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- Holmqvist Gattario, Kristina, 1981, et al.
(författare)
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The Development and Interaction of Peer Victimization and Peer Sexual Harassment in Children Between Ages 10 to 12 Years
- 2023
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Ingår i: European Conference on Developmental Psychology (ECDP) 2023, Turku, Finland.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background/Aim: The literature concerning children’s experiences of peer victimization uses a plethora of concepts in its theories and measurements, such as peer victimization, peer harassment, peer aggression, or bullying. Yet there is little guidance regarding how these concepts are related to one another. During recent years, peer sexual harassment, including unwanted sexual attention from peers, has been added to the list of concepts, although it is still underexplored among pre-adolescent children. Peer sexual harassment is arguably more specific than peer victimization, and may partly be covered by measures assessing peer victimization. However, there may also be differences in the concepts’ development over time. Whereas peer victimization is most common among pre-pubertal children, peer sexual harassment is often assumed to peak as children reach puberty and interest in sexual behaviors increases. Disentangling how peer victimization and peer sexual harassment develop in relation to one another and over time at a time when many children reach puberty, could help advance the literature regarding these concepts. Hence, the aim of this study was to examine how peer victimization and peer sexual harassment develop and interact over time in children between the ages 10-12 years. Method: The study is based on three-wave questionnaire data collected in the PRISE-project (T1 N = 997, M age = 10.0 years, 48% girls; T2 N = 966; T3 N = 881 [88% of original sample]). Results: Peer sexual harassment increased between ages 10-12 years for both boys and girls, whereas peer victimization increased only for girls. Correlations between peer victimization and peer sexual harassment were strong at baseline (age 10 years; T1: boys r = .60, T1: girls r = .63) but became weaker over time for both boys (T2: r = .58, T3: r = .51) and girls (T2: r = .60; T3: r = .49). A multivariate multigroup LGCM analysis further demonstrated that more peer victimization at baseline was positively related to higher levels of peer sexual harassment at baseline for both boys and girls. For girls only, the slopes between peer victimization and peer sexual harassment were positively related to each other, and higher initial levels of peer sexual harassment were related to a less steep slope of peer victimization. Discussion/Conclusion: The current findings suggest that peer victimization (girls only) and peer sexual harassment become increasingly frequent experiences for children between ages 10-12 years. These experiences were more related to one another when the children were younger and became less related as they grew older, suggesting that the concepts change in relation to one another as many children reach puberty. For girls, peer sexual harassment and peer victimization seem to follow a more similar path than for boys, suggesting that there is more overlap between how the concepts develop among girls. We conclude that the concepts of peer victimization and peer sexual harassment and their development are closely linked to one another, especially for girls; yet, these concepts become more distinct as children grow older potentially reflecting biological, psychological, and social developmental changes.
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| 3. |
- Valik, Andrea, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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Characteristics of peer sexual harassment in late childhood: What, where, who and how often?
- 2020
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Ingår i: European Association for Research on Adolescence (EARA) 2020 (Online) Conference - Adolescence in a rapidly changing world, held in Porto, Portugal, from 2nd to 5th September 2020.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Peer sexual harassment (PSH), or unwanted sexual attention, is highly prevalent in mid-adolescence. PSH is assumed to start with puberty, which occurs in early adolescence. However, because research on PSH before puberty is basically non-existent, this assumption is still to be tested empirically. Research question(s): The aim of this study was to examine PSH in late childhood in terms of prevalence (victimization, perpetration, and witnessing), types of PSH, the context of PSH (age and gender of perpetrator, location and bystanders), and victims’ reactions to PSH. Methods: The study is part of the three-year longitudinal PRISE study examining PSH in Swedish middle schools (ages 10-12 years; Skoog et al., 2019). The present results are based on questionnaire data collected at the first and ongoing wave of the study, comprising a sample of 10-year-old boys (n=259) and girls (n=287) from 16 schools. Results: Approximately half of the participants reported PSH victimization at least once during the current semester, a sixth reported PSH perpetration, and two thirds reported witnessing PSH. Exposure to verbal PSH was the most frequent type reported by victims, and especially by boys. PSH most frequently occurred at the schoolyard and the perpetrator was often a same-age boy. Victims reported that other students were the most frequent bystanders of PSH. Victims often reacted to the harassment by not caring about it or telling the perpetrator off. Discussion: PSH, especially verbal forms, is highly prevalent already before the age of puberty. This finding challenges assumptions that PSH typically onsets in adolescence. Boys were more likely than girls to be both victims and perpetrators of (verbal) PSH. That PSH occurs at schoolyards, in the presence of peers, makes room for interpreting, and dealing with, PSH as a group phenomenon. The findings also highlight the need for early prevention against PSH.
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| 4. |
- Valik, Andrea, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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Peer sexual harassment among 10-year-olds: Roles, genders, classroom occurrence, and associations with emotional problems
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Research on Adolescence. - 1050-8392. ; 00, s. 1-15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This is the first study examining peer sexual harassment among 10-year-olds (N = 985), studying how being a victim, perpetrator, or witness relates to emotional problems, and how these associations are moderated by gender and class occurrence of sexual harassment. Results showed that 45% of the participants reported victimization, 17% perpetration, and 60% witnessing sexual harassment, with vast overlaps between roles. Victimization and witnessing were related to more emotional problems. Victimized girls reported more emotional problems than boys, but girls who perpetrated reported fewer emotional problems than boys. Associations between peer sexual harassment and emotional problems varied across classrooms. Our findings highlight the occurrence of peer sexual harassment in younger ages, emphasizing an ecological perspective when addressing it in school.
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| 7. |
- Valik, Andrea, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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PSH-C: A measure of peer sexual harassment among children
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Social Issues. - : Wiley. - 0022-4537 .- 1540-4560. ; 79:4, s. 1123-1146
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Peer sexual harassment among adolescents is a widespread problem worldwide, associated with several adverse outcomes. Although retrospective reports indicate that people's first experience of peer sexual harassment occurs before puberty, research in younger ages is still scarce and measures of peer sexual harassment developed for children are lacking. This study explores the possibility of measuring peer sexual harassment in late childhood by evaluating a new scale of developmentally informed items, the Peer Sexual Harassment Scale-Child (PSH-C), designed to capture peer sexual harassment (i.e., victimization, perpetration, and witnessing) in late childhood (ages 10-12 years) in the school context. Self-report surveys were distributed to 1007 fourth-grade students in Sweden (M age = 10.0 years, SD = .3, n = 516 girls). The PSH-C showed good psychometric properties, supporting the scale's ability to capture peer sexual harassment in late childhood. Exploratory structural equation analyses suggested a two-factor structure which was confirmed by confirmatory factor analyses: 1) direct verbal sexual aggression, and 2) direct physical sexual harassment, verbal comments and jokes, and visual sexual harassment. The division of the structure contradicts previous studies of adolescents, possibly indicating a difference in the peer sexual harassment construct in relation to development and age.
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