The longitudinal associations between bullying perpetration, bullying victimization, and internalizing symptoms: Bidirectionality and mediation by friend support.

Internalizing symptoms have been linked to bullying perpetration and victimization in adolescence. However, the directions of any causal relationships remain unclear, and limited research has identified the mechanisms that explain the associations. Given the salience of peer relationships during the teenage years, we examine whether perceived support from friends is one such mechanism. By using a transactional framework and four waves of longitudinal panel data on over 900 youth, we test both cross-lagged and indirect associations between bullying perpetration, bullying victimization, internalizing symptoms, and perceived friend support. Our method represents one of the most rigorous tests to date of the mutual influences among these factors. The results show that internalizing symptoms and perceived friend support were reciprocally linked to bullying victimization, but perceived support did not predict internalizing symptoms, and bullying perpetration neither preceded nor followed perceived support or internalizing symptoms. There were no significant indirect paths between bullying involvement and internalizing symptoms through perceived friend support. The results provide only partial support for a transactional model in which bullying victimization, support, and internalizing symptoms are reciprocally related. The implications of these findings for theory, future research, and practice are discussed.

Consequences of Victimization on Perceived Friend Support during Adolescence.

Victimization can harm youth in various ways and negatively affect their friendships with peers. Nevertheless, not all victimized youth are impacted similarly, and the literature is unclear regarding why some victims are more likely than others to experience friendship-based consequences. Using five waves of data on 901 adolescents (6th grade at wave 1; 47% male; 88% White) and a subsample of 492 victimized youth, this study assessed (1) whether victimization leads to decreases in perceived friend support, and (2) the factors that explain which victimized youth are most likely to experience decreases in perceived friend support. Explanatory factors included subsequent victimization, victims' social network status (self-reported number of friends, number of friendship nominations received), and victims' risky behaviors (affiliating with deviant friends, delinquency, aggression, binge drinking). Random effects regressions revealed that, among the full sample, victimization was linked to decreases in friend support. Among victimized youth, subsequent victimization and deviant friends decreased friend support. Having more friends was associated with increased friend support among victims, though this association weakened as the number of friends increased. The results emphasize that victimized youth are a heterogeneous group with varying risks of experiencing friendship-based consequences.

Exposure to Violence and Victimization: Reflections on 25 Years of Research From the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health.

PURPOSE: Over the past 25 years, across a wide range of academic disciplines, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health has facilitated a wealth of research on the sources and consequences of victimization and exposure to violence (ETV). In this review, I reflect broadly on the knowledge gleaned from this impressive data source. METHODS: The review is situated within an integrated, multilevel framework that (1) emphasizes differential risks for ETV and victimization (at the individual, peer, school, family, and neighborhood levels), (2) allows for the dynamic study of violence exposures, (3) recognizes an overlap between multiple forms of victimization and ETV, (4) allows for the study of moderating factors and mediating mechanisms, and (5) allows for a wide array of developmental consequences to be identified. RESULTS: Major correlates and consequences of ETV and victimization in the data are described, along with mediators and moderators that influence the link between violence exposures and negative life outcomes. DISCUSSION: Gaps and challenges are discussed. Several directions for future research are put forth, including the need to further uncover the dynamic sources and consequences of victimization and ETV over the life course.

Trauma Made in America: The Consequences of Violent Victimization for Immigrant Youth in Early Adulthood.

Research finds that adolescent violent victimization results in numerous lasting negative life consequences. However, the long-term impacts of victimization are understudied among immigrant youth. Using a subsample of 952 immigrants from Waves I-III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, regression models are specified to determine whether violent victimization in adolescence is related to negative outcomes in early adulthood (poor health, depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, suicidality, alcohol problems, drug use, property offending, and violent offending). Results indicate that victimization has no robust associations with any long-term adverse outcomes among immigrants. The findings are discussed using perspectives on immigrant resilience and highlight the need for research to further explore how immigrant youth overcome their experiences with violence.

Undoing resilience: immigrant status and poor health following incarceration.

