Citation

Sullivan TN, Farrell AD, Kliewer W. Dev. Psychopathol. 2006; 18(1): 119-137.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 842018, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284-2018, USA. tnsulliv@mail1.vcu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1017/S095457940606007X

PMID

16478555

Abstract

This study examined associations between two forms of peer victimization, physical and relational, and externalizing behaviors including drug use, aggression, and delinquent behaviors among a sample of 276 predominantly African American eighth graders attending middle school in an urban public school system. Regression analyses indicated that physical victimization was significantly related to cigarette and alcohol use but not to advanced alcohol and marijuana use; relational victimization contributed uniquely to all categories of drug use after controlling for physical victimization. Physical victimization was also significantly related to physical and relational aggression and delinquent behaviors, and relational victimization made a unique contribution in the concurrent prediction of these behaviors. Physical victimization was more strongly related to both categories of alcohol use, aggression, and to delinquent behaviors among boys than among girls. In contrast, relational victimization was more strongly related to physical aggression and marijuana use among girls than among boys, but more strongly related to relational aggression among boys than among girls. These findings provide information about the generalizability of prior research and have important implications for intervention efforts.

Language: en