Children's peer victimization trajectories: Associations with children's interpersonal behavior, classmates' bystander behavior, and internalizing problems

The study addressed three goals: (a) to identify developmental trajectories based on severity and change of children's victimization experiences from the third to fifth grade, (b) to identify how children's interpersonal behavior and classmate's bystander behavior contribute to their victimization trajectories, and (c) to determine the relation of children's victimization trajectories to internalizing problems. Children's assertiveness and aggression and classmates' aggressive bystanding were related to the level of and change in victimization for the sample as a whole. Aggression and aggressive bystanding were also related to specific developmental trajectories identified within the sample (i.e., Low, Moderate, Emerging, Declining, and Chronic). Analyses at the levels of the aggregate sample and of the specific trajectories also indicated positive associations between victimization and internalizing problems over time, evidence that children experiencing chronic victimization suffer the most, and evidence that children show limited recovery following a decline in the degree to which they are victimized. Discussion of the results addresses implications for intervention and for future research.