Promoting School Connectedness For Adolescents Who Experience Multiple Victimization

Abstract

Peer multiple victimization (PMV) predicts a range of negative behavioral, psychosocial, and school-related sequela. The processes through which an adolescent who experiences PMV develops negative outcomes has received attention, but processes that mitigate the impact of these negative outcomes are largely unknown. A lack of school connectedness has been robust predictor of subsequent negative developmental outcomes, and has been demonstrated to be associated with victimization. However, competencies from the social and emotional learning framework have been linked with developing positive social connections for adolescents. This study uses a series of multilevel models to investigate whether PMV is associated with school connectedness, and whether social and emotional learning competencies affects this relation. Participants were 6,401 (47.3% Female; 36.2% White) 9th through 12th grade students from 15 schools across a large urban public school district in a southeastern state. Results suggest that PMV is associated with a lack of school connectedness and that although social and emotional competencies are particularly relevant for adolescents who experience PMV, they do not significantly buffer this relationship. Thus, adolescents who experience PMV may benefit from social and emotional competencies in spite of overwhelming evidence of associations with negative outcomes. Research, theoretical and applied implications for this vulnerable group are discussed.