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Risk and Protective Pathways to Peer Victimization from Infancy to Adolescence: Role of Fathers

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Abstract

This study examined the developmental pathways from fathers’ psychopathology in early childhood to child peer victimization (bullying and cyber victimization) in late adolescence via family relationships and early adolescent psychosocial functioning (anxiety, emotion regulation, social problems). A conceptual model with pathways through inter-parental aggression and fathers’ parenting (harshness and sensitivity) was tested. Participants were 227 families (51% female children recruited as infants) who participated in a longitudinal study examining the role of parental alcohol problems and associated risks on developmental and family processes from infancy to late adolescence. Multi-method (observational, parent report, adolescent report) assessments of family processes and child outcomes were conducted across all time points. Fathers’ alcohol problems and depressive symptoms in early childhood was prospectively associated with inter-parental aggression in middle childhood and social problems in early adolescence. For boys only, early adolescent social problems were predictive of bullying victimization. Fathers’ antisocial behavior in early childhood was associated with less sensitive parenting in middle childhood. Fathers’ sensitivity in middle childhood was protective, being associated with lower cyber victimization in late adolescence. Fathers’ sensitivity was also associated with higher emotion regulation in early adolescence; however, counter to expectations, higher emotion regulation was associated with more bullying and cyber victimization. Findings shed light on differences in the etiological pathways to bullying and cyber victimization, as well as how distinct forms of paternal psychopathology in early childhood associate with family relationships, child adjustment, and vulnerability to peer victimization in late adolescence.

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Acknowledgments

The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibition are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice or the National Institutes of Health. We are grateful to families who were part of this longitudinal study and to research staff and students who conducted family assessments and project management.

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Funding

This research was supported by Award 2012-W9-BX-0001, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice and by the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse of the National Institutes of Health R01 AA010042 and R21AA021617.

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Correspondence to Rina D. Eiden.

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Eiden, R.D., Livingston, J.A., Kelm, M.R. et al. Risk and Protective Pathways to Peer Victimization from Infancy to Adolescence: Role of Fathers. ADV RES SCI 2, 109–123 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-020-00028-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-020-00028-0

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