Abstract

The current series of three studies was designed to use the “buffering hypothesis” model to assess the relative buffering effectiveness of positive peer experiences and personal characteristics in the association between risk factors and peer victimization in a sample of 623 Colombian early adolescents. These longitudinal studies assessed the extent to which changes in victimization varied as a function of the interaction between risk factors and positive peer and personal experiences. Using structural equation modeling techniques, the results provide evidence that reveals the specificities of the protective effects of each of the moderators. Results from Study 1 supported previous findings by revealing a significant change on children’s victimization scores across the school year. More specifically, it was found that students experienced a decline on their victimization scores over the school year, and that this decline was especially strong for the students who had the highest levels of victimization at the beginning of the year. Similarly, results from Study 1 showed that both aggression and avoidance were predictive of initial scores on peer victimization, however, only avoidance was found to predict the ways in which children change over the school year. The buffering effectiveness of prosocial behaviour was also tested in this study. It was found that prosociality acts as a buffer only for highly relationally aggressive children at the beginning of the school year, and for highly avoidant children across the school year. Study 2 examined the moderating effect of positive provisions of friendship in the association between aggression, avoidance and peer victimization over time. Contrary to our expectations, results showed that for relationally aggressive students, having a high quality friendship predicted an increase on their victimization scores over time. In contrast, for highly avoidant children friendships were protective against risk of peer victimization. Finally, Study 3 examined how social problem solving skills impacted the relationship between risk factors and peer victimization over time. Only a main effect of this variable was found at the beginning of the year; no moderating effects emerged in the analyses. Results from all studies supported the buffering hypothesis model by providing evidence that the protective effect of positive peer experiences and personal characteristics is especially effective for children who are considered to be at-risk.