Averdijk, M., Malti, T., Eisner, M., Ribeaud, D., & Farrington, D. P.2016-10-112016-10-112016Averdijk, M., Malti, T., Eisner, M., Ribeaud, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2016). A Vicious Cycle of Peer Victimization? Problem Behavior Mediates Stability in Peer Victimization Over Time. Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 2(2), 1-20http://www.academia.edu/download/42048435/Vicious_cycle_copy.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/2984Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the mediating role of children’s internalizing symptoms and aggressive behavior in cycles of peer victimization. We hypothesized that victimization increases internalizing problems, reactive, and indirect aggression, which in turn were expected to increase the likelihood of later peer victimization. Methods: Data from four waves of a longitudinal study among a culturally diverse sample of 7- to 11-year-olds were used. Peer victimization was assessed via children’s self-reports. Parents and children rated internalizing symptoms. Teachers provided information about proactive, reactive, and indirect aggression. We tested our hypotheses using path models with maximum likelihood estimation. Multiple imputation was used to treat the missing values. Results: Path analyses revealed that peer victimization increased later internalizing symptoms and reactive and indirect aggression when controlled for previous problem behavior. In contrast, proactive aggression was not affected by peer victimization. Reactive aggression and internalizing symptoms mediated the effect of prior on later peer victimization. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that children’s problem behavior may contribute to an escalating cycle of peer victimization. (Author Abstractenchild abusebullyingemotional abusephysical abuseInternational ResourcesSwitzerlandresearchArticle