Teacher-child relationships and friendships and peer victimization across the school year

Abstract

Using data from 1700 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade students followed longitudinally across the school year, we tested the extent to which time-specific, within-person shifts in peer victimization and children's overall victimization trajectories were predicted by the quality of their relationships with their teacher and their friendship status. We found that both teacher-child relationships and friendships were uniquely associated with children's levels of victimization over time, but the magnitude (and direction) of the effects varied depending on whether within- or between-person differences in victimization were considered. Children who evinced more positive teacher-child relationships (on average) reported lower levels of victimization. This relation did not vary over time. Similarly, children with a greater number of friends tended to be victimized less–again, irrespective of time. In contrast, within-person increases in teacher-child relationship quality in early fall were associated with contemporaneous increases in victimization. No within-person effects of friendship were evident.