Poster #111 - Peer Victimization, Psychosomatic Symptoms, and Physical Health: Delineating the Mechanisms Across Childhood and Adolescence

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - Interdisciplinary Section

Integrative Statement

The extant literature on bullying is replete with studies linking the experience of being bullied with psychosomatic symptoms, such as frequent headaches and stomach aches (Gini & Pozzoli, 2009). However, most studies employ short-term follow-up periods or use unidirectional analyses, meaning the long-term temporal patterning of associations and mechanistic processes are yet to be established. This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal associations between peer victimization, psychosomatic symptoms, and physical health across seven-years of childhood and adolescence using multiple informants (self- and parent-reports). The data were analyzed using a developmental cascade modeling approach, which controls for all within-time correlations and across-time stability (i.e., autoregressions), and is particularly useful for examining temporal precedence, mechanistic processes, and transactional associations (i.e., whether effects occur in both directions). A sample of 702 Canadian children were recruited when they were aged 11-years (Mage=10.91, SD=0.36) from a sample of 51 grade 5 classrooms and were assessed every year across a seven-year period. Just over half of the participants were girls (52.8%), and the majority were White (71%) from a middle-income stratum. Experiences of peer victimization were self-reported from age 11 using an adapted version of the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (Vaillancourt et al., 2010). From age 13, students reported on psychosomatic symptoms using the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004) and parents reported on their child’s physical health using two-items, which were used as indicators of a latent physical health variable. Known confounds were controlled for, including gender, proxies of socioeconomic status, race, and co-occurring bullying perpetration. Owing to high across-time associations, the data were analysed in two-year increments. The model had good fit to the data χ2=103.013, df=65, p=.002, CFI=0.976, RMSEA=0.029 (90% CI=0.018-0.039), SRMR=0.036. Peer victimization, psychosomatic symptoms, and parent-reported physical health were all moderately to highly stable across time. Within-time, there were correlations between peer victimization and psychosomatic symptoms and between psychosomatic symptoms and physical health at each time point. The cross-lag effects revealed bidirectional associations across four-year periods between peer victimization and psychosomatic symptoms (age 11→13→15) and between psychosomatic symptoms and physical health (age 13→15→17). Peer victimization at age 11 increased the risk of psychosomatic symptoms at age 13, and psychosomatic symptoms at age 13 predicted poorer physical health at age 15. The final key finding was that psychosomatic symptoms and poorer physical health at age 13 increased the risk of being bullied by peers at age 15. The results highlight the negative, reciprocal associations between peer victimization and physical health symptomology and underscores the need for parents and health professionals to consider the role of peer victimization in the development and maintenance of poor health. The results also have implications for school nurses and counselors, who may be able to identify and support children and adolescents at risk of peer victimization as those who frequently report with health complaints. The high continuity of peer victimization and poor physical health means early intervention is critical to prevent the personal and societal burden of health and social problems in childhood and beyond.

Authors

• Kirsty Samantha Lee, University of Ottawa
  Presenting Author

• Tracy Vaillancourt, University of Ottawa
  Non-Presenting Author