Self-blame and peer victimization in middle school: an attributional analysis.
Relations between characterological versus behavioral self-blaming attributions for victimization and maladjustment were examined in middle school students. Respondents completed a questionnaire that assessed self-perceptions of victim status, attributions for hypothetical incidents of victimization, and feelings of loneliness, social anxiety, and low self-worth. They also completed peer nomination procedures measuring perceptions of victimization in others, as well as peer acceptance and rejection. Self-perceived victimization was associated with characterological self-blame, loneliness, anxiety, and low self-worth. Peer-perceived victimization, in contrast, was related to acceptance and rejection. The data suggest that self-views are more predictive of the intrapersonal consequences of victimization (loneliness, anxiety, low self-worth), whereas peer views are more predictive of interpersonal consequences (peer acceptance and rejection).
Graham
S
S
Department of Education, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1521, USA. shgraham@ucla.edu
Juvonen
J
J
D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D002605:Character; D002648:Child; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008132:Loneliness; D010379:Peer Group; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010553:Personality Development; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D012539:Scapegoating; D012649:Self Concept; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012963:Sociometric Techniques