Erica Van Overloop, an advanced doctoral student completing her predoctoral internship at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, successfully defended her dissertation this week. Erica's dissertation examined the relationship of peer victimization, including that which occurred before and during college, to trauma symptoms and well-being among college students.

She found that most college students reported experiencing peer victimization before college, with approximately half meeting accepted definitions of bullying victimization. Moreover, most students reported experiencing peer victimization during college. As expected, peer victimization was associated with trauma symptoms. The model she tested supported the concept of re-victimization in that victimization before college predicted victimization during college. In fact, victimization during college mediated the relationship between victimization before college and well-being. Contrary to what was predicted, perceived social support did not moderate these relationships.

This was one of the lab's first projects focusing on peer victimization, and we learned a great deal from it that we plan to apply in future research.

Congratulations to Erica on her successful defense!

Tags: victimization, trauma