Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2021-1
Perceived Family and Friend Support Moderate Pathways From Peer Victimization to Substance Use in Early-Adolescent Girls and Boys: A Moderated-Mediation Analysis
This study examined gender differences in a moderated-mediation model examining whether perceived social support moderated depressive symptom and academic achievement mediation pathways from peer victimization to substance use among 1,334 U.S. early adolescents (11-14 years, 50% girls, 51% White). Surveys were administered in schools at three 6-month intervals. Multiple group analyses suggested that the moderated-mediation model differed for boys and girls. Indirect effects suggested that declines in academic achievement mediated the relationship between peer victimization and substance use for girls and boys, while elevated depressive symptoms mediated this relationship for girls only. Higher family and friend support attenuated the relationship between overt victimization and academic achievement for boys and between relational victimization and depressive symptoms for girls. These findings implicate two risk pathways that account for why peer victimization enhances substance use risk and emphasize the importance of perceived support following peer victimization during early adolescence. Gender differences require replication.
Attar-SchwartzS.MishnaF.Khoury-KassabriM. (2019). The role of classmates’ social support, peer victimization and gender in externalizing and internalizing behaviors among Canadian youth. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28, 2335-2346. doi:10.1007/s10826-017-0852-z
2.
BenjaminiY.HochbergY. (1995). Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal statistical society: series B (Methodological), 57(1), 289-300.
3.
BollandK. A.BollandJ. M.TomekS.DevereauxR. S.MrugS.WimberlyJ. C. (2016). Trajectories of adolescent alcohol use by gender and early initiation status. Youth and Society, 48, 3-32. doi:10.1177/0044118X13475639
4.
BowlbyJ. (2008). Attachment. New York, NY: Basic Books.
5.
BurkeT.SticcaF.PerrenS. (2017). Everything’s gonna be alright! The longitudinal interplay among social support, peer victimization, and depressive symptoms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46, 1999-2014. doi:10.1007/s10964-017-0653-0
6.
CatoneG.SignorielloS.PisanoS.SicilianoM.RussoK.MarottaR.. . . PascottoA. (2019). Epidemiological pattern of bullying using a multi-assessment approach: Results from the Bullying and Youth Mental Health Naples Study (BYMHNS). Child Abuse & Neglect, 89, 18-28. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.12.018
7.
Carbone-LopezK.EsbensenF. A.BrickB. T. (2010). Correlates and consequences of peer victimization: Gender differences in direct and indirect forms of bullying. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 8, 332-350. doi:10.1177/1541204010362954
8.
CardN. A.StuckyB. D.SawalaniG. M.LittleT. D. (2008). Direct and indirect aggression during childhood and adolescence: A meta-analytic review of gender differences, intercorrelations, and relations to maladjustment. Child Development, 79, 1185-1229. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01184.x
9.
CarsonD. C.SullivanC. J.CochranJ. K.LerschK. M. (2009). General strain theory and the relationship between early victimization and drug use. Deviant Behavior, 30, 54-88. doi:10.1080/01639620802050023
10.
CasperD. M.CardN. A. (2017). Overt and relational victimization: A meta-analytic review of their overlap and associations with social-psychological adjustment. Child Development, 88, 466-483.
11.
ChanS. F.La GrecaA. M. (2016). Cyber victimization and aggression: Are they linked with adolescent smoking and drinking?Child and Youth Care Forum, 45, 47-63. doi:10.1007/s10566-015-9318
12.
ChenP.JacobsonK. C. (2012). Developmental trajectories of substance use from early adolescence to young adulthood: Gender and racial/ethnic differences. Journal of Adolescent Health, 50, 154-163. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.05.013
13.
CheungG. W.RensvoldR. B. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9, 233-255.
14.
CribbieR. A. (2007). Multiplicity control in structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling, 14(1), 98-112.
15.
CupitoA. M.SteinG. L.GonzalezL. M. (2015). Familial cultural values, depressive symptoms, school belonging and grades in Latino adolescents: Does gender matter?Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24, 1638-1649. doi:10.1007/s10826-014-9967-7
16.
DavisJ. P.DumasT. M.DumasT. M.EspelageD. L.TanK.MaddenD.HongJ. S. (2018). Examining the pathways between bully victimization, depression, academic achievement, and problematic drinking in adolescence. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 32, 605-616. doi:10.1037/adb0000394
17.
