Different forms of online and face-to-face victimization among schoolchildren with pure and co-occurring dimensions of reactive and proactive aggression

Abstract

This pioneer study filled up research gaps on differentiation and associations between various forms of online (general victimization, sexual victimization, individual racial discrimination, and vicarious racial discrimination) and face-to-face peer victimization (physical victimization, verbal victimization, social manipulation, and attacks on property) among schoolchildren with pure and co-occurring dimensions of reactive and proactive aggression and ordinary ones. Significant differences consistently found across four-domain online victimization between three groups of schoolchildren with pure and co-occurring dimensions of reactive and proactive aggression and ordinary schoolchildren; and the lowest mean scores were constantly found in pure reactive aggression group comparing with pure proactive and co-occurring forms of aggression. Although similar significant differences were found in four-factor multi-dimensional peer-victimization between three groups of schoolchildren with pure and co-occurring dimensions of reactive and proactive aggression and ordinary schoolchildren, the scores in pure reactive group were very comparable with pure proactive and co-occurring forms of aggression groups. Only pure reactive aggressor group of schoolchildren has no correlation between online and face-to-face peer victimization. The explanation may be based on Social Information Processing model that reactive aggressors are affected by hostile attributional bias, provocations mainly may happen in face-to-face interpersonal ambiguous situation rather than in the online world.