Adolescent victimization: Testing models of resiliency by gender

The present study examined how risk and protective factors were associated with adoles-cent victimization by testing four competing models from resiliency research—the com-pensatory, risk-protective, protective-protective, and challenge models. Models were tested separately by gender. The data for this study were based on a multistate project that surveyed 992 eighth-grade students between the ages of 12 and 15 years (54% female, 54 % White) in at-risk urban and rural schools. Models incorporated family con-flict, anger expression, external locus of control, witnessing violence, and involvement in risky behaviors as risk factors; protective factors included social connectedness, paren-tal monitoring, and neighborhood cohesion. Results indicated support for the challenge model for both male and female early adolescents. Implications for prevention work and future research are discussed