This study examined the mediating role of student school motivation in linking student victimization experiences and academic achievement among a nationally representative sample of students in 10th grade. Structural equation modeling supported that there were significant associations between student victimization and academic achievement for high school students. Give these significant associations, identification of the cognitive mechanisms that underlie these relationships is critical to understanding the plight of repeated victims. Our results indicated that students who reported frequent peer victimization also reported reduced school motivation (self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation), resulting in lower achievement in both reading and math. These pathways existed after accounting for differences in achievement that may be due to socioeconomic status and gender.
AndermanL. H.KaplanA. (2008). The role of interpersonal relationships in student motivation: Introduction to the special issue. The Journal of Experimental Education, 76, 115-119.
2.
AustinS.JosephS. (1996). Assessment of bully/victim problems in 8 to 11 year-olds. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 66, 447-456.
3.
BanduraA. (1997). Self-efficacy. Harvard Mental Health Letter, 13(9), 4-7.
4.
BanduraA. (2005). The evolution of social cognitive theory. In SmithK. G.HittM. A. (Eds.), Great minds in management (pp. 9-35). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
5.
BeranT. (2009). Correlates of peer victimization and achievement: An exploratory model. Psychology in the Schools, 46, 348-361.
6.
BerndtT. J.Savin-WilliamsR. C. (1993). Variations in friendships and peer-group relationships in adolescence. In TolanP.CohlerB. (Eds.), Handbook of clinical research and practice with adolescents (pp. 203-219). New York, NY: Wiley.
7.
BongM. (2008). Effects of parent-child relationships and classroom goal structures on motivation, help-seeking avoidance, and cheating. The Journal of Experimental Education, 76, 191-217.
8.
BuhsE. S.LaddG. W. (2001). Peer rejection as antecedent of young children’s school adjustment: An examination of mediating processes. Developmental Psychology, 37, 550-560.
9.
BuhsE. S.LaddG. W.HeraldS. L. (2006). Peer exclusion and victimization: Processes that mediate the relation between peer group rejection and children’s classroom engagement and achievement?Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 1-13.
10.
DeciE. L. (1992). The relation of interest to the motivation of behavior: A self-determination theory perspective. In RenningerK. A.HidiS.KrappA. (Eds.), The role of interest in learning and development (pp. 43-70). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
11.
DeciE. L.RyanR. M. (1980). The empirical exploration of intrinsic motivational processes. In BerkowitzL. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 40-80). New York, NY: Academic Press.
12.
DeciE. L.RyanR. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self determination in human behavior. New York, NY: Plenum.
13.
FlookL.RepettiR. L.UllmanJ. B. (2005). Classroom social experiences as predictors of academic performance. Developmental Psychology, 41, 319-327.
14.
GloverD.GoughG.JohnsonM.CartwrightN. (2000). Bullying in 25 secondary schools: Incidence, impact and intervention. Educational Research, 42, 141-156.
15.
GrahamS.BellmoreA. D.MizeJ. A. (2006). Peer victimization, aggression, and their co-occurrence in middle school: Pathways to adjustment problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 349-364.
16.
HannoverB. (1998). The development of self-concept and interests. In HoffmanL.KrappA.RenningerK. A.BaumertL. (Eds.), Interest and learning: Proceedings of the seeon conference on interest and gender (pp. 105-125). Kiel, Germany: IPN.
17.
HarterS. (1981). A new self-report scale of intrinsic versus extrinsiorientation in the classroom: Motivational and informational components. Developmental Psychology, 17, 300–312.
18.
HawkerD. S. J.BoultonM. 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.
19.
HuL. T.BentlerP. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1-55.
20.
IyerR. V.Kochenderfer-LaddB.EisenbergN.ThompsonM. (2010). Peer victimization and effortful control: Relations to school engagement and academic achievement. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 56, 361-387.
21.
JuvonenJ.GrahamS.SchusterM. (2003). Bullying among young adolescents: The strong, the weak, and the troubled. Pediatrics, 112, 1231-1237.
22.
JuvonenJ.NishinaA.GrahamS. (2000). Peer harassment, psychological well-being, and school adjustment in early adolescence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92, 349-359.
23.
KingG.HonakerJ.JosephA.ScheveK. (2001). Analyzing incomplete political science data: An alternative algorithm for multiple imputation. American Political Science Review, 95, 49-69.
24.
