Anxiety Sensitivity and Internalizing Symptoms: Co-Predictors of Persistent Peer Victimization in Elementary School Children
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2023
School
Psychology
Abstract
Previous research suggests both social contextual and individual difference variables contribute to chronic peer victimization. We tested whether two individual difference variables – anxiety sensitivity (AS) and internalizing symptoms (IS) – predicted persistent peer victimization in elementary school children. Participants were 677 fourth-grade students (51.8% girls) from 10 public elementary schools. We hypothesized that persistent victims would report the highest levels of AS and IS. We also expected that IS would mediate the link between AS and persistent peer victimization. Results indicated that persistent victims reported significantly higher levels of AS and IS than transient or limited victims, and we found evidence that IS functioned as an intermediate variable between AS and persistent peer victimization status. Implications and directions for research are discussed.
Publication Title
Journal of School Violence
Volume
22
Issue
2
First Page
153
Last Page
166
Recommended Citation
Steggerda, J. C.,
Kiefer, J. L.,
Vengurlekar, I. N.,
Blake, J.,
Rodriguez, J. H.,
Pastrana Rivera, F. A.,
Cavell, T. A.
(2023). Anxiety Sensitivity and Internalizing Symptoms: Co-Predictors of Persistent Peer Victimization in Elementary School Children. Journal of School Violence, 22(2), 153-166.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/21740