The Impact Of Peer Victimization On Adolescent Social Anxiet

Social anxiety is an irrational and excessive fear of human interaction and social situations,manifesting intense social tension,distressing emotional experiences and a tendency to avoid social interactions.Research has shown that peer victimization has a significant impact on adolescent social anxiety,but the mediating and moderating mechanisms through which peer victimization acts have been less studied.Therefore,in order to clarify the mechanisms of peer victimization on social anxiety for adolescents’,this study followed the etiological model,the "pressure → resources → adaptation" paradigm and the stress buffer hypothesis to construct a mediating model to examine the mediating effect of rumination in the relationship between peer victimization and adolescents’ social anxiety,as well as the moderating effect of social support.The moderating role of social support was examined.It is intended to explain the underlying mechanisms of the association between peer victimization and adolescent social anxiety,so that educators can develop and improve effective interventions and preventive mechanisms to reduce adolescent social anxiety at its source.This not only enriches the theoretical research on the relationship between peer victimization and social anxiety,but also provides valuable theoretical and practical implications for how to reduce social anxiety among adolescents.A random sampling method was used to select 893 adolescents as subjects in four grades from junior to senior high school in a secondary school in Guangdong Province,of whom 417 were boys;476 were girls,aged 12 to 18 years old,with an average age of 14.39 years old.Their peer victimization,social anxiety,rumination,and social support were measured using The Delaware Bullying Victimisation Scale(DBVS-S),China Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescent(SAS-A),Perceived Social Support Scale(PSSS),Ruminative Responses Scale(RRS).The data was collation,management and analysis by SPSS26.0.The analysis of the results found :(1)After controlling demographic variables such as gender and grade,peer victimization can significantly positively predict adolescents’ social anxiety;(2)The relationship between rumination significantly mediated peer victimization and adolescent social anxiety.(3)Social support can significantly regulate the intermediary path of " rumination→ adolescent social anxiety".(4)Social support plays a moderating role in "peer victimization → adolescent social anxiety".Specifically,the moderating effect occurs in "peer victimization → adolescent social anxiety",which is significant among adolescents with low social support,but not among adolescents with high social support.The results of this study show that rumination is the intermediary mechanism of peer victimization affecting adolescents’ social anxiety,and social support helps to cushion this risk effect.This reminds us to strengthen the prevention and response to peer abuse,improve bad thinking modes such as rumination and improve the curriculum system of mental health in middle schools.Making good use of teenagers’ support system is helpful to prevent and control teenagers’ social anxiety.