This study reports a short-term prospective investigation of the role of peer group
victimization in the development of children's behavior problems, at home and in school.
Sociometric interviews were utilized to assess aggression, victimization by peers, and peer
rejection, for 330 children who were in either the third or fourth grade (approximate mean ages
of 8–9 years old). Behavior problems were assessed using standardized behavior
checklists completed by mothers and teachers. A follow-up assessment of behavior problems was
completed 2 years later, when the children were in either the fifth or sixth grade (approximate
mean ages of 10–11 years old). Victimization was both concurrently and prospectively
associated with externalizing, attention dysregulation, and immature/dependent behavior.
Victimization also predicted increases in these difficulties over time, and incremented the
prediction in later behavior problems associated with peer rejection and aggression. The results
of this investigation demonstrate that victimization in the peer group is an important predictor of
later behavioral maladjustment.