KochenderferB. J.LaddG. W. (1996a). Peer victimization: Cause or consequence of school maladjustment?Child Development, 67, 1305-1317.
25.
KochenderferB. J.LaddG. W. (1996b). Peer victimization: Manifestations and relations to school adjustment in kindergarten. Journal of School Psychology, 34, 267-283.
26.
LaddG. W.KochenderferB. J.ColemanC. C. (1997). Classroom peer acceptance, friendship, and victimization: Distinct relational systems that contribute uniquely to children’s school adjustment. Child Development, 68, 1181-1197.
27.
LopezC.DuBoisD. D. (2005). Peer victimization and rejection: Investigation of an integrative model of effects on emotional, behavioral, and academic adjustment in early adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 34, 25-36.
28.
MaL.PhelpsE.LernerJ. V.LernerR. M. (2009). Academic competence for adolescents who bully and who are bullied: Findings from the 4-H study of positive youth development. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 29, 862-897.
29.
MynardH.JosephS. (2000). Development of the Multidimensional Peer-Victimization Scale. Aggressive Behavior, 26, 169-178.
30.
NelsonR. M.DebackerR. M. (2008). Achievement motivation in adolescents: The role of peer climate. The Journal of Experimental Education, 76, 170-189.
31.
ÖzdemirM.StattinH. (2011). Bullies, victims, and bully-victims: A longitudinal examination of the effects of bullying-victimization experiences on youth well-being. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, 3, 97-102.
32.
PajaresF. (1996). Self-efficacy beliefs in academic settings. Review of Educational Research, 66, 543-578.
33.
PellegriniA. D.LongJ. D. (2002). A longitudinal study of bullying, dominance, and victimization during the transition from primary school through secondary school. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20, 259-280.
34.
PintrichP. R.DeGrootE. V. (1990). Motivational and self-regulated learning components of classroom academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 33-40.
35.
PintrichP. R.SchunkD. H. (1996). Motivation in education: Theory, research, and applications.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
36.
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.
37.
RenningerK. A.EwanL.LasherA. K. (2002). Individual interest as context in exploratory text and mathematical word problems. Learning and Instruction, 12, 467-491.
38.
RigbyK. (1998). The relationship between health and involvement in bully/victim problems among male and female secondary schoolchildren. Journal of Health Psychology, 3, 465-476.
39.
RigbyK. (1999). Peer victimisation at school and the health of secondary school students. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 69, 95-104.
40.
RigbyK. (2000). Effects of peer victimization in schools and perceived social support on adolescent well-being. Journal of Adolescence, 23, 57-68.
41.
RigbyK.SleeP. T. (1999). Suicidal ideation among adolescent school children, involvement in bully/victim problems and perceived low social support. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 29, 119-130.
42.
RipskiM. B.GregoryA. (2009). Unfair, unsafe, and unwelcome: Do high school students’ perceptions of unfairness, hostility, and victimization in school predict engagement and achievement?Journal of School Violence, 8, 355-375.
43.
RyanA. M. (2001). The peer group as a context for the development of young adolescent motivation and achievement. Child Development, 72, 1135-1150.
44.
SchiefeleU. (2001). The role of interest in motivation and learning. In CollisJ. M.MessickS. (Eds.), Intelligence and personality: Bridging the gap in theory and measurement (pp. 163-194). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
45.
SchumackerR.E.LomaxR.G. (1996). A beginner’s guide to structural equation modeling. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
46.
SchunkD. H.ZimmermanB. J. (2006). Competence and control beliefs: Distinguishing the means and ends. In AlexanderP. A.WinneP. H. (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (2nd ed., pp. 349-367). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
47.
SchwartzD.GormanA. H.NakamatoJ.ToblinR. L. (2005). Victimization in the peer group and children’s academic functioning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 425-435.
48.
ThijsJ.VerkuytenM. (2008). Peer victimization and academic achievement in a multiethnic sample: The role of perceived academic self-efficacy. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 754-764.
49.
van der WaalM. F.de WitC. A. M.HirasingR. A. (2003). Psychosocial health among young victims and offenders of direct and indirect bullying. Pediatrics, 111, 1312-1317.
50.
WoltersC.FanW.DaughertyS. (2013). Examining achievement goals and causal attributions together as predictors of academic functioning. Journal of Experimental Education, 81(3), 295-321.
51.
ZimmermanB. (2000). Self-efficacy: An essential motive to learn. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 82-91.
