Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 7, 2025

Author Spotlight: Understanding Adolescent Social Adversity Effects on Neurodevelopment in Mice
Published on: March 15, 2024
Are Peer-rejected Adolescents More Likely to Become Bullies or Victims? A Longitudinal Social Network Analysis
Mingling Xiong1, Xiaolin Guo2, Ping Ren3
1Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, No.19, Xinjiekouwai St, Haidian District, Beijing, 100875, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Although many studies have explored the effects of peer rejection on bullying and victimization, the specific targets of bullying and victimization in adolescents after experiencing rejection have not been identified. This study adopts longitudinal social network analysis to examine whether the effects of peer rejection on bullying and victimization are only for peers in the rejecting relationship or involve other peers. This two-wave longitudinal study included 2,223 Chinese junior high school students. Students reported rejection, bullying, and victimization at the end of the first semester of eighth grade (Mage = 13.93 years, SD = 0.60, 48.6% girls) and the end of the second semester of eighth grade (Mage = 14.38 years, SD = 0.59, 49.0% girls). After fitting the data to stochastic actor-oriented models, the results revealed that rejected adolescents are more likely to be victimized by peers who reject them but not by others. Conversely, rejected adolescents tend to bully peers who do not reject them. These findings suggest that rejected adolescents simultaneously are at risk of both developing as bullies and being forced to become victims. They target different peers in each context, reflecting the complexity of bullying and victimization among adolescents after being rejected by peers.
Related Concept Videos
Bullying
Influence of Parents and Peers on Identity
Parental Influence on Identity Development
Parents serve as primary guides and managers in an adolescent's life, offering support instrumental in decision-making and personal growth....
Relationship Formation
Longitudinal Research
Bystander Effect
Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development

