Identifying victims of peer aggression from early to middle childhood: Analysis of cross-informant data for concordance, estimation of relational adjustment, prevalence of victimization, and characteristics of identified victims.

Two studies were conducted to investigate cross-informant measures of children's peer victimization. In Study 1, self- and peer reports of victimization were compared for 197 children from Kindergarten (M age = 5.73) to Grade 4. Before Grade 2, peer reports were less reliable than self-reports and were poor estimators of relational adjustment. In Study 2, single- versus multiple-informant (self, peer, teacher, parent) victimization measures were compared for 392 children across grades 2 (M age = 8.73) to 4. Results indicated that (a) data from the four informants were reliable and increasingly concordant over time, (b) no single-informant measure proved to be the best predictor of relational adjustment, and (c) a multi-informant composite measure yielded better estimates of relational adjustment than any single informant measure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's coping strategies: Moderators of the effects of peer victimization?

Coping strategies were examined as potential moderators of the effects of peer victimization on children's adjustment. Self-report data on victimization experiences, coping strategies, and loneliness were collected on ethnically diverse 9-10-year-old children (177 girls, 179 boys). Teacher ratings of children's anxious-depressed and social problems and peer nominations of social preference were also obtained. Findings revealed that strategies such as problem solving that were beneficial for nonvictimized children exacerbated difficulties for victimized children. The effects of specific forms of coping were dependent on gender: Social support seeking buffered victimized girls from social problems but was associated with lower peer preference for victimized boys. Data also revealed the need to examine the effects of coping on multiple adjustment outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)