DíazK. I.FiteP. J. (2019). Cyber victimization and its association with substance use, anxiety, and depression symptoms among middle school youth. Child and Youth Care Forum, 48, 529-544. doi:10.1007/s10566-019-09493-w
EllisB. J.Del GiudiceM.ShirtcliffE. A. (2017). The adaptive calibration model of stress responsivity: Concepts, findings, and implications for developmental psychopathology. In BeuchaineT. P.HinshawS. P. (Eds.), Child and adolescent psychopathology (3rd ed., pp. 237-276). New York, NY: John Wiley.
20.
EspelageD. L.HongJ. S. (2017). Cyberbullying prevention and intervention efforts: Current knowledge and future directions. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 62, 374-380.
21.
FaulstichM. E.CareyM. P.RuggieroL.EnyartP.GreshamF. (1986). Assessment of depression in childhood and adolescence: An evaluation of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC). American Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 1024-1027.
22.
FisherB. W.GardellaJ. H.Teurbe-TolonA. R. (2016). Peer cybervictimization among adolescents and the associated internalizing and externalizing problems: A meta-analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45, 1727-1743. doi:10.1007/s10964-016-0541-z
23.
FlanneryK. M.VannucciA.OhannessianC. M. C. (2018). Using time-varying effect modeling to examine age-varying gender differences in coping throughout adolescence and emerging adulthood. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62(3), S27-S34.
24.
GraberR.TurnerR.MadillA. (2016). Best friends and better coping: Facilitating psychological resilience through boys’ and girls’ closest friendships. British Journal of Psychology, 107, 338-358. doi:10.1111/bjop.12135
25.
GunnarM. R.HostinarC. E. (2015). The social buffering of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in humans: Developmental and experiential determinants. Social Neuroscience, 10, 479-488.
26.
HansenT. B.SteenbergL. M.PalicS.ElklitA. (2012). A review of psychological factors related to bullying victimization in schools. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 17, 383-387. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2012.03.008
27.
HatchelT.NegriffS.SubrahmanyamK. (2018). The relation between media multitasking, intensity of use, and well-being in a sample of ethnically diverse emerging adults. Computers in Human Behavior, 81, 115-123.
28.
HawkinsJ. D.WeisJ. G. (2017). The social development model: An integrated approach to delinquency prevention. In Developmental and life-course criminological theories (Vol. 6, pp. 3-27). doi:10.4324/9781315094908
29.
HongJ. S.DavisJ. P.SterzingP. R.YoonJ.ChoiS.SmithD. C. (2014). A conceptual framework for understanding the association between school bullying victimization and substance misuse. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 84, 696-710. doi:10.1037/ort0000036
30.
HongJ. S.VoisinD. R.ChoS.SmithD. C.ReskoS. M. (2018). Peer victimization and substance use among African American adolescents and emerging adults on Chicago’s Southside. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 88, 431-440. doi:10.1037/ort0000247
31.
JenkinsL. N.FredrickS. S.WengerJ. (2018). Peer victimization and social-emotional outcomes: The role of teacher and peer support. Aggressive Behavior, 44, 176-184. doi:10.1002/ab.21741
32.
JiangY.YuC.ZhangW.BaoZ.ZhuJ. (2016). Peer victimization and substance use in early adolescence: Influences of deviant peer affiliation and parental knowledge. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25, 2130-2140. doi:10.1007/s10826-016-0403-z
33.
JohnstonL. D.MiechR. A.O’MalleyP. M.BachmanJ. G.SchulenbergJ. E.PatrickM. E. (2019). Monitoring the future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2018: Overview, key findings on adolescent drug use. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
34.
JordanC. J.AndersenS. L. (2017). Sensitive periods of substance abuse: Early risk for the transition to dependence. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 25, 29-44. doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2016.10.004
KowalskiR. M.LimberS. P. (2013). Psychological, physical, and academic correlates of cyberbullying and traditional bullying. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53(Suppl. 1), S13-S20. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.09.018
37.
KuncelN. R.CredéM.ThomasL. L. (2005). The validity of self-reported grade point averages, class ranks, and test scores: A meta-analysis and review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 75, 63-82. doi:10.3102/00346543075001063
38.
