A Longitudinal Investigation of Peer Victimization, Self-esteem, Depression, and Anxiety among Adolescents: A Test of Cognitive Diathesis-stress Theory

This study examined the relationship between two types of peer victimization(overt and relational victimization), depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and selfesteem over three time points. Participants were 1171 fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth graders (623 females) recruited from four elementary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools in the Midwest. Students’ self-report on peer victimization, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and self-esteem was collected. Structural Equation Modeling was used to examine the relationship among those variables. The results showed that self-esteem mediated the relationship between two types of peer victimization and depressive symptoms. Self-esteem was found to mediate the relationship between two types of peer victimization and anxiety symptoms only among older students. Self-esteem was also found to moderate the relationship between relational victimization and depressive symptoms among older students. The results suggest that cognitive diathesis-stress model for depression can be interpreted as both a mediation and moderation model for older students, but only as a mediation model for younger students. The cognitive diathesis-stress moderation model only applies to depressive symptoms instead of anxiety symptoms. The cognitive diathesis-stress medication model for anxiety only applies to older students. Furthermore, the reciprocal relationship between relational victimization and depressive symptoms was also found. High self-esteem was found to protect adolescents from experiencing relational victimization and overt victimization six month later. Gender differences and transition group differences on the mean levels of the latent constructs and the relationship among those constructs were found. The implications for bullying prevention and intervention were discussed. Adviser: Susan M. Sweare