Mother-Adolescent Agreement Concerning Peer Victimization: Predictors and Relation to Coping

The current study analyzed adolescent, maternal, and family factors associated with mother-adolescent agreement on reports of verbal, relational, and physical forms of peer victimization. It also assessed the relationship between mother-adolescent agreement and adolescents’ coping response to peer victimization. The sample consisted of 783 adolescents (337 male, 446 female) between the ages 13–15 and their mothers. Consistent with previous research, results showed mother-adolescent agreement to be low, with kappa coefficients ranging from 0.15 to 0.30 on items measuring adolescent peer victimization. A multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that adolescent factors (age, gender, depression symptomology), maternal factors (depression symptomology, history of victimization), and family cohesion were significantly related to mother-adolescent agreement on reports of peer victimization. Lastly, mother-adolescent agreement on reports of adolescent peer victimization was associated with adolescents’ increased use of adult support seeking and problem-solving and decreased use of passive-coping, distancing, and revenge-seeking as a coping response to peer victimization.