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Peer Victimization, Depressive Symptoms, and Rule-Breaking Behavior in Adolescence: The Moderating Role of Peer Social Support

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Abstract

The current study examined whether peer social support, alone or in conjunction with peer delinquency, moderated the relations between overt and relational victimization, depressive symptoms, and rule-breaking behavior. Participants included 152 adolescents (55% male; 95% Latino) between the ages of 14–19 and their second-hour teacher. Findings indicated that peer social support buffered the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms. Overt victimization was uniquely related to increased rule-breaking behavior, but unrelated to depressive symptoms. Peer social support and peer delinquency interacted to influence the association between relational victimization and rule-breaking behavior. When levels of both social support and peer delinquency were high, relational victimization marginally significantly predicted increased rule-breaking behavior. Relational victimization was unrelated to rule-breaking behavior when levels of peer delinquency were high and social support were low. The moderating effects of peer social support did not differ according to gender. Implications of findings and directions for future research are discussed.

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Notes

  1. A paired samples t-test was conducted to determine whether the prevalence of overt and relational victimization differed; results indicated that teachers reported witnessing more relational than overt victimization, t(125) = −2.93, p = .003.

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Conflict of Interest

John L. Cooley, Paula J. Fite, Sonia L. Rubens and Angela M. Tunno declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Experiment Participants

All procedures involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, 2015 Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    John L. Cooley, Paula J. Fite, Sonia L. Rubens & Angela M. Tunno

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  1. John L. Cooley
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  2. Paula J. Fite
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  3. Sonia L. Rubens
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  4. Angela M. Tunno
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Correspondence to John L. Cooley.

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Cooley, J.L., Fite, P.J., Rubens, S.L. et al. Peer Victimization, Depressive Symptoms, and Rule-Breaking Behavior in Adolescence: The Moderating Role of Peer Social Support. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 37, 512–522 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-014-9473-7

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