BACKGROUND: In the United States, foreign-born persons often have better health outcomes than their native-born peers, despite exposure to adversity. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether this pattern extends to the consequences of life events, such as incarceration, that separate immigrants from their supportive networks and increase exposure to adversity. Accordingly, using four waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, hierarchical generalized linear models were used to examine within-individual changes in self-rated health following first incarceration (N = 31,202 person-waves). RESULTS: The results showed that incarceration was associated with modest health declines that were similar in magnitude for immigrant and native-born persons. Supplemental analyses revealed that these effects did not vary by immigrant race or ethnicity, or by age at immigration. The only exception was for immigrants from low- and middle-income countries, who were marginally less likely to experience health declines following incarceration. CONCLUSIONS: In general, incarceration appears to be similarly health damaging for immigrants and non-immigrants. These findings raise important questions about how incarceration is linked to health declines for foreign- and native-born populations and emphasize the importance of access to healthcare for individuals released from correctional facilities. More research is needed, however, to further examine the cumulative impacts of incarceration on immigrants' health across the life course, and to assess a broader spectrum of health outcomes.

Forcible Rape and Adolescent Friendship Networks.

Studies have found that sexual victimization can adversely affect an adolescent's psychological well-being, physical health, and behavior. Little is known, however, about how friendships are influenced by such victimization. Drawing on research on sexual violence and the salience of peers among adolescents, the current study extends prior work by examining the effects of forcible rape on adolescent social networks. Using a subsample of females from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 4,386), the study employs multivariate regression analyses to estimate the effects of youth forcible rape on the popularity, centrality, and density of adolescent friendship networks and to determine whether depression and attachment to others (e.g., to friends and to school) mediate these effects. The analyses indicated that forcible rape was associated with a decrease in the popularity and centrality of females within their friendship networks; however, no effect on the density of these networks was identified. In addition, forcible rape effects on popularity and centrality were partially mediated by depression and social attachments. The results suggest that forcible rape may adversely affect adolescent females' levels of popularity and centrality within their friendship networks. Combined with prior research, the results indicate that the harmful effects of rape have the potential to extend across diverse domains, including social relationships. This possibility suggests that services and assistance to female adolescents may be useful in navigating these relationships after victimization. It suggests, too, that potential benefits that may arise from interventions that educate adolescents-victims and nonvictims alike-about the challenges that victims of sexual violence experience.

Trajectories of violent victimization over the life course: Implications for mental and physical health.

Violent victimization experiences correspond to an array of negative consequences including poorer mental and physical health. Drawing on life course theories of stress proliferation and well-being, we use four waves of data from the Add Health study to identify pathways of violent victimization from adolescence through young adulthood using group-based trajectory modeling. We then assess the influence of victimization trajectory membership on a range of subsequent health outcomes including depression, PTSD, clinical and subclinical symptoms, and self-rated health. Our results show those with increasing experiences of victimization in young adulthood are at greatest risk for poor health outcomes. Notably, trajectories marked by violent victimization limited in adolescence are not associated with any indicators of poor health. Black individuals and males are at particular risk for membership in victimization trajectories with the greatest risk for future negative health outcomes. Our findings demonstrate that violent victimization occurs via heterogeneous patterns over the life course with significant consequences for well-being and broader health disparities among adults.

The Cycle of Violence Revisited: Childhood Victimization, Resilience, and Future Violence.

The individual and social protective factors that help break the cycle of violence are examined. Specifically, this study investigates (a) the individual and social protective factors that reduce violent offending among previously victimized children, and (b) whether certain protective factors are more or less important depending on the type and frequency of childhood victimization experienced. Data on young adults from Wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health are used (N = 13,116). Negative binomial regression models are estimated to examine the protective factors that promote resiliency to violent offending among individuals who reported being physically and sexually victimized as children. Results indicate that a number of individual and social protective factors reduce violent offending in young adulthood. With a few exceptions, these factors are specific to the type, frequency, and comorbidity of abuse experienced. The results suggest a number of promising approaches to break the cycle of violence among previously victimized children. Future research should move beyond explaining the cycle of violence to examine how the cycle may be broken.

Depression and infrequent participation in social activities among older adults: the moderating role of high-quality familial ties.

OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this study is to investigate whether depression is associated with reduced participation in social activities among older adults. Additionally, this study assesses whether high-quality familial ties diminish the negative association between depression and social activities. METHODS: Using cross-sectional telephone interview data from a sample of individuals 60 years of age and older in Arizona and Florida (N = 2000), this study estimates a series of linear regression models to assess the relationship between depression and social activities, and test whether this association is conditioned by high-quality familial ties using multiplicative interaction terms. RESULTS: As expected, an inverse relationship between depression and social activities is observed. Delving deeper, the regression models reveal that the depression-inactivity association is weaker among older individuals with strong, positive ties to spouses and children. Additional tests demonstrate the mere of existence of familial bonds provides no meaningful benefit - the quality of such ties matters. CONCLUSION: Findings support the theoretical argument that high-quality familial ties provide supportive coping resources that buffer individuals from the undesirable consequences associated with depression. Moving forward, longitudinal research on the causal links between depression and infrequent participation in social and leisure activities among older adults is warranted.

Consequences of Violent Victimization for Native American Youth in Early Adulthood.

Native American youth are at an elevated risk of violent victimization. And because of their vulnerable position in society, they may also be at risk of experiencing a host of adverse consequences as a result of being victimized. Accordingly, using a subsample of 558 Native American youth and two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (49.8 % female; 12-19 years at Wave I; 19-26 years at Wave III), we examined the effects of violent victimization during adolescence on a range of outcomes in early adulthood (poor health, depressive symptoms, suicidality, financial hardship, violent and property offending, alcohol problems, hard drug use, and marijuana use). We also assessed whether youth's attachments to family and to school moderate the effects of victimization on these outcomes. The results showed that adolescent victimization is linked to a small number of outcomes-poor health, depressive symptoms, and violent offending-and that the protective effects of social attachments are not widespread. Specifically, family attachments moderated the effects of victimization on poor health and depressive symptoms, and school attachments moderated the effects of victimization on property offending. These findings suggest that the consequences of victimization and the protective effects of social attachments may differ for Native American youth, and that further quantitative and qualitative research is necessary to understand these patterns.

"I Suck at Everything": Crime, Arrest, and the Generality of Failure.

In this paper we advance the idea that getting arrested amounts to "failing at crime." And akin to the notion of the generality of deviance-where those who engage in any given form of criminal behavior are also likely to engage in a wide array of other problematic behaviors-we examine whether failing at crime (getting arrested) is associated with other forms of life failure. Using data from multiple waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, our results reveal that, independent of one's level of self-reported criminal behavior and other key potential confounders (IQ and self-control), being arrested is a significant predictor of a host of life failures related to education, employment, relationships, and health. The key implication of our study is that it highlights the need to develop a theory of the "generality of failure."

Longitudinal effects of violent victimization during adolescence on adverse outcomes in adulthood: a focus on prosocial attachments.

OBJECTIVE: To assess how prosocial attachments to school and family may diminish the effects of violent victimization during adolescence on adverse outcomes in adulthood. STUDY DESIGN: We analyzed secondary data on 13,555 participants from waves 1 (1994-1995) and 3 (2001-2002) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of US high school and middle school students. Adverse outcomes in adulthood included offending, alcohol problems, drug use, risky sexual behavior, violent victimization, depression, low self-esteem, suicidality, hospitalizations, sexually transmitted infections, extreme weight control, and obesity. Analyses were conducted separately for males and females. RESULTS: Our multivariate regression analyses demonstrated that adolescent victimization is a significant predictor of a host of problems in adulthood. Nevertheless, attachment to school and to family meaningfully reduced the effect of victimization on nearly every adult outcome we assessed. CONCLUSIONS: Strong attachments to school and family in adolescence can reduce the long-term harms of violence on the lives of young persons. Incorporating this insight into regular clinical assessment could yield significant behavioral, health, and psychoemotional benefits for victims of violence.

Prisoners' assessments of mental health problems among their children.

High rates of imprisonment among American men and women have motivated recent research on the well-being of children of incarcerated parents. Despite advances in the literature, little is known regarding the mental health status of children who experience maternal relative to paternal incarceration. Accordingly, we examine whether there are differences in mental health needs among children of incarcerated parents. Specifically, we assess whether incarcerated mothers are more likely than incarcerated fathers to report that their children suffer from mental health problems. Using cross-sectional data on children (N = 1,221) compiled from a sample of parents confined in the Arizona Department of Corrections, we find that children of incarcerated mothers are significantly more likely to be identified as suffering from mental health problems. This effect remained even after controlling for additional parent stressors and child risk factors such as exposure to violence, in utero exposure to drugs/alcohol, and parental mental illness. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.