1-082 - Moderating Factors of the Link Between Childhood Peer Victimization and Adjustment in Young Adulthood

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Peer victimization can severely impact adult adjustment. However, the protective or aggravating factors that moderate the relation between peer victimization and maladjustment during adulthood are not well understood. To address these issues, the studies in this symposium draw from longitudinal data from the Netherlands, Canada, and the U.S. Whereas the first two studies examine potential moderating effects of social support from parents and friends, the second set of studies investigate potential interactions with personal characteristics.
Study 1 reveals that victimized youth are less likely to be in education or work and rely more on welfare as adults. Although this effect is not moderated by parental support, some counterbalancing effect (via a main effect) is found.
Study 2 shows that victimization in school predicts later victimization in the workplace, partially mediated by depressive thoughts. However, this mediational chain is counterbalanced (via a main effect but no interaction effect) by social support from a friend.
Study 3 shows that personal characteristics such as early internalizing problems and off-time pubertal maturation exacerbate the stability of peer victimization, which in turn leads to increased depression in emerging adulthood.
Study 4 examines whether personal characteristics such as aggression interact with peer victimization to predict externalizing problems and criminal records in young adulthood and indeed finds evidence for an interactive effect.
Together, the findings from these studies provide important new insights into the etiology of the long-term consequences of peer victimization for adult adjustment that can contribute to the development of intervention approaches for bullying victims.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chair

• Mara Brendgen, University of Quebec at Montreal

Individual Presentations

• Bullies and Victims: Does Parental Support Affect the Odds of Mastering Normative Developmental Tasks in Early Adulthood? - Tina Kretschmer, University of Groningen; Presenting Author: Rene Veenstra, University of Groningen; Susan J. T. Branje, Utrecht University; Albertine J. Oldehinkel, University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen

• Continued Peer Victimization from Early Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood: A Study of Mediating and Protective Factors - Presenting Author: Mara Brendgen, University of Quebec at Montreal; Francois Poulin, Universite du Quebec a Montreal

• The Influence of Intrapersonal Factors on Peer Victimization through Emerging Adulthood: A Latent Transition Analysis - Presenting Author: John Haltigan, University of Ottawa; Tracy Vaillancourt, University of Ottawa

• Aggression and Peer Victimization in Middle Childhood as Interacting Predictors of Antisocial Outcomes in Adulthood - Presenting Author: David Schwartz, USC; Jennifer Lansford, Duke University; Kenneth A. Dodge, Duke University; Gregory Pettit, Auburn University; John E. Bates, Indiana University