When Do Friendships Help Versus Hurt? Perceived Best Friend Victimization and Support as Moderators of Peer Victimization-Related Distress

Abstract

Although high-quality friendships are presumed to protect peer-victimized adolescents from distress, evidence supporting this claim is mixed. This study investigated whether the protective function of high-quality best friendships for victimized youth varies depending on adolescents’ perceptions of their best friend’s victimization. Among a sample of 1,667 eighth graders, we tested the effects of self-perceived victimization, best friend emotional support, and best friend victimization on depressive symptoms and social anxiety across eighth grade. Perceptions of higher emotional support buffered links between boys’ victimization and depressive symptoms. Perceived emotional support buffered links between girls’ victimization and internalizing symptoms if they viewed their best friend as nonvictimized, but it amplified such associations if they viewed their friend as victimized. These results suggest that although perceptions of best friend emotional support benefit peer-victimized youth, highly intimate friendships between victimized adolescent girls may promote maladaptive coping and increased distress.

Keywords

peer victimization friendship depression social anxiety adolescence

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bagwell

C. L.

Bukowski

W. M.

(2018). Friendship in childhood and adolescence: Features, effects, and processes. In Bukowski

W. M.

Laursen

Rubin

K. H.

(Eds.), Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups (2nd ed., pp. 371-390). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Bagwell

C. L.

Schmidt

M. E.

(2011). Friendships in childhood and adolescence. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Bauer

D. J.

Curran

P. J.

(2005). Probing interactions in fixed and multilevel regression: Inferential and graphical techniques. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 40, 373-400. doi:10.1207/s15327906mbr4003_5

Bellmore

A. D.

Witkow

M. R.

Graham

Juvonen

(2004). Beyond the individual: The impact of ethnic context and classroom behavioral norms on victims’ adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 40, 1159-1172. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.40.6.1159

Berndt

T. J.

(1992). Friendship and friends’ influence in adolescence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1, 156-159. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.ep11510326

Birmaher

Ryan

N. D.

Williamson

D. E.

Brent

D. A.

Kaufman

Dahl

R. E.

. . . Nelson

(1996). Childhood and adolescent depression: A review of the past 10 years. Part I. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 1427-1439. doi:10.1097/00004583-199611000-00011

Blakemore

S.-J.

Mills

K. L.

(2014). Is adolescence a sensitive period for sociocultural processing? Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 187-207. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115202

Cohen

Wills

T. A.

(1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310-357. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.98.2.310

Cuadros

Berger

(2016). The protective role of friendship quality on the wellbeing of adolescents victimized by peers. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45, 1877-1888. doi:10.1007/s10964-016-0504-4

10.

Desjardins

Leadbeater

(2011). Relational victimization and depressive symptoms in adolescence: Moderating effects of mother, father, and peer emotional support. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 531-544. doi:10.1007/s10964-010-9562-1

11.

Dishion

T. J.

Tipsord

J. M.

(2011). Peer contagion in child and adolescent social and emotional development. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 189-214. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100412

12.

Enders

C. K.

(2010). Applied missing data analysis. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

13.

Furman

(1996). The measurement of friendship perceptions: Conceptual and methodological issues. In Bukowski

W. M.

Newcomb

A. F.

Hartup

W. W.

(Eds.), The company they keep: Friendships in childhood and adolescence (pp. 41-65). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

14.

Furman

Buhrmester

(1992). Age and sex differences in perceptions of networks of personal relationships. Child Development, 63, 103-115. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb03599.x

15.

Graham

Bellmore

Mize

(2006). Peer victimization, aggression, and their co-occurrence in middle school: Pathways to adjustment problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 363-378. doi:10.1007/s10802-006-9030-2

16.

Guarneri-White

M. E.

Jensen-Campbell

L. A.

Knack

J. M.

(2015). Is co-ruminating with friends related to health problems in victimized adolescents? Journal of Adolescence, 39, 15-26. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.11.004

17.

Harter

(1985). Manual for the self-perception profile for children. Denver, CO: University of Denver.

18.

Hartup

W. W.

(1996). The company they keep: Friendships and their developmental significance. Child Development, 67, 1-13. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01714.x

19.

Hawker

D. S. J.

Boulton

M. J.

(2000). Twenty years’ research on peer victimization and psychosocial maladjustment: A meta-analytic review of cross-sectional studies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 441-455. doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00629

20.

Hodges

E. V.

Boivin

Vitaro

Bukowski

W. M.

(1999). The power of friendship: Protection against an escalating cycle of peer victimization. Developmental Psychology, 35, 94-101. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.35.1.94

21.

Holt

M. K.

Espelage

D. L.

(2007). Perceived social support among bullies, victims, and bully-victims. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36, 984-994. doi:10.1007/s10964-006-9153-3

22.

Huitsing

Snijders

T. A.

Van Duijn

M. A.

Veenstra

(2014). Victims, bullies, and their defenders: A longitudinal study of the coevolution of positive and negative networks. Development and Psychopathology, 26, 645-659. doi:10.1017/S0954579414000297.

23.

Huitsing

Veenstra

Sainio

Salmivalli

(2012). “It must be me” or “It could be them?” The impact of the social network position of bullies and victims on victims’ adjustment. Social Networks, 34, 379-386. doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2010.07.002

24.

