Joint Trajectories of Peer Cyber and Traditional Victimization in Adolescence: A Look at Risk Factors

Richard E. Tremblay,Frank Vitaro,Anne-Sophie Denault,Michel Boivin,Simon Larose,Sylvana Côté,Mara Brendgen,Marie-Claude Geoffroy,Ginette Dionne,Sarah-Jeanne Viau

doi:10.1177/0272431619880339

Abstract

This study aimed to identify joint trajectories of peer cyber and traditional victimization from ages 13 to 17 and individual, family, peer, and school risk factors associated with group membership. The sample was composed of 1,194 adolescents (54.2% girls). Cyber and traditional victimization were assessed at ages 13, 15, and 17. The results first revealed a low/increasing and a high/decreasing trajectories for cybervictimization and a low/decreasing and a moderate/chronic for traditional victimization. Conditional probabilities suggested that cybervictims had a high probability of being victims on school grounds, whereas traditional victims were not necessarily the target of cybervictimization. Four joint trajectory groups were also identified. With the low victimization group as the reference category, the results revealed that different sets of predictors were associated with membership in the three other joint trajectory groups. The results are discussed in relation to intervention and prevention strategies.

Highlights

Lower perceptions of school connectedness or belonging, which include perceptions of school safety, have been associated with a greater risk of being victimized, at least in cyberspace (Zych et al, 2019; odds ratio equal to 2.3 for school safety). These results suggest that peer victimization, online or offline, is predicted by numerous factors across different systems in adolescents’ ecology
Girls reported higher levels of cybervictimization at ages 13 and 15, lower levels of self-esteem, and higher levels of depressive symptoms than boys, whereas boys reported higher levels of traditional victimization at age 13, showed higher levels of reactive aggression as reported by teachers, and reported higher levels of conflict with their best friend, and lower levels of school belonging than girls
This study examined the development of and relationships between cyber and traditional victimization during the adolescent years, as well as the predictors of group membership in the joint trajectory groups

Summary

Objectives

This study aimed to identify joint trajectories of peer cyber and traditional victimization from ages 13 to 17 and individual, family, peer, and school risk factors associated with group membership. The first objective of the present study was to examine joint trajectories of cyber and traditional victimization using a prospective longitudinal design with three measurement points over the high school years. This study aimed to better inform prevention and intervention strategies during this critical developmental transition period. The first objective of this study was to examine the longitudinal evolution of cyber and traditional victimization across three measurements points during the high school years, as well as their developmental relationships

Methods

Results

Conclusion