Citation

Perhamus GR, Perry KJ, Murray-Close D, Ostrov JM. Dev. Psychopathol. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1017/S0954579421000298

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study tested the independent effects and interactions of sympathetic nervous system reactivity and hostile attribution biases (HAB) in predicting change in pure and co-occurring relational bullying and victimization experiences over one year. Co-occurring and pure relational bullying and victimization experiences were measured using a dimensional bifactor model, aiming to address methodological limitations of categorical approaches, using data from 300 preschoolers (Mage = 44.70 months, SD = 4.38). Factor scores were then saved and used in nested path analyses with a subset of participants (n = 81) to test main study hypotheses regarding effects of HAB and skin conductance level reactivity (SCL-R). Bifactor models provided good fit to the data at two independent time points. HAB and SCL-R interacted to predict increases in co-occurring relational bullying/victimization with evidence for over- and underarousal pathways.

Language: en

Keywords

autonomic nervous system; early childhood; hostile attribution bias; relational bullying; relational victimization