Poster #229 - Liked by Peers, Liked by Teachers, or Liked by Neither or Both: Differentiating Rates of Peer Victimization over Time

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Student-student and teacher-student relationships are uniquely related to the level of peer victimization (Thornberg, et al., 2016). Some researchers also find significant interactions between peer and teacher, with children rejected by peers experiencing less victimization if they have a positive relationship with their teacher compared to children who lacked teacher support (Elledge et al., 2016). There has been less focus on the differential rates of peer victimization for children liked by peers only (LPO) or liked by teachers only (LTO) versus those liked by both, by neither, or those with average liking (by peers and teachers). In this study, we compared self-, teacher-, and peer-reported rates of peer victimization over one academic year for these five groups.

Method
Fourth-grade children from 10 schools who met criteria for one of five groupings (LTO, LPO, Both, Neither, Average) were included. Of the 438 children (M age = 9.30 years, SD = 0.50; 39.9% Hispanic, 30.6% white non-Hispanic, and 9.6 % Pacific Islander), 55.7% were girls. We classified children as LPO based on liked-most nominations (> 1SD) obtained via classroom sociometrics (Coie et al., 1982). We classified children as LTO (> 1SD) based on peer nominations of children who could play the part of “someone who gets along well with the teacher, who likes to talk to the teacher, and who the teacher enjoys spending time with” (Masten et al, 1985). Reports of peer victimization were obtained from children, teachers, and peers (Ladd & Kochenderfer-Ladd, 2004; Masten et al., 1985).

Results
Three separate 5(group) x 2(time) x 2(gender) mixed factor ANOVAs were conducted to compare self-, teacher-, and peer-reported victimization for boys and girls across groups. Overall, there was a significant effect of time for child-, teacher-, and peer-report, such that victimization increased over time (see Table 1). There was also a significant effect of group for self-, teacher-, and peer-report, with the Neither group being victimized the most and the LTO group the least.
For self-report, we found a significant group by gender interaction, with LTO girls experiencing more victimization than boys. There was also a significant time by gender interaction, with victimization increasing more for girls than boys.
For peer-report, there was a significant effect of gender, such that boys were more victimized than girls. There was also a significant interaction between time and group. The increase in peer-reported victimization over time was greatest for the Neither group (p < .001), followed by the LTO and Both groups (see Figure 1).

Discussion
Children who are neither well-liked by peers or teachers experienced the most victimization, whereas LTO children experienced the least. This was true across all informants. Victimization increased over time for all groups; although for self-reports, it was more pronounced for girls than boys. LTO girls reported greater victimization than LTO boys, suggesting that being viewed by peers as liked by the teacher has distinct meaning for boys versus girls (McCormick & O’Connor, 2015).

Authors

• Katherine Hyde, University of Arkansas
  Presenting Author

• Ayla Mapes, University of Arkansas
  Non-Presenting Author

• Juventino Hernandez-Rodriguez, Medical University of South Carolina
  Non-Presenting Author

• Freddie A Pastrana, Medical University of South Carolina
  Non-Presenting Author

• James T Craig, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
  Non-Presenting Author

• Samantha J Gregus, Wichita State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• TIM CAVELL, University of Arkansas
  Non-Presenting Author