For lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer (i.e., sexual minority [SM]) youth, coming out is an important developmental milestone and is typically associated with positive well-being. However, coming out in high school may entail a higher risk of school-based victimization. Due to the greater risk of homophobic bullying, the implications of being out in…

An understanding of harm is central to social and cognitive development, but harm largely has been conceptualized as physical damage or injury. Less research focuses on children's judgments of harm to others' internal well-being (emotional harms). We asked 5- to 10-year-old children (N = 456, 50% girls, 50% boys; primarily tested in Central New…

Frequent exposure to victimization by peers is related to greater psychological problems. It is often assumed that peer victimization is associated with fewer psychological problems in classrooms where defending victims of bullying is common (i.e., a norm). The few studies testing this claim have been cross-sectional and have produced mixed…

Peer victimization is a common concern in adolescence that includes both relational (e.g., exclusion, rumor spreading) and overt (e.g., hitting, threatening) forms (Crick & Bigbee, 1998). Relational and overt peer victimization have shown to be differentially associated with depressive symptoms, with relational peer victimization showing a…

Victimization during school years can have detrimental effects on individuals' adjustment, lasting even into adulthood. In the current study, we examine whether there is an indirect effect of victimization on adult depression and aggression, via sad and angry rumination about past victimization. Participants included 1,319 Finnish individuals…

Although a number of social--cognitive and contextual correlates of defending against bullying have been identified, research on the personality traits associated with defending have yielded weak and inconsistent results. The current study provided a novel examination as to whether a tendency toward social withdrawal is associated with less…

The current study tested the developmental significance of both early adolescent sleep quantity and quality for academic competence and internalizing and externalizing problems over the course of 2 years. As part of an accelerated longitudinal study, data were collected from N = 586 Czech adolescents (M[subscript age] = 12.34 years, SD = 0.89,…

Nowadays, an increasing number of children and adolescents living in Europe have an immigrant background. Because ethnicity is a recognizable characteristic that may become the driver of bullying, these youths are at high risk of victimization. School interventions based on peer-led approaches, assuming all the conditions postulated in contact…

The current study examined developmentally informed pathways from peer victimization and exclusion to adolescent alcohol use. Using multiple informants (target and peer report of negative peer experiences) and a longitudinal sample of 387 adolescents, we examined 2 developmental pathways from these negative peer experiences to alcohol use, 1…

Prior research links need for approval (NFA; the extent to which self-worth is contingent on peer approval or disapproval) to critical developmental outcomes, but little is known about how NFA develops over time or within social contexts. To address this gap, the present study used a sophisticated analytic approach (autoregressive latent…

We explored how gender and gender similarity affects friendship dissolution following the transition to middle school. We predicted that both gender and gender similarity (measured by perceived similarity to own-gender and other-gender peers) explain dissolution trends and that less own-gender similarity or more other-gender similarity predicts…

Peer victimization during the school years can impair victims' mental and physical health even in adulthood. Moreover, some victims of school bullying may also experience revictimization at work as adults. Later revictimization at work may thus at least partly explain (i.e., mediate) the negative consequences of peer victimization in school.…

Sibling bullying is highly prevalent and has been found to have adverse effects on mental health lasting into early adulthood. What is unknown is what predicts sibling bullying roles (uninvolved, victim, bully-victim and bully). This study aimed to identify precursors of sibling bullying roles in middle childhood using a large sample of 6,838…

The present study examined, within a longitudinal family-informed design and across middle childhood, the predictive associations between preference for solitude and social wariness, two forms of social withdrawal, and peer difficulties. Specifically, preference for solitude, rather than social wariness, was expected to predict peer victimization…

Person × Environment mismatch theory has been applied to understanding how the classroom social ecology moderates associations between peer victimization and socioemotional well-being. In 2004, Bellmore et al. applied this theory to the ethnic composition and social climate of the classroom. The current study tested whether their findings…