Prospective Associations Between Peer Victimization and Internalizing Symptoms in Adolescence: The Protective Role of Hope

Youth who experience aggression at the hands of peers are at an increased risk for a variety of adjustment difficulties, including depressive and anxiety symptoms and lower self-esteem. The links between peer victimization and internalizing problems are robust, but less work has been done to identify individual-level protective factors that might mitigate these outcomes. The current study investigated whether hope served as a moderator of the prospective links from peer victimization to depressive and anxiety symptoms and self-esteem during adolescence. Participants included 166 high school students (64% female; 88% Black/African American). Youth completed self-report measures at three different time points across the Spring semester of an academic year. As predicted, hope interacted with peer victimization to predict changes in depressive and anxiety symptoms over the course of the semester. That is, for youth with low levels of hope, peer victimization predicted more stable patterns of depressive and anxiety symptoms. For adolescents with average levels of hope, however, peer victimization did not influence anxiety and depressive symptoms over time. Finally, for adolescents with high levels of hope, peer victimization predicted greater decreases in anxiety symptoms over time. Hope did not interact with peer victimization to predict self-esteem. Rather, hope uniquely predicted higher levels of self-esteem, whereas peer victimization uniquely predicted lower levels of self-esteem. The current study provides initial support for the notion that hope can serve as a protective factor among youth who are victims of peer aggression.