title: Anxiety symptoms as a moderator of the reciprocal links between forms of aggression and peer victimization in middle childhood.
abstract: The current short-term longitudinal study evaluated whether anxiety symptoms moderated the bidirectional associations between forms (i.e., physical and relational) of aggression and peer victimization over a 1-year period during middle childhood. Participants were 228 predominantly Caucasian children (50.4% boys; M = 8.32 years, SD = .95 years) in the second through fourth grades and their homeroom teachers. Children completed a self-report measure of anxiety symptoms at Time 1. Peer victimization was assessed using self-reports at Time 1 and approximately 1 year later (Time 2), and teachers provided ratings of children's aggressive behavior at both time points. A series of cross-lagged path analysis models indicated that high (+1 SD) initial levels of anxiety symptoms exacerbated the prospective link from Time 1 relational aggression to Time 2 peer victimization; conversely, when initial levels of anxiety symptoms were low (-1 SD), relational aggression predicted lower levels of subsequent peer victimization. Time 1 peer victimization was also found to predict lower levels of Time 2 physical aggression when initial levels of anxiety symptoms were low, and Time 1 anxiety symptoms were uniquely related to higher levels of relational aggression over a 1-year period. Regions of significance were calculated to further decompose significant interactions, which did not differ according to gender. Study findings are discussed within a social information processing theoretical framework, and directions for future research and implications for practice are reviewed. Specifically, co-occurring anxiety symptoms may need to be addressed in interventions for both aggression and peer victimization during middle childhood.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Cooley
authors.affiliation: Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
authors.forename: Andrew L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Frazer
authors.affiliation: Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
authors.forename: Paula J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Fite
authors.affiliation: Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
authors.forename: Shaquanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
authors.forename: Moneika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: DiPierro
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D058445:Bullying; D002648:Child; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D057566:Self Report
keywords: anxiety symptoms; middle childhood; peer victimization; physical aggression; relational aggression