Trajectories of Peer Victimization: The Role of Multiple Relationships

This study examined early elementary school children's trajectories of peer victimization with a sample of 218 boys and girls. Peer victimization was assessed (via peer report) in kindergarten and first, second, and fifth grades. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to examine multiple types of relationships (mother-child, student-teacher, friendship) as predictors of kindergarten levels of peer victimization and changes in peer victimization across time. Results indicated that the mother-child relationship predicted kindergarten levels of peer victimization, and that the student-teacher relationship did not provide additional information, once the mother-child relationship was accounted for in the analyses. Friendship predicted changes in peer victimization during the elementary school years. Results are discussed in a developmental psychopathology framework with special emphasis on the implication for understanding the etiology of peer victimization.