Peer Victimization, Social Functioning, and Temperament Traits in Preschool Children: The Role of Gender, Immigrant Stat
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Peer Victimization, Social Functioning, and Temperament Traits in Preschool Children: The Role of Gender, Immigrant Status and Sympathy Jessica Pistella 1 & Federica Zava 1 & Stefania Sette 1 Emma Baumgartner 1 & Roberto Baiocco 1
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Accepted: 1 April 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Although previous research on peer victimization has focused on school-aged children and adolescents, interest in peer victimization in preschool children has significantly grown in recent decades. The present study examined the role of temperament traits and social functioning in children’s peer victimization, taking into account the moderating effects of gender, immigrant status, and sympathy. Participants were 284 preschool children (141 girl, 143 boy) between the ages of 30 and 76 months (Mmonths = 57.21, SD = 10.49). One parent (83% mothers) and one teacher (100% female) completed a questionnaire on each child. In the questionnaires, parents evaluated the child’s temperament traits whereas teachers reported on the child’s social functioning, sympathy, and peer victimization. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that high peer victimization was associated with immigrant children, high anxiety-withdrawal, high anger-aggression, and low sympathy. Two-way interactions were found between sympathy and anxiety-withdrawal and between immigrant status and angeraggression; simple slopes analyses showed that sympathetic children with low anxiety-withdrawal were less victimized than those with higher anxiety-withdrawal. Moreover, immigrant participants with high anger-aggression were more victimized than native children with high anger-aggression. The empirical data are essential for improving our understanding of peer victimization among preschool children in order to implement a safe learning environment for all children. Keywords Peer victimization . Preschool children . Immigrant status . Sympathy . Social
functioning . Temperament traits Peer victimization is defined as the condition of being subjected to harmful behavior by peers (Olweus 1993); such behavior may include verbal teasing, harassment, and * Roberto Baiocco [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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unjustified aggression, repeatedly and over time. Peer victimization may occur in various forms, including direct behavior (e.g., verbal teasing, physical aggression, or a combination of these) and indirect manifestations (e.g., name-calling and social exclusion). The majority of research on peer victimization has been conducted with school-aged children and adolescents (Pistella et al. 2019; Pouwels et al. 2016; Storch et al. 2005), while only limited attention has been given to preschool children (Alsaker and Valkanover 2001; Camodeca and Coppola 2019; Garner and Lemerise 2007; Perren and Alsaker 2006; Vlachou et al. 2011). Some authors (Kochenderfer and Ladd 1996; Pouwels et al. 2016) have found that children who are victimized in kindergarten are more likely to skip school in
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