Popularity in the Peer Group and Victimization Within Friendship Cliques During Early Adolescence

Victimization has been primarily studied within the broader peer group, leaving other potentially important contexts, such as friendship cliques, unexplored. This study examined the role of popularity in identifying protective factors that buffer against victimization within early adolescents’ (N = 387) friendship cliques. Previously identified protective factors that buffer against victimization within the broader peer group were examined as moderators in the link between popularity and victimization within the friendship clique. Results showed that peer-group features operated as either vulnerability or protective factors, depending upon popularity, gender, and the form of victimization. At higher levels of popularity, receiving social support from clique members operated as a vulnerability factor for overt victimization, whereas preference served a protective function. Prosocial behavior directed toward clique members was protective against relational victimization for girls who were higher in popularity, but was a vulnerability factor for boys who were higher in popularity.