A Study On The Relation Of Psychological And Behavioral Characteristics, Peer Acceptance/rejection And Victimization Among Primary School Students

In the past 2 decades,more and more researches were focused on the problem of peer bullying/victimization.As the reseach moves on,it has indicated that bullying/victimization is not only related to children's psychological and behavioral characteristics,but also influenced by the ecologicalfactors such as peer relationships,the climate of the class and school,and the social-cultural values. In such a circumstances,background, the current study tried from an ecological perspective to examine how victimization behaviors relates to self-perceived social competence,lonelinessl,aggressive-disruptive behaviors,passive-withdraw behaviors with considering the background of peer relationships.567 children in an elementary school from the third grade to the sixth grade, completed peer nomination, and Who am I,and Class Play in June 2003 and so did 554 children in the same school and grades in June 2004. Cross-section design and longitudinal design were employed in the present study.The findings indicated that:1.It was found that self-perceived social competence, loneliness,aggressive-disruptive behaviors,passive-withdraw behaviors,peer acceptance/rejection are significantly correlated with victimization.2.Group relationships moderates the relation of psycho-behavioral attributes to victimization by peers.(1)Peer rejection moderated the relation of passive-withdrawn behaviors to victimization.As the level of participant's rejection by peers increased the positive relation between passive-withdrawn behaviors and victimization became increasingly significant.(2) Peer acceptance moderated the relation of loneliness to victimization.When the Zscores of acceptance <.361,that is,when the percenteges of peer acceptance was lower than 64%,the more lonely the child felt, the less likely he/she was victimized.(3) Peer acceptance moderated the relation of passive-withdrawn behaviors to victimization.As the acceptance increased,the positive relation between passive-withdrawn behaviors and victimization became weaker.3. Peer victimization was a common experience for primary school students,but it wasnot fairly stable.From one year to the next,about 6.6% of the children were twicely identified to be victims.4. Peer victimization concurrently related to children's psychosocial adjustment.The maladjustment caused by short-term victimization experiences could be relatively temporary. Once children ceased to be harassed by their peers,their maladaptive trajectories could go back to normative pathway.However,when children's victimization experiences lasted for a long period,their maladjustment would be exacerbated and extended.5. It was found that children's psychological and behavioral characteristics ,peer relationships and victimization status demonstrated continuous developement and change in the period of middle childhood.