The co‐evolution of friendship, defending behaviors, and peer victimization: A short‐term longitudinal social network analysis

Peers are critical influencers of adolescent behavior, including defending against peer victimization. The current research explored peer influence processes associated with four different types of peer‐defending behaviors (comforting, reporting, solution‐focused, and aggressive defending behaviors) within early adolescent friendship networks. Links with peer victimization, friendship ties, and gender were also explored. Data were collected from 334 early adolescents ages 11–14 in Canada. Participants self‐reported on defending behaviors, victimization, and friendships over two time‐points, 8–10 weeks apart. Data were analyzed using Stochastic Actor‐Oriented Models (SAOMs). After controlling for friendship network structure and peer selection for defending behaviors, results indicated significant peer socialization effects for comforting, reporting, and solution‐focused defending. For solution‐focused defending only, the peer socialization effect was significantly stronger for girls than for boys. There were no significant selection effects across defending behaviors. In terms of social outcomes, youth with higher levels of reporting tended to have higher levels of peer victimization (and vice versa). Peer victimization was also positively associated with aggressive defending. Defending behaviors were generally unrelated to changes in friendship ties. Overall, these results highlight how friendships contribute to the development of peer‐defending behaviors and emphasize the need to examine defending as a multidimensional behavior.