Intergenerational Links in Victimization: Prosocial Friends as a Buffer

Date

2015

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma

Abstract

This study investigated whether having friends who engaged in more prosocial than antisocial behaviors buffered the associations between family-of-origin aggression and later victimization. Adolescent participants (N=125) and their parents reported on different types of family aggression in early adolescence. Approximately 5 years later, adolescents reported on their victimization experiences with dating partners and friends, and their friends’ prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Only father-to-child aggression was significantly associated with dating and friend victimization, with stronger risk for females’ dating victimization. Moreover, having friends who engaged in more prosocial than antisocial behaviors had both a direct inverse relationship with dating partner victimization. This also buffered the risk for dating victimization associated with father-daughter aggression. Findings suggest that greater attention be paid to the father-daughter relationship and to the importance of having friends who engage in prosocial behaviors in the prevention of adolescents’ victimization. (Author Abstract)

Description

Keywords

child abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, teens, youth, revictimization, long term effects, parenting, prevention, research

Citation

Han, Sohyun C. ; Margolin, Gayla. (2015). Intergenerational Links in Victimization: Prosocial Friends as a Buffer. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 9(2), 153-165.

DOI