Peer victimization in early adolescence and maladjustment in adulthood

Tina Kretschmer; Rozemarijn van der Ploeg; Tessa Kaufman

doi:10.1007/s00787-024-02532-5

Peer victimization in early adolescence and maladjustment in adulthood

Tina Kretschmer^*, Rozemarijn van der Ploeg, Tessa Kaufman

^*Corresponding author for this work

University of Groningen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Studies report different effect sizes for associations between peer victimization and later maladjustment. A possible origin of this heterogeneity is the length of the interval between victimization and maladjustment assessments. Effect sizes might also vary as a function of reporter. Longitudinal data from TRAILS, a study of adolescents followed from age 11 to 29 (baseline n = 2229) were used to test whether peer victimization assessed from adolescents themselves, their parents, teachers, and peers predicted internalizing symptoms, thought problems, and somatic complaints at six follow-ups with a temporal distance of up to 19 years. Neither self- nor peer-reported victimization predicted later maladjustment. In contrast, parent-reported victimization stably predicted adult maladjustment. Teacher-reported victimization also predicted maladjustment but associations were weaker and largely non-significant when parent reports were accounted for simultaneously. Parent-reported peer victimization has traditionally played a minor role in bullying research as parents are usually not present when victimization occurs. The results of this study however suggest that parents should be listened to when talking about their offspring being victimized.

Original language	English
Article number	101979
Pages (from-to)	1011–1024
Number of pages	14
Journal	European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume	34
Issue number	3
Early online date	29 Jul 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-024-02532-5
Publication status	Published - 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Funding

This research is part of the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS). Participating centers of TRAILS include various departments of the University Medical Center and University of Groningen, the University of Utrecht, the Radboud Medical Center Nijmegen, and the Parnassia Group, all in the Netherlands. TRAILS has been financially supported by various grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), ZonMW, GB-MaGW, the Dutch Ministry of Justice, the European Science Foundation, the European Research Council, BBMRI-NL, and the participating universities. We are grateful to everyone who participated in this research or worked on this project to and make it possible. Preparation of this manuscript has been supported by European Research Council (ERC) Starting and Consolidator Grants awarded to Tina Kretschmer (Grant Agreement Number 757364 and Grant Agreement Number 101087395).DAS:Data are available through established TRAILS data request procedures. Analyses code is provide on the Open Science Framework page of the first author.

Funders	Funder number
European Research Council
Radboud Medical Center Nijmegen
Parnassia Group
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)
ZonMW, GB-MaGW
Dutch Ministry of Justice
European Science Foundation
European Research Council
BBMRI-NL	757364, 101087395
European Research Council (ERC) Starting and Consolidator Grants

Keywords

Bullying-victimization
Longitudinal
Mental health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

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title = "Peer victimization in early adolescence and maladjustment in adulthood",

abstract = "Studies report different effect sizes for associations between peer victimization and later maladjustment. A possible origin of this heterogeneity is the length of the interval between victimization and maladjustment assessments. Effect sizes might also vary as a function of reporter. Longitudinal data from TRAILS, a study of adolescents followed from age 11 to 29 (baseline n = 2229) were used to test whether peer victimization assessed from adolescents themselves, their parents, teachers, and peers predicted internalizing symptoms, thought problems, and somatic complaints at six follow-ups with a temporal distance of up to 19 years. Neither self- nor peer-reported victimization predicted later maladjustment. In contrast, parent-reported victimization stably predicted adult maladjustment. Teacher-reported victimization also predicted maladjustment but associations were weaker and largely non-significant when parent reports were accounted for simultaneously. Parent-reported peer victimization has traditionally played a minor role in bullying research as parents are usually not present when victimization occurs. The results of this study however suggest that parents should be listened to when talking about their offspring being victimized.",

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Peer victimization in early adolescence and maladjustment in adulthood

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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