The evaluation of perpetrators and victims of peer victimization: An extended crossed-categorization approach

This research uses a crossed-categorization design for examining the perception of peer victimization. Using vignettes and an experimental design, perpetrator and victim evaluations of Dutch and Turkish-Dutch early adolescents were examined in terms of ethnic and gender similarities between (1) respondent and perpetrator, (2) respondent and victim, and (3) perpetrator and victim. When the perpetrator was a double-ingroup member of the respondent (same ethnicity and same gender), perpetrators were evaluated less negatively and victims less positively than when the perpetrator was a single (gender or ethnicity) or double-outgroup member. Further, when the victim was a double-ingroup member of the respondent, perpetrators were evaluated more negatively and victims more positively. No perpetrator-victim crossed-categorization effects were found for perpetrator and victim evaluations. Perceived norms of intervention in the classroom had the expected main effects but did not moderate the crossed-categorization effects. The usefulness of a crossed-categorization approach for examining the perception of negative peer behavior is discussed. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.