Sensitive periods for the effect of peer victimization on self-cognition: moderation by age and gender.

The link between the experience of peer victimization (PV) and future psychological maladjustment has been consistently documented; however, little is known about intermediary cognitive processes that underlie this relation or how these processes vary across childhood. The present study examined the prospective relations between physical and relational PV and the development of negative and positive automatic thoughts and self-cognitions. Self-reports of cognitions and peer nomination measures of victimization were obtained from 1,242 children and young adolescents (Grades 3 through 6) in a two-wave longitudinal study.

Linking peer victimization to the development of depressive self-schemas in children and adolescents.

Previous theory and research suggest that childhood experiences are more likely to generate depressive self-schemas when they focus attention on negative information about oneself, generate strong negative affect, and are repetitive or chronic. Persistent peer victimization meets these criteria. In the current study, 214 youths (112 females) with empirically-validated histories of high or low peer victimization completed self-report measures of negative and positive self-cognitions as well as incidental recall and recognition tests following a self-referent encoding task.

Does supportive parenting mitigate the longitudinal effects of peer victimization on depressive thoughts and symptoms in children?

Cohen and Wills (Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A.

Targeted peer victimization and the construction of positive and negative self-cognitions: connections to depressive symptoms in children.

The goal was to examine the relation of covert/relational and overt/physical targeted peer victimization (TPV) to each other, to positive and negative self-cognitions, and to symptoms of depression. In a sample of elementary and middle school children, TPV was assessed by self-report, peer-nomination, and parent report in a multitrait-multimethod study. Positive and negative self-cognitions and depressive symptoms were assessed by self-report.

Children's responses to mothers' and fathers' emotionality and tactics in marital conflict in the home.

Addressing a gap in methodological approaches to the study of links between marital conflict and children, 51 couples were trained to complete home diary reports on everyday marital conflicts and children's responses. Parental negative emotionality and destructive conflict tactics related to children's insecure emotional and behavioral responses. Parental positive emotionality and constructive conflict tactics were linked with children's secure emotional responding.