| Victimization by peers at school is a common problem that research has linked to concurrent and future psychopathology including symptoms of social anxiety and loneliness. However, the majority of research in this field has been limited by several methodological issues such as a narrow definition of peer victimization which neglects relational victimization, purely male and child samples, and inadequate measures of anxiety. This study investigated the degree to which gender and type of victimization (overt vs. relational) was associated with the degree of social anxiety and emotional distress experienced by adolescents who were victimized by their peers and the role of prosocial behaviors in moderating the relationship between peer victimization and loneliness. Three hundred and eighty-three ninth and tenth grade students in a private Catholic high school completed the Social Experience Questionnaire - Self-report form (SEQ-S), the Asher-Wheeler Loneliness Scale (AWLS), the Social Phobia Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C), Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A), and Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC). Responses to the SPAI-C, SAS-A, and MASC were subjected to a Principal Components Analysis with VARIMAX rotation resulting in four components that were used as dependent variables, namely Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE), Physiological Symptoms, Social Avoidance, and Hypervigilance. The overt and relational victimization subscales of the SEQ-S were entered into separate hierarchical regression analyses to examine the unique relationships between each form of peer maltreatment, and social anxiety and distress.;The findings were as follows: (1) Boys experienced higher rates of overt victimization and received fewer prosocial behaviors from peers as compared to girls; (2) relational victimization was positively associated with social anxiety and distress; (3) controlling for gender and relational victimization, a suppressor effect was found as overt victimization was negatively correlated with fear of negative evaluation, social avoidance, hypervigilance, and loneliness; and (4) receiving prosocial behaviors from peers moderated the relationship between overt and relational victimization, and loneliness. Taken together, the findings of this correlational study suggest the importance of including relational victimization and positive peer interactions in addition to overt victimization in understanding the relationship between peer treatment, and social anxiety and distress. Implications of these findings on clinical practice and future research directions will be discussed. |
