Extending the healthy context paradox to nonintervention settings: Escalating problem behaviors among victimized social outliers

Abstract

It can be risky to be different. The healthy context paradox notes that a reduction in classroom bullying exacerbates problems for those who remain victimized (Huitsing et al., 2019). The present study extends this work by examining the costs associated with being a victimized social outlier [known also as a "social misfit" (Wright et al., 1986)] in (nonintervention) regular classroom settings, to determine whether students who are outliers in terms of classroom victimization respond with increasing adjustment problems. Participants were 706 public primary and middle school students (ages 9-14 years, Mage = 11.80, SDage = 1.13) in the United States (80 girls, 85 boys) and Lithuania (259 girls, 282 boys). Peer nominations of physical victimization and disruptiveness along with self-reports of physical victimization, conduct problems, and delinquent behavior were collected twice during an academic year (4 months apart). Longitudinal group actor-partner interdependence model analyses indicated that increases in adjustment problems over the course of the school year were a product of the degree to which a child was a victimized social outlier. Specifically, the discrepancy between individual victimization and classroom victimization norms at the beginning of the school year predicted increases in disruptiveness (d = -0.11), delinquent behavior (d = -0.10), and conduct problems (d = -0.08) from the beginning to the end of the school year. The results are consistent with the assertion that the risks of being a social outlier extend to those who stand apart in terms of their victimization experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).