College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

Summer 8-20-2023

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Antonio Polo, PhD

Second Advisor

Yan Li, PhD

Abstract

Peer victimization is widespread and well-established as a risk factor for youth; however, few studies have examined the relation between peer victimization and post-traumatic stress symptoms among ethnic minority children and adolescents. Additionally, existing studies rarely investigate potential moderators of the relation and often utilize retrospective reports of peer victimization from adults. This study expands on the Regulatory Theory of Temperament (Strelau, 2008) by examining the role of emotional reactivity on the association between peer victimization and post-traumatic stress problems. The sample includes 275 predominantly low-income, Latinx (86.5%), and Mixed-Latinx (13.4%) Chicago Public School students ages 10-14 (M = 11.44 years, 55.3% female). Measures were collected at three time points, including reports of post-traumatic stress problems approximately one year apart. Peer victimization significantly predicted post-traumatic stress symptom changes. Additionally, emotional reactivity moderated the relation between peer victimization and changes in post-traumatic stress symptoms such that youth with low and moderate levels of emotional reactivity had lower post-traumatic stress symptoms one year later. Further, gender was not found to moderate the association between peer victimization and post-traumatic stress or the moderation effect of emotional reactivity on the association between peer victimization and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Implications of these findings and study limitations will be discussed.

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