Moderators of the Link Between Social Preference and Persistent Peer Victimization for Elementary School Children

Objective Current antibullying programs can reduce overall rates of victimization but appear to overlook processes that give rise to persistent peer victimization. Needed are studies that delineate the interplay between social contextual and individual difference variables that contribute to persistent peer victimization. We examined the extent to which two individual-difference variables – internalizing symptoms (IS) and anxiety sensitivity (AS) – moderated the link between children's average social preference score across the school year and their status as persistent victims.