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The healthy context paradox indicates that in "healthy" contexts, with lower bullying or victimization norms, victimization experiences would unexpectedly exacerbate adolescents' adjustment difficulties, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, particularly from the clique perspective. The current 2-year longitudinal multilevel study attempts to examine the conditional effects of both clique structure (i.e., status hierarchy) and clique norms (i.e., aggression norms) on the relationship between individual victimization and aggressive behavior. The sample consisted of 691 Chinese junior high school students (M age  = 12.74, SD = 0.43; 55.6% boys), who were identified to belong to 153 cliques with sizes varying from 3 to 12 students (M size  = 5.08, SD = 1.89), according to the social cognitive map. Participants completed peer-nominated measures at two time points, two years apart. The multilevel models revealed that it was in less hierarchical cliques with lower aggression that victimized adolescents would exhibit more relational forms of aggression (rather than overt forms) two years later. More intriguingly, contrary results were found in all-girls cliques and all-boys cliques. Specifically, victimized girls' overt and relational aggression was higher in cliques with less hierarchy and lower aggression, whereas, in cliques with more hierarchy and higher aggression, victimized boys' relational aggression was higher, which conforms to the healthy context paradox and the peer contagion hypothesis, respectively. These findings highlight that egalitarian cliques with low aggression would promote aggressive behavior of victimized adolescents, especially for girls rather than for boys, which in turn has crucial implications for anti-bullying interventions., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Bullying victimization has been linked to an elevated risk of both internalizing and externalizing problems, yet the mechanisms underlying these associations, especially from the perspective of naturally occurring informal cliques, are not well understood. Based on two contrasting hypotheses from the healthy context paradox and the peer contagion hypothesis, the current 2-year longitudinal study (a) investigated the interaction effects of individual victimization (i.e., physical, verbal, and relational forms) and clique victimization norms on their reactive-proactive aggression and (b) examined whether they were distinct to these effects on depressive symptoms. Both self-reported and peer-nominated surveys were administrated to 691 junior high school students (55.6% boys; M age  = 12.74, SD = 0.43 years) who were identified from 153 cliques (M size  = 5.08, SD = 1.89) using a social cognitive map, at two time points 2 years apart. Multilevel modeling indicated that both physical and relational victims (except verbal victims) at baseline committed more reactive forms of aggression (not proactive forms) in cliques with lower victimization norms 2 years later. Similarly, physical victims in lower-victimization cliques reported more depressive symptoms 2 years later. Additionally, these significant results were found in self-reported forms of victimization, but not peer-nominated forms. These findings confirm the healthy context paradox in both individual internalizing and externalizing problems in clique contexts, and elaborate this paradox on different forms of victimization, which provide a more nuanced understanding and have important implications in the field of anti-bullying interventions., (Copyright © 2022 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The current three-wave longitudinal study investigated whether peer victimization would activate adolescents' rumination and rejection sensitivity, and therefore exacerbate subsequent loneliness. Surveys were administered to adolescents across three measurements, one year apart. Eight hundred and fifty-seven Chinese adolescents (56.62% males; Mage = 14.73, SD = 0.43) completed self-reported and peer-nominated measures of victimization, rumination, rejection sensitivity and loneliness. Results revealed that self-reported, but not peer-nominated victimization at baseline directly predicted adolescent loneliness one year later. Moreover, both rumination and rejection sensitivity exerted mediating effects on the relationship between self-reported victimization and loneliness. Additionally, this parallel mediation model was robust across gender. These findings suggest that self-perceived peer victimization would increase Chinese adolescents' loneliness since they employ rumination and rejection sensitivity to cope with peer victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research has documented the adverse effect of peer victimization on academic achievement, little is known about the underlying mechanism. This three-wave longitudinal study attempts to examine whether school burnout would explain the influence of peer victimization on academic achievement and whether this undesirable effect would be conditional on parental warmth using a sample of 706 Chinese adolescents (54.77% boys; M age = 12.72 years, SD = 0.40 at baseline). Both self-reported and peer-nominated victimization, school burnout, and parental warmth were assessed at baseline, and school burnout was measured 1 year later. Their academic achievement was collected from school records at baseline and 2 years later. The results revealed that self-reported (rather than peer-nominated) victimization at baseline impaired students' academic achievement 2 years later through increasing their school burnout. Interestingly, higher parental warmth aggravated, rather than alleviated this indirect effect. These findings support the Reverse Stress-Buffering Model and the Ecological Systems Theory highlighting the importance of considering multiple interpersonal relationships simultaneously to heighten adolescent academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]