Self-views Versus Peer Perceptions of Victim Status Among Early Adolescents

In this chapter, the authors examine self-ascriptions, or how victims construe the causes of their plight and how this belief pattern might impact intrapersonal consequences such as loneliness, anxiety, and passivity. Then they focus on attributions about others, or what victims, and how this belief pattern might influence interpersonal consequences such as rejection and neglect. The chapter concludes with a discussion of theoretical, methodological, and applied concerns that may serve as guides for future research on peer victimization from an attributional perspective.