2021/04/08 by Caina Li, Qingling Zhao, Wenjie Dai +1 · 22 citations
Psychology · #Aggression #Anger #Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes #Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Clinical psychology #Cognition #Developmental psychology #Injury prevention #Peer victimization #Poison control #Psychiatry #Psychology #Rumination #Sadness
paper · doi:10.1080/00223980.2021.1901254
published in The Journal of Psychology 155(4), 441-456 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2021/04/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This longitudinal study examined the link between peer victimization and relational aggression by testing the mediating roles of sadness and anger rumination, with attention to gender differences, among Chinese adolescents. Survey measures were administrated to 2,152 junior middle school students at two time points, one year apart. The results found that self-reported peer victimization (but not peer-nominated victimization) positively predicted relational aggression one year later, and this link was completely mediated by sadness and anger rumination. Specifically, perceived peer victimization exerted a positive influence on both sadness and anger rumination, thereby increasing adolescents' tendency to exhibit relational aggression one year later. Furthermore, victimized boys' elevated relational aggression was predominantly accounted for by their high sadness rumination, whereas victimized girls' elevated relational aggression was mainly due to their great anger rumination. Such a gender-difference suggests that interventions to reduce adolescents' externalizing problems may be most effective when tailored to each gender specifically.