1036
Paper presentation
Who Victimizes Whom and Who Defends Whom? A Multivariate Social Network Analysis of
Victimization and Defending in Early Childhood
Gijs Huitsing
Aggression at an early age increases the risk of future aggression and bullying. It is therefore
imperative for intervention purposes to gain knowledge on peer-victimization at the moment
children first begin preschool or school (Barker et al, 2008).
The current study is the first to employ a detailed social network approach to the relationships
between aggressors and their targets, and victims and their defenders among young children (5- to 7years-old). The main aim of the study was to investigate the interplay between victimization (i.e.,
aggressor-victim) and defending (i.e., victim- defender) networks. Specifically, it was investigated
whether advanced relational structures of defending among aggressors and defending among
victims, previously found in middle/late childhood (Huitsing et al. 2012, 2014), are already present in
early childhood. In addition, we examined the network structure of the victimization and defending
relations and individual factors (sex of the children and teacher-rated levels of dominance and
insecurity).
Data stem from 177 children during the first three years of schooling in the United Kingdom (54.5%
boys; mean age 75.6 months; SD=10.39) and their teachers (7 classrooms from 3 schools). Each child
was individually interviewed, and asked to identify anyone in their class who behaved aggressively
and to whom (peer-reported victim-aggressor relationships). Children were subsequently asked who
defends each victim (peer-reported victim-defender relationships).
Cross-sectional Social Network Analysis (ERGMs, Robins et al., 2009) showed that aggressors indeed
defended each other when they targeted the same victims. Defending among victims with the same
aggressors was less pronounced.
Sex played an important role in victimization networks: boys were more aggressive than girls,
towards both boys and girls. Defending was clearly a same-gender phenomenon; it was less likely
that boys were defended by girls or vice versa.
Teacher-rated dominance predicted involvement in both aggression and victimization, whereas
teacher-rated insecurity predicted less aggression. Victims who were defended were rated by
teachers as less insecure than undefended victims.
These findings indicate that peer networks in early childhood already form complex patterns, where
aggressive children defend other aggressors. Defending among victims was less prevalent, which may
be explained by the relative instability of victimization at this age (Snyder et al., 2003). The network
approach to peer-victimization and defending among young children contributes to understanding
the roots of the early development of aggression in group-related social processes.