What is it about?
Physical and social victimization by peers can increase depressive symptoms in adolescents. We found that those adolescents who are high in social intelligence are less aversely affected by peer victimization than their peers who are low in social intelligence. Schools can help increase social intelligence so youth are more resilient to peer victimization.
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Why is it important?
Peer victimization is quite common and distressing, even leading some youth to become suicidal. By identifying qualities that make some youth resilient to peer victimization, we can develop ways to develop those qualities in youth and help to prevent dire outcomes.
Perspectives
I believe that these findings point to the importance of developing social and emotional intelligence in youth. I hope this work gets school administrators and educators to create more opportunities in their curriculum to develop social-emotional skills in youth.
Stephen Lepore
Temple University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Social intelligence attenuates association between peer victimization and depressive symptoms among adolescents., Psychology of Violence, February 2019, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/vio0000234.
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