Co-Occurring Trajectories of Children’s Peer Victimization and Internalizing Problems: Patterns and Predictors of Change

Abstract

Research has established the link between children’s peer victimization and internalizing problems, but less is known about the direction of associations between these two constructs. This study used an accelerated longitudinal research design to examine four models testing the co-occurrence and directional associations between children’s peer victimization and internalizing problems from early to middle childhood (from age 4.5 to 10.5 years). The baseline covariation model was examined first to test the hypothesis that levels and change in peer victimization co-occur with levels and change in internalizing problems. This model was used as the basis from which to build the following directional models. Next, the peer victimization-driven model tested the hypothesis that children’s early experiences of peer victimization contribute to change in internalizing problems. The internalizing problems-driven model tested the hypothesis that early internalizing problems contribute to change in peer victimization. Last, the transactional tested the hypothesis that both early peer victimization and early internalizing problems contribute to change in each other. Gender and dimensions of teacher-child relationship quality (closeness, conflict, and dependency) were also tested as predictors of change in peer victimization and internalizing problems and as moderators of associations between these two constructs. Overall, the internalizing problems-driven model best explained the directional associations between peer victimization and internalizing problems. When the average 5.5 year old child had higher levels of internalizing problems this predicted slower increases in their peer victimization through age 10.5 years. Teacher-child conflict also moderated this association; younger children who experienced higher levels of internalizing and who had more conflictual relations with teachers showed slower increases in their peer victimization through to age 10.5 years than children with less conflicted teacher-child relations.