Volume 91, Issue 4 p. e968-e983
Empirical Article

Peer Victimization and Problem Behaviors: The Roles of Self-Esteem and Parental Attachment Among Chinese Adolescents

Yangu Pan

Corresponding Author

Yangu Pan

Southwestern University of Finance and Economics

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Yangu Pan, Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, No. 555, Liutai Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu 611130, China or Dajun Zhang, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, No. 2, Tiansheng Street, Beibei District, Chongqing 400715, China. Electronic mail may be sent to [email protected] or [email protected].

Search for more papers by this author
Chunyan Yang

Chunyan Yang

University of California, Berkeley

Search for more papers by this author
Guangzeng Liu

Guangzeng Liu

Southwest University

Search for more papers by this author
Meiki Chan

Meiki Chan

University of California, Santa Barbara

Search for more papers by this author
Chuanxing Liu

Chuanxing Liu

Sichuan Institute of Education Sciences

Search for more papers by this author
Dajun Zhang

Corresponding Author

Dajun Zhang

Southwest University

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Yangu Pan, Research Institute of Social Development, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, No. 555, Liutai Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu 611130, China or Dajun Zhang, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, No. 2, Tiansheng Street, Beibei District, Chongqing 400715, China. Electronic mail may be sent to [email protected] or [email protected].

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 30 October 2019
Citations: 33
We thank Professor Michael J. Furlong at Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, for his helpful feedback to this manuscript. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China awarded to Dajun Zhang (31671149) and the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Youth Fund from Ministry of Education of China awarded to Yangu Pan (18YJC190017).

Abstract

Guided by the social-ecological diathesis–stress model, this longitudinal study examined the roles of self-esteem, parental attachment, and gender on the association between peer victimization and problem behaviors among Chinese early adolescents. A total of 466 Chinese middle school students (Mage = 12.8 years) completed measures of peer victimization, self-esteem, and paternal and maternal attachment twice (T1 and T2; 6-month interval). Their guardians also completed ratings on adolescents' problem behaviors at both T1 and T2. Results indicated that self-esteem mediated the association between peer victimization and problem behaviors. Paternal attachment, but not maternal attachment, moderated the mediating effect of self-esteem. Moreover, the moderating effect of maternal attachment on the association between peer victimization and self-esteem varied depending on adolescents’ gender.