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Risk and protective factors for peer victimization: a 1-year follow-up study of urban American students

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Abstract

This study examined whether internalizing problems, parental warmth and teacher support were associated with adolescents’ experience of future peer victimization in school. Data were drawn from two rounds of the longitudinal Social and Health Assessment (SAHA). Study subjects comprised 593 US urban adolescents (aged 13.8 ± 0.8 years; 56 % female). Results showed that there was a substantial degree of continuity in peer victimization over a 1-year period. The presence of internalizing (anxiety, depressive and somatic) symptoms at baseline was associated with an increased risk of peer victimization over time. Both parental warmth and teacher support were uniquely associated with a lower risk for peer victimization. Implications of these findings for prevention efforts are discussed.

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Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden

    Elisabeth Karlsson, Frank Lindblad & Vladislav Ruchkin

  2. Stockholm Centre on Health of Societies in Transition (SCOHOST), Södertörn University, Huddinge, Sweden

    Andrew Stickley

  3. Child Study Center, Yale University Medical School, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA

    Mary Schwab-Stone & Vladislav Ruchkin

  4. Säter Forensic Psychiatric Clinic, Säter, 783 27, Sweden

    Vladislav Ruchkin

Authors
  1. Elisabeth Karlsson
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  2. Andrew Stickley
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  3. Frank Lindblad
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  4. Mary Schwab-Stone
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  5. Vladislav Ruchkin
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Correspondence to Vladislav Ruchkin.

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Karlsson, E., Stickley, A., Lindblad, F. et al. Risk and protective factors for peer victimization: a 1-year follow-up study of urban American students. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 23, 773–781 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-013-0507-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-013-0507-6

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