Background and purpose: Schoolchildren with language difficulties experience more peer-victimization compared to their typically developing (TD) peers.
Whether these children also bully their peers (bully-perpetration) more than TD children in unclear. Furthermore, little is known about peer-victimization and bully-perpetration among preschool children with language difficulties, and how it may be related to different paths of language difficulties. This study aimed to investigate associations between language difficulties, peer-victimization and bully-perpetration from preschool to school age, and the risk of peer-victimization and bully-perpetration for children with different developmental paths of language difficulties and mild language difficulties compared to TD children.
Method: The sample was drawn from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Participants with completed questionnaires at three, five and eight years (n=22 628) were included. Paths between latent variables of language skills at three, five and eight years, peer-victimization at five and eight years, and bully-perpetration at eight years were examined with structural equation modelling. Logistic regression was used to investigate peer-victimization and bully-perpetration for predefined paths of language difficulties.
Results: Poor language skills at three and five years were associated with peer-victimization at five years. Poor language skills at five and eight years were associated with peer-victimization and bully-perpetration at eight years. The association between poor language skills at five years and bully-perpetration at eight years was stronger for girls. Persistent paths of language difficulties from three, five to eight years showed the highest risk of peer-victimization and bully-perpetration.
Conclusions: Language difficulties are associated with peer-victimization and bully-perpetration. The risk of peer-victimization and bully-perpetration differs according to different developmental paths of language difficulties from preschool to school age.
Øksendal, E., Brandlistuen, R. E., Wolke, D., Helland, S. S., Holte, A., & Wang, M. V. (2021 0nline first). Associations Between Language Difficulties, Peer Victimization, and Bully Perpetration From 3 Through 8 Years of Age: Results From a Population-Based Study. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00406