Kovacs

(1992). CDI—Children’s Depression Inventory. New York, NY: Multi-Health Systems.

25.

La Greca

A. M.

Lopez

. (1998). Social anxiety among adolescents: Linkages with peer relations and friendships. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26, 83-94. doi:10.1023/A:1022684520514

26.

Maccoby

E. E.

(1998). The two sexes: Growing up apart, coming together. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

27.

Moutier

C. Y.

Stein

M. B.

(1999). The history, epidemiology, and differential diagnosis of social anxiety disorder. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 60(Suppl. 9), 4-8.

28.

Muthén

L. K.

Muthén

B. O.

(1998-2016). Mplus User’s Guide. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.

29.

Nansel

T. R.

Overpeck

Pilla

R. S.

Ruan

Simons-Morton

Scheidt

(2001). Bullying behaviors among US youth: Prevalence and association with psychosocial adjustment. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285, 2094-2100. doi:10.1001/jama.285.16.2094

30.

Neary

Joseph

(1994). Peer victimization and its relationship to self-concept and depression among schoolgirls. Personality and Individual Differences, 16, 183-186. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(94)90122-8

31.

Nylund

Bellmore

Nishina

Graham

(2007). Subtypes, severity, and structural stability of peer victimization: What does latent class analysis say? Child Development, 78, 1706-1722. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01097.x

32.

Oldenburg

Van Duijn

Veenstra

(2018). Defending one’s friends, not one’s enemies: A social network analysis of children’s defending, friendship, and dislike relationships using XPNet. PLoS ONE, 13, e0194323. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0194323

33.

Pellegrini

A. D.

Bartini

Brooks

(1999). School bullies, victims, and aggressive victims: Factors relating to group affiliation and victimization in early adolescence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 216-224. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.91.2.216

34.

Reavis

R. D.

Donohue

L. J.

Upchurch

M. C.

(2015). Friendship, negative peer experiences, and daily positive and negative mood. Social Development, 24, 833-851. doi:10.1111/sode.12123

35.

Reijntjes

Kamphuis

J. H.

Prinzie

Telch

M. J.

(2010). Peer victimization and internalizing problems in children: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Child Abuse & Neglect, 34, 244-252. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2009.07.009

36.

Reitz

Deković

Meijer

A. M.

(2006). Relations between parenting and externalizing and internalizing problem behaviour in early adolescence: Child behaviour as moderator and predictor. Journal of Adolescence, 29, 419-436. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2005.08.003

37.

Rose

A. J.

(2002). Co-rumination in the friendships of girls and boys. Child Development, 73, 1830-1843. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00509

38.

Rose

A. J.

Carlson

Waller

E. M.

(2007). Prospective associations of co-rumination with friendship and emotional adjustment: Considering the socioemotional trade-offs of co-rumination. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1019-1031. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.4.1019

39.

Rose

A. J.

Rudolph

K. D.

(2006). A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: Potential trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 98-131. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.98

40.

Rothon

Head

Klineberg

Stansfeld

(2011). Can social support protect bullied adolescents from adverse outcomes? A prospective study on the effects of bullying on the educational achievement and mental health of adolescents at secondary schools in East London. Journal of Adolescence, 34, 579-588. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2010.02.007

41.

Schacter

H. L.

Juvonen

(2015). The effects of school-level victimization on self-blame: Evidence for contextualized social cognitions. Developmental Psychology, 51, 841-847. doi:10.1037/dev0000016

42.

Schacter

H. L.

Juvonen

(2018). Dynamic changes in peer victimization and adjustment across middle school: Does friends’ victimization alleviate distress? Child Development. Advance online publication. doi:10.1111/cdev.13038

43.

Schafer

J. L.

Graham

J. W.

(2002). Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7, 147-177. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.7.2.147

44.

Schmidt

M. E.

Bagwell

C. L.

(2007). The protective role of friendships in overtly and relationally victimized boys and girls. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 53, 439-460. doi:10.1353/mpq.2007.0021

45.

Seidman

Allen

Aber

J. L.

Mitchell

Feinman

(1994). The impact of school transitions in early adolescence on the self-system and perceived social context of poor urban youth. Child Development, 65, 507-522. doi:10.2307/1131399

46.

Smith

P. K.

Talamelli

Cowie

Naylor

Chauhan

(2004). Profiles of non-victims, escaped victims, continuing victims and new victims of school bullying. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 74, 565-581. doi:10.1348/0007099042376427

47.

Tanaka

(2008). Best friendship quality and best friend characteristics as moderators of peer victimization and psychological adjustment in middle school (Master’s thesis). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 1463456)

48.

Troop-Gordon

(2017). Peer victimization in adolescence: The nature, progression, and consequences of being bullied within a developmental context. Journal of Adolescence, 55, 116-128. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2016.12.012

49.

Van Tilburg

M. A. L.

Unterberg

M. L.

Vingerhoets

A. J. J. M

. (2002). Crying during adolescence: The role of gender, menarche, and empathy. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20, 77-87. doi:10.1348/026151002166334

50.

Yeung Thompson

R. S.

Leadbeater

B. J

. (2013). Peer victimization and internalizing symptoms from adolescence into young adulthood: Building strength through emotional support. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 23, 290-303. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2012.00827.x