The central objective of the study was to investigate a moderated mediation model addressing social cognitive mechanisms that account for the association between peer victimization and anxiety. A sample of 81 youth (M age = 12.78, SD = 0.88) completed questionnaires assessing peer victimization, anxiety, social self-efficacy, and peer perceptions. Reports of peer victimization were associated with anxiety symptoms. Moreover, social self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between peer victimization and anxiety. Lastly, the perception of school peers moderated the mediation process between peer victimization and anxiety via social self-efficacy. These findings suggest that social contextual variables (e.g., peer victimization and perception of school peers) and negative self-evaluations (e.g., social self-efficacy) are risk factors for anxiety symptom severity in youth. Limitations and practical implications were discussed.
ChristnerR. W.MennutiR. B. (Eds.). (2009). School-based mental health: A practitioner’s guide to comparative practices. Routledge.
2.
ClarkD. A.BeckA. T. (2009). Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders: Science and practice. Guilford Press.
3.
CohenJ. S.KendallP. C. (2015). Peer victimization among children and adolescents with anxiety disorders. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 46(3), 393–405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-014-0479-x
4.
ComerJ. S.KendallP. C. (2004). A symptom-level examination of parent–child agreement in the diagnosis of anxious youths. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 43(7), 878–886. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.chi.0000125092.35109.c5
5.
ComerJ. S.OlfsonM. (2010). The epidemiology of anxiety disorders. In SimpsonH. B.NeriaY.Lewis-FernándezR. (Eds.), Anxiety disorders: Theory, research and clinical perspectives (pp. 6–19). Cambridge University Press.
6.
CosiS.CanalsJ.Hernández-MartinezC.Vigil-ColetA. (2010). Parent–child agreement in SCARED and its relationship to anxiety symptoms. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24(1), 129–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.09.008
7.
De Los ReyesA.PrinsteinM. J. (2004). Applying depression-distortion hypotheses to the assessment of peer victimization in adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 33(2), 325–335. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15374424jccp3302_14
8.
EssauC. A.OllendickT. H. (2013). The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of the treatment of childhood and adolescent anxiety. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
9.
FosseG. K.HolenA. (2004). Cohabitation, education, and occupation of psychiatric outpatients bullied as children. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 192(5), 385–388.
10.
Gómez-OrtizO.RoldánR.Ortega-RuizR.García-LópezL.-J. (2018). Social anxiety and psychosocial adjustment in adolescents: Relation with peer victimization, self-esteem and emotion regulation. Child Indicators Research, 11(6), 1719–1736. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-017-9506-3
11.
GuimondF.-A.BrendgenM.VitaroF.DionneG.BoivinM. (2015). Peer victimization and anxiety in genetically vulnerable youth: The protective roles of teachers’ self-efficacy and anti-bullying classroom rules. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43(6), 1095–1106. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-0001-3
12.
GuoL.TianL.Scott HuebnerE. (2018). Family dysfunction and anxiety in adolescents: A moderated mediation model of self-esteem and perceived school stress. Journal of School Psychology, 69, 16–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2018.04.002
13.
HambrickJ.ComerJ.AlbanoA. M. (2010). Cognitive–behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders: Model and current issues. In SimpsonH. B. (Ed.), Anxiety disorders: Theory, research, and clinical perspectives (pp. 205–215). Cambridge University Press.
14.
HayesA. F. (2017). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis, second edition: A regression-based approach. Guilford Publications.
15.
HayesA. F. (2018). Partial, conditional, and moderated mediation: Quantification, inference, and interpretation. Communication Monographs, 85(1), 4–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2017.1352100
16.
JacobsA. K. (2008). Components of evidence-based interventions for bullying and peer victimization. In Handbook of evidence-based therapies for children and adolescents (pp. 261–279). Springer.
17.
KertzS. J.Woodruff-BordenJ. (2011). The developmental psychopathology of worry. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 14(2), 174–197. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-011-0086-3
18.
MarchJ. S. (2012). Multidimensional anxiety scale for children 2nd Edition. Pearson Inc.
19.
MolchoM.CraigW.DueP.PickettW.Harel-FischY.OverpeckM., & HBSC Bullying Writing Group. (2009). Cross-national time trends in bullying behaviour 1994-2006: Findings from Europe and North America. International Journal of Public Health, 54(Suppl. 2), 225–234. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-009-5414-8
20.
MontreuilT. C. (2016). The practice of school and educational psychology in Canada: The best is yet to come. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 31(3), 155–159. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573516655231
21.
MurisP.SchmidtH.MerckelbachH.SchoutenE. (2001). Anxiety sensitivity in adolescents: Factor structure and relationships to trait anxiety and symptoms of anxiety disorders and depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39(1), 89–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(99)00179-5
22.
PeplerD.CraigW. (2011). Promoting relationships and eliminating violence in Canada. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35(5), 389–397. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025411407455
23.
PreacherK. J.RuckerD. D.HayesA. F. (2007). Addressing moderated mediation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 42(1), 185–227. https://doi.org/10.1080/00273170701341316
24.
RabinerD. L.KeaneS. P.MacKinnon-LewisC. (1993). Children’s beliefs about familiar and unfamiliar peers in relation to their sociometric status. Developmental Psychology, 29(2), 236–243. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.29.2.236
25.
RantaK.La GrecaA. M.Garcia-LopezL.-J.MarttunenM. (2015). Social anxiety and phobia in adolescents: Development, manifestation and intervention strategies. Springer.
26.
RaskauskasJ.RubianoS.OffenI.WaylandA. K. (2015). Do social self-efficacy and self-esteem moderate the relationship between peer victimization and academic performance?Social Psychology of Education, 18(2), 297–314. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-015-9292-z
27.
RubinK. H.CoplanR. J.ChenX.BowkerJ.McdonaldK. L.HeverlyF. (2015). Peer realtionships. In BronsteinM. H.LambM. E. (Eds.), Developmental science (7th ed., pp. 587–644). Psychology Press.
28.
SchleiderJ. L.GinsburgG. S.DrakeK. (2018). Perceived peer victimization predicts anxiety outcomes in a prevention program for offspring of anxious parents. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 47(Suppl. 1), S255–S263. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2016.1270831
29.
SchunkD.PajaresF. (2009). Self-Efficacy theory. In WentzelK. R.WigfieldA. (Eds.), Handbook of motivation at school (pp. 35–53). Routledge.
30.
StapinskiL. A.BowesL.WolkeD.PearsonR. M.MahedyL.ButtonK. S.LewisG.ArayaR. (2014). Peer victimization during adolescence and risk for anxiety disorders in adulthood: A prospective cohort study. Depression and Anxiety, 31(7), 574–582. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22270
31.
TabachnickB. G.FidellL. S. (2013). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed). Pearson Education.
32.
TrompeterN.BusseyK.FitzpatrickS. (2018). Cyber victimization and internalizing difficulties: The mediating roles of coping self-efficacy and emotion dysregulation. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 46(5), 1129–1139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-017-0378-2
33.
Troop-GordonW.LaddG. W. (2005). Trajectories of peer victimization and perceptions of the self and schoolmates: Precursors to internalizing and externalizing problems. Child Development, 76(5), 1072–1091. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00898.x
34.
WintonS.TutersS. (2015). Constructing bullying in Ontario, Canada: A critical policy analysis. Educational Studies, 41(1–2), 122–142. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2014.955737