LaddG. W.EttekalI.Kochenderfer-LaddB. (2017). Peer victimization trajectories from kindergarten through high school: Differential pathways for children’s school engagement and achievement?Journal of Educational Psychology, 109, 826-841. doi:10.1037/edu0000177
39.
LandollR. R.La GrecaA. M.LaiB. S. (2013). Aversive peer experiences on social networking sites: Development of the Social Networking-Peer Experiences Questionnaire (SN-PEQ). Journal of Research on Adolescence, 23, 695-705. doi:10.1111/jora.12022
40.
LittleT. D. (2013). Longitudinal structural equation modeling. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
41.
LukJ. W.WangJ.Simons-MortonB. G. (2010). Bullying victimization and substance use among U.S. adolescents: Mediation by depression. Prevention Science, 11, 355-359.
42.
MackinnonD. P.DwyerJ. H. (1993). Estimating mediated effects in prevention studies. Evaluation Review, 17, 144-158. doi:10.1177/0193841X9301700202
43.
ManiglioR. (2015). Association between peer victimization in adolescence and cannabis use: A systematic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 25, 252-258. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2015.09.002
44.
McCuddyT.EsbensenF.-A. (2017). After the bell and into the night: The link between delinquency and traditional, cyber-, and dual-bullying victimization. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 54, 409-441. doi:10.1177/0022427816683515
45.
MorrowM. T.HubbardJ. A.SwiftL. E. (2014). Relations among multiple types of peer victimization, reactivity to peer victimization, and academic achievement in fifth-grade boys and girls. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 60(3), 302-327. doi:10.13110/merrpalmquar1982.60.3.0302
46.
MuthénL. K.MuthénB. O. (1998-2017). MPlus user’s guide (8th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Author.
47.
NelsonE. E.JarchoJ. M.GuyerA. E. (2016). Social re-orientation and brain development: An expanded and updated view. Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 17, 118-127. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2015.12.008.
48.
NesiJ.Choukas-BradleyS.PrinsteinM. J. (2018). Transformation of adolescent peer relations in the social media context: Part 2—Application to peer group processes and future directions for research. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 21, 295-319. doi:10.1007/s10567-018-0262-9
49.
OlweusD.LimberS. P. (2018). Some problems with cyberbullying research. Current Opinion in Psychology, 19, 139-143. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.04.012
50.
OrdazS.LunaB. (2012). Sex differences in physiological reactivity to acute psychosocial stress in adolescence. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37, 1135-1157. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.01.002
51.
OrpinasP.McNicholasC.NahapetyanL. (2015). Gender differences in trajectories of relational aggression perpetration and victimization from middle to high school. Aggressive Behavior, 41, 401-412.
52.
PatrickM. E.MiechR. A.CarlierC.O’MalleyP. M.JohnstonL. D.SchulenbergJ. E. (2016). Self-reported reasons for vaping among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in the US: Nationally-representative results. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 165, 275-278. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.05.017
53.
PreacherK. J.HayesA. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879-891.
54.
PrinsteinM. J.BoergersJ.VernbergE. M. (2001). Overt and relational aggression in adolescents: Social-psychological adjustment of aggressors and victims. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30, 479-491.
55.
Richmond-RakerdL. S.SlutskeW. S.WoodP. K. (2017). Age of initiation and substance use progression: A multivariate latent growth analysis. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 31, 664-675.
56.
RoebroekL.KoningI. M. (2016). The reciprocal relation between adolescents’ school engagement and alcohol consumption, and the role of parental support. Prevention Science, 17, 218-226.
57.
RoseA. J.RudolphK. 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.
58.
RothonC.HeadJ.KlinebergE.StansfeldS. (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.
59.
SchoelerT.DuncanL.CecilC. M.PloubidisG. B.PingaultJ. B. (2018). Quasi-experimental evidence on short- and long-term consequences of bullying victimization: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 144, 1229-1246. doi:10.1037/bul0000171
60.
SentseM.PrinzieP.SalmivalliC. (2017). Testing the direction of longitudinal paths between victimization, peer rejection, and different types of internalizing problems in adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 45, 1013-1023. doi:10.1007/s10802-016-0216-y
61.
