Victims Become Covert Aggressors: Gender Differences in the Mediating Effects of Rumination on Anger and Sadness

This longitudinal study examined the link between peer victimization and relational aggression by testing the mediating roles of sadness and anger rumination, with attention to gender differences, among Chinese adolescents. Survey measures were administrated to 2,152 junior middle school students at two time points, one year apart. The results found that self-reported peer victimization (but not peer-nominated victimization) positively predicted relational aggression one year later, and this link was completely mediated by sadness and anger rumination. Specifically, perceived peer victimization exerted a positive influence on both sadness and anger rumination, thereby increasing adolescents’ tendency to exhibit relational aggression one year later. Furthermore, victimized boys’ elevated relational aggression was predominantly accounted for by their high sadness rumination, whereas victimized girls’ elevated relational aggression was mainly due to their great anger rumination. Such a gender-difference suggests that interventions to reduce adolescents’ externalizing problems may be most effective when tailored to each gender specifically.