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Trajectories of Verbal and Physical Peer Victimization Among Children with Comorbid Oppositional Defiant Problems, Conduct Problems and Hyperactive-Attention Problems

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Abstract

The high levels of comorbidity between oppositional/conduct problems and hyperactivity/attention problems underscore the need for assessing how vulnerability for peer victimization is shaped by overlap among these behavior problems. Children (mean age 8.39, SD = 0.93) participating in a longitudinal study of the development of conduct problems (N = 744; 348 girls) in Quebec, Canada, were evaluated by their teachers regarding experiences of peer verbal and physical victimization every year for 6 years. Parent and teacher ratings of clinically significant oppositional/conduct problems, and hyperactivity/attention problems, as well as cormorbid opposition defiant/conduct problems and hyperactivity/attention problems were regressed onto trajectories of verbal and physical victimization. While behavior problems (both alone and together) were associated with higher levels of verbal and physical victimization, some variation was observed across rater and type of victimization. Ultimately, these findings suggest the importance of adapting programming for reducing victimization to children with oppositional and conduct problems.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to the families who participated in this study and to the research team. The study was funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR, FRN 82694), by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC-37890), and by Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC-196505).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Department of Psychoeducation, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada

    Mariam Ter-Stepanian, Alexa Martin-Storey, Roxanne Bizier-Lacroix, Michèle Déry & Jean-Pascal Lemelin

  2. Faculty of Education, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, University McGill University, Sherbrooke, Canada

    Caroline E. Temcheff

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  1. Mariam Ter-Stepanian
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  2. Alexa Martin-Storey
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Correspondence to Alexa Martin-Storey.

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Ter-Stepanian, M., Martin-Storey, A., Bizier-Lacroix, R. et al. Trajectories of Verbal and Physical Peer Victimization Among Children with Comorbid Oppositional Defiant Problems, Conduct Problems and Hyperactive-Attention Problems. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 50, 1037–1048 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-019-00903-7

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