We hypothesized that stress exposure, including peer victimization, may deplete adolescents’ coping resources, diminishing their ability to monitor, identify, and adaptively manage their emotions. Consistent with this hypothesis, previous studies have linked chronic stress exposure in children to a variety of difficulties with emotion regulation (Repetti et al. 2002; Cicchetti and Toth 2005; Mahady Wilton, et al. 2000; McLaughlin and Hatzenbuehler 2009). Moreover, youths who are victims of peer aggression have been found to exhibit elevated emotional arousal and reactivity (Schwartz, et al. 1993). We also hypothesized that elevations in emotion dysregulation would be associated with greater engagement in aggressive behaviors, in line with previous studies documenting these relationships (Bohnert et al. 2003; Cole et al. 1994; Shields and Cicchetti 1998; McLaughlin et al. 2011; Esienberg et al. 1994). In addition to confirming these relationships using longitudinal data from a large racially and ethnically diverse sample of early adolescents, we extend this previous research by documenting that emotion dysregulation mediated the longitudinal associations of both peer victimization and stressful life events with increases in aggression for both males and females.
