ERIC Number: EJ1167880
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Jun
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: N/A
The Effects of School-Level Victimization on Self-Blame: Evidence for Contextualized Social Cognitions
Schacter, Hannah L.; Juvonen, Jaana
Developmental Psychology, v51 n6 p841-847 Jun 2015
The current study examined school-level victimization as a moderator of associations between peer victimization and changes in 2 types of self-blaming attributions, characterological and behavioral, across the first year of middle school. These associations were tested in a large sample (N = 5,991) of ethnically diverse adolescents from fall to spring of the 6th-grade year across 26 schools. Consistent with hypotheses, the results of multilevel modeling indicated that victimized youth showed greater increases in characterological self-blaming attributions (e.g., "my fault and cannot change it") in schools where victimization was less common. In contrast, victimization was associated with increases in behavioral self-blame (e.g., "I should have been more careful") for bullied students in schools with relatively higher levels of victimization. Underscoring the psychological consequences of person-context mismatch, the results suggest that when schools manage to decrease bullying, the few who remain victimized need additional support to prevent more maladaptive forms of self-blame.
Descriptors: Victims, Bullying, Social Cognition, Adolescents, Grade 6, Middle School Students, Psychological Patterns, Peer Relationship, Longitudinal Studies, Correlation, Maximum Likelihood Statistics, Statistical Analysis, Intervention
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 6
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (DHHS); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1R01HD05988201A2; 0921306