The expression and regulation of negative emotions: risk factors for young children's peer victimization.
Using a short-term longitudinal design, internalizing and externalizing emotions were examined as risk factors for being victimized by peers in early childhood. Regulation, aggression, and withdrawal were also tested as mediators. We found that anger, mediated by aggression and regulation, positively predicted being victimized, although the way in which anger related to victimization risk varied for boys and girls and across time. These findings were robust, particularly for girls, attesting to the importance of externalizing variables as risk factors for young children's victimization. Support for internalizing variables as risk factors for being victimized was weak. The implications of the findings for developmental models connecting symptomatology and victimization are discussed.
Hanish
Laura D
LD
Arizona State University, Department of Family and Human Development, Tempe 85287-2502, USA. Laura.Hanish@asu.edu
Eisenberg
Nancy
N
Fabes
Richard A
RA
Spinrad
Tracy L
TL
Ryan
Patti
P
Schmidt
Shana
S
D000367:Age Factors; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D004291:Dominance-Subordination; D019260:Expressed Emotion; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012919:Social Behavior