SherK.SlutskeW. (2003). Disorders of impulse control. In StrickerG.WidigerT. A.WeinerI. B. (Eds.), Handbook of psychology (Vol. 8, pp. 195-228). New York, NY: John Wiley.
62.
SobelM. E. (1982). Asymptotic confidence intervals for indirect effects in structural equation models. Sociological Methodology, 13, 290-312. doi:10.2307/270723
63.
SpendelowJ. S.SimondsL. M.AveryR. E. (2017). The relationship between co-rumination and internalizing problems: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 24, 512-527. doi:10.1002/cpp.2023
64.
SunS.FanX. (2018). Is there a gender difference in cyber-victimization? A meta-analysis. Journal of Media Psychology, 30, 125-138. doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000185
65.
SweetingH.WestP.YoungR.KellyS. (2011). Dimensions of adolescent subjective social status within the school community: Description and correlates. Journal of Adolescence, 34, 493-504.
66.
TomlinsonK. L.BrownS. A. (2012). Self-medication or social learning? A comparison of models to predict early adolescent drinking. Addictive Behaviors, 37, 179-186. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.09.016
67.
Troop-GordonW. (2017). Peer victimization in adolescence: The nature, progression, and consequences of being bullied within a developmental context. Journal of Adolescence, 55, 116-128.
68.
TtofiM. M.BowesL.FarringtonD. P.LöselF. (2014). Protective factors interrupting the continuity from school bullying to later internalizing and externalizing problems: A systematic review of prospective longitudinal studies. Journal of School Violence, 13, 5-38. doi:10.1080/15388220.2013.857345
69.
TurnerM. G.ExumM. L.BrameR.HoltT. J. (2013). Bullying victimization and adolescent mental health: General and typological effects across sex. Journal of Criminal Justice, 41, 53-59.
70.
VandenbergR. J.LanceC. E. (2000). A review and synthesis of the measurement invariance literature: Suggestions, practices, and recommendations for organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 3, 4-70. doi:10.1177/109442810031002
71.
VannucciA.OhannessianC. M. (2018). Psychometric properties of the brief loss of control over eating scale (LOCES-B) in early adolescents. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 51(5), 459-464. doi:10.1002/eat.22845
72.
VannucciA.OhannessianC. M. (2019). Social media use subgroups differentially predict psychosocial wellbeing in early adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48, 1469-1493.
73.
WeissmanM. M.OrvaschelH.PadianN. (1980). Children’s symptom and social functioning self-report scales comparison of mothers’ and children’s reports. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 168, 736-740.
74.
WhaleyR. B.HayesR.SmithJ. M. (2016). Differential reactions to school bonds, peers, and victimization in the case of adolescent substance use: The moderating effect of sex. Crime and Delinquency, 62, 1263-1285. doi:10.1177/0011128714541195
75.
WigdersonS.LynchM. (2013). Cyber-and traditional peer victimization: Unique relationships with adolescent well-being. Psychology of Violence, 3, 297-309. doi:10.1037/a0033657
76.
WormingtonS. V.AndersonK. G.TomlinsonK. L.BrownS. A. (2013). Alcohol and other drug use in middle school: The interplay of gender, peer victimization, and supportive social relationships. Journal of Early Adolescence, 33, 610-634. doi:10.1177/0272431612453650
77.
WothkeW. (2000). Longitudinal and multigroup modeling with missing data. In LittleT. D.SchnabelK. U.BaumertJ. (Eds.), Modeling longitudinal and multilevel data (pp. 219-269). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
78.
WrightM. F. (2016). Cybervictimization and substance use among adolescents: The moderation of perceived social support. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 16, 93-112.
79.
YangC.-C.BianY.ChenX.WangL. (2016). Gender differences between peer victimization, peer rejection and problems in adolescence: A cross-lagged analysis. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 24, 631-635.
80.
ZapolskiT. C. B.RoweA. T.FisherS.HenselD. J.Barnes-NajorJ. (2018). Peer victimization and substance use: Understanding the indirect effect of depressive symptomatology across gender. Addictive Behaviors, 84, 160-166. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.04.010
81.
ZimetG. D.DahlemN. W.ZimetS. G.FarleyG. K. (1988). The multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52, 30-41.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
