Peer Victimization and Friendship Quality: A Moderated Mediational Pathway With Social Withdrawal and Temperament

In this multi-informant study, we evaluated longitudinal associations between peer victimization and friendship quality and tested socially withdrawn behavior as a potential mediator. Since not all adolescents respond to victimization with social withdrawal, we also evaluated sensitivity to punishment, a temperament characterized by heightened sensitivity to aversive and potentially aversive consequences, as a moderator. Participants were 387 adolescents (M_age = 13.08, 52.4% female, 16.9% minoritized adolescents) and their parents were assessed across three annual waves. Cross-lagged path models showed that adolescent reports of victimization and social withdrawal were related concurrently, but not prospectively. No evidence of mediation or moderation was found, but high levels of social withdrawal prospectively predicted declines in friendship quality. Findings highlight social withdrawal’s negative impact on adolescent friendship quality and raise questions about prior assumptions about the stability of social withdrawal and peer victimization.