Links between direct and indirect childhood victimization, social information processing skills and antisocial behavior in adolescents

Child and adolescent victimization can impact cognitive processes and individuals’ subsequent social adjustment. These early experiences may affect the presence of biases in social information processing skills, increasing aggressive and maladaptive behaviors in children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to explore the associations between direct and indirect victimization experienced by a group of adolescents and their social information processing skills and engagement in antisocial behaviors over the last year. The sample comprised 364 adolescents from a high school in Spain. Aggressive self-efficacy has an indirect mediating effect on the relation between childhood and adolescent victimization and the development of antisocial behaviors. Indirect victimization is a slightly stronger predictor of antisocial behaviors than direct victimization. Understanding the behavioral and cognitive repercussions of childhood and adolescent victimization may help design and/or perfect interventions to avoid biased processing patterns being perpetuated and behavioral problems becoming chronic.