Using a short-term longitudinal design, internalizing and
externalizing emotions were examined as risk factors for being
victimized by peers in early childhood. Regulation, aggression, and
withdrawal were also tested as mediators. We found that anger, mediated
by aggression and regulation, positively predicted being victimized,
although the way in which anger related to victimization risk varied
for boys and girls and across time. These findings were robust,
particularly for girls, attesting to the importance of externalizing
variables as risk factors for young children's victimization.
Support for internalizing variables as risk factors for being
victimized was weak. The implications of the findings for developmental
models connecting symptomatology and victimization are discussed.The authors thank all of the students,
children, parents, and teachers who participated in this research.
Richard A. Fabes and Nancy Eisenberg were funded in part by grants from
the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 HH55052 and R01 MH60838)
and a Research Scientist Award to Nancy Eisenberg (K05 M801321). Laura
D. Hanish was funded by an Arizona State University Faculty
Grant-in-Aid. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the 108th
Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, August
2000, Washington, DC.