses to stress helped to explain the link between 3rd-grade peer victimization and 5th-grade depressive symptoms. No sex differences in these linkages emerged. These findings build on prior theory and research by providing a more nuanced understanding of how and why peer victimization serves as an early risk factor for depressive symptoms.
AB - Although associations between peer victimization in childhood and later psychopathology are well documented, surprisingly little research directly examines pathways accounting for these enduring effects. The present study addresses this issue by examining whether maladaptive responses to peer aggression (less effortful engagement coping and more involuntary responses) mediate associations between peer victimization and later depressive symptoms. Data were collected on 636 children (338 girls, 298 boys; M = 8.94 years, SD = .37) for three consecutive years beginning in 3rd grade. Findings supported the proposition that peer victimization predicts lower levels of effortful engagement coping and higher levels of involuntary engagement and disengagement responses to stress. Moreover, these responses to stress helped to explain the link between 3rd-grade peer victimization and 5th-grade depressive symptoms. No sex differences in these linkages emerged. These findings build on prior theory and research by providing a more nuanced understanding of how and why peer victimization serves as an early risk factor for depressive symptoms.
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U2 - 10.1080/15374416.2014.891225
DO - 10.1080/15374416.2014.891225
M3 - Article
C2 - 24730449
AN - SCOPUS:84926416483
SN - 1537-4416
VL - 44
SP - 432
EP - 445
JO - Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
JF - Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
IS - 3
ER -