Parental beliefs and children's beliefs about peer victimization and their relationship to child adjustment

This study examined how parents' beliefs and children's beliefs about peer victimization are related to children's adjustment. Two models were proposed, one on how adjustment in response to peer victimization is affected by degree of victimization, causal attributions, and coping responses, and a second one focused on three factors hypothesized to influence parents' advice: extent of perceived victimization, history of child behavioral problems, and the perceived causes of victimization.;The participants were 100 fifth and sixth grade children and one of their parents (primarily mothers) in McKinney, Texas. Using procedures recommended by Kenny, Kashy and Bolger (1998), mediational models were examined using multiple regression analyses. Results supported the hypothesis that the association between peer victimization and psychosocial maladjustment is mediated through characterological blame attributions. Coping responses were not significant mediators in the models that examined the predictors of maladjustment from perceived victimization, attributions and coping responses.