Poster #129 - Re-examining hurtful experiences: Can being victimized by peers foster sympathy in well-regulated children?

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Moral Development

Integrative Statement

Considerable research has documented the deleterious effects of peer victimization (PV) on children’s mental health (Casper & Card, 2017). Less attention has focused on the possibility that PV may positively contribute to dimensions of children’s social-emotional functioning, such as their concern for others (i.e., sympathy). Social interactions involving harm and unfairness play an important role in children’s sympathy development (Dahl, Waltzer, & Gross, 2018). Direct exposure to aggression helps children learn what it’s like to be harmed, which can foster a desire to alleviate suffering in others. Whether PV positively contributes to sympathy may depend on children’s capacity to effectively cope with and regulate their affective responses to distressing events (i.e., emotion regulation [ER]; Eisenberg, 2000). Well-regulated children are better able to cope with PV than dysregulated youth (Gardner et al., 2017), which may help them channel these negative experiences into a sense of concern for others.

The present study tested this hypothesis by examining whether ER moderated the effect of PV experiences on children’s sympathy.Data were collected from an ethnically diverse sample of 8-year-olds and their caregivers (n = 148; 50% female) living in Canada during visits to a university laboratory. Caregivers completed questionnaires on an iPad while children were interviewed in a separate room by a trained undergrad psychology research assistant. Consistent with other studies (e.g., Slee & Rigby, 1993), victimization status (VS) was determined based on global caregiver ratings of how often their child was “picked on or bullied by other children” along a 7-point scale. Never/almost never responses were recoded as Not Victimized (n= 90; 60%), whereas occasionally/half-the-time/often/usually/always responses were coded as Victimized (n=50; 40%). ER and sympathy were assessed using previously validated and reliable child- (ER α= .80: Zeman et al., 2002; , sympathy α= .77: Eisenberg et al., 1996) and caregiver-report measures (ER: α=.75: Malti et al., 2017; sympathy α= .90). Child and caregiver ratings of sympathy (r = .34), but not ER (r = .06), were significantly correlated. Child and caregiver reports were therefore used to estimate a latent sympathy construct, and separate models were conducted for child- and caregiver-reported ER.

Estimates are presented in Figure 1. Simple slopes are shown in Figure 2. VS was not associated with sympathy. Children who reported greater ER were more sympathetic (parent-reported ER was marginally significant). As hypothesized, however, the VS x ER interaction was significant in both models. Simple slopes analyses indicated that being victimized was associated with greater sympathy for children high in ER (βs = .23, .24, ps =.04, .01, for child and caregiver-reported ER), whereas the effect of victimization on sympathy was negative (but non-significant) for children low in ER (βs = -.10, -.13 ps = .36, .17). These findings illustrate the importance of ER for helping children cope with experiences of victimization.

Authors

• Marc Jambon, University of Toronto
  Presenting Author

• Hazel Ngo, University of Toronto
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tina Malti, University of Toronto
  Non-Presenting Author