The influence of peer status, friendship, and children's social behavior on trajectories of children's peer victimization

This study (N = 458) was conducted to determine how social processes at the group, dyadic, and individual level of the social system influence change in children's experience of peer victimization from 3rd to 6th grade. Children completed peer nomination assessments in their classrooms up to 3 times over a period of 4 years. These nominations assessed peer acceptance and rejection, mutual friendships, physical and relational aggression, prosocial behavior, and physical and relational victimization. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to explore the influence of these social processes on trajectories of physical and relational victimization. Factors at each of these levels of the social system were significantly associated with concurrent victimization, as well as with rate of change in victimization scores into preadolescence. These findings have implications for early identification of risk and protective factors for chronic peer victimization.