Study Shows Early Childhood Factors Associated With Peer Victimization

A Pediatrics study of children in Canada identified early childhood factors associated with peer victimization such as physical or verbal abuse or bullying that occurred during different developmental stages. The study, “Early Childhood Factors Associated With Peer Victimization Trajectories from 6 to 17 Years of Age,” will be published in the April 2020 Pediatrics (published online April 1). The analysis was based on 1,760 children born in 1997-1998 who were enrolled in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. Participants were asked to self-report at ages 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 17 if they had been the target of physical, verbal or relational abuse by peers at least once. About one-third of children reported a low amount of peer victimization. About two-thirds of children were identified as in a high-chronic trajectory (11%), in which victimization was persistently higher than peers; a childhood-limited (26%) trajectory, in which early childhood victimization decreased by adolescence; or a moderate-emerging (30%) trajectory, in which victimization levels were moderate and remained relatively steady. Early childhood externalizing behaviors and family vulnerabilities were associated with the development of peer victimization, prompting the authors to suggest early interventions.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.