Citation

Jones JL, Kahn JH, Sullivan SD. Violence Vict. 2020; 35(1): 54-67.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Springer Publishing)

DOI

10.1891/0886-6708.VV-D-18-00085

PMID

32015069

Abstract

Being a victim of relational aggression is associated with many negative outcomes among adolescent girls, and diminished self-disclosure to peers may be one of them. Given this possibility, it is important to examine potential mediators of this relation. Middle-school girls (N = 180) completed paper-and-pencil measures of relational aggression victimization, self-disclosure to their peer group, and four potential mediators-outcome expectations about self-disclosure, loneliness, social anxiety, and self-esteem. Negative outcome expectations about disclosure and loneliness were significant mediators of the relation between being a victim of relational aggression and self-disclosing to the peer group. Despite the limitations of these cross-sectional data, the present findings suggest that relational aggression is associated with diminished disclosure to others because victimized girls experience heightened loneliness and because they believe that self-disclosure will lead to negative outcomes.

© Copyright 2020 Springer Publishing Company, LLC.

Language: en

Keywords

aggression; communication; middle school; peer relationships