Retrospective Accounts of Sexual Peer Victimization in Adolescence: Do Social Status and Gender-Conformity Play a Role?

Abstract

In popular media, the degree to which adolescents possess social power and conform to gender norms appears to dictate experiences and perpetrations of peer victimization that are sexual in nature. Therefore, the hypothesis that high-status gender conforming adolescents sexually victimize low-status gender nonconforming peers was examined using retrospective accounts of social status, gender-conformity, and sexual and nonsexual forms of peer victimization in high school as reported by 209 participants, ages 18–23 years old. Although these hypotheses were not fully supported, popularity and gender-conformity were found to be associated with different forms of peer victimization as they occur in adolescence. Self-reported popularity was implicated more commonly in experiencing nonsexual forms of peer victimization and perpetrating sexual peer victimization. However, gender-conformity was found to be a stronger predictor in explaining experiences of social and sexual peer victimization and perpetrating verbal and social peer victimization. The findings suggest that there is a level of complexity to sexual and nonsexual peer victimization that requires more refined examination of gender-conformity and social hierarchy alongside the identification of additional mechanisms. To effectively prevent different forms of peer victimization (sexual and nonsexual) during adolescence, it is important to continue examining the role of developmental mechanisms specific to adolescence.