Daily Peer Victimization and Adolescent Mood: Indirect Links through Sleep Quality and Daytime Dysfunction

Past research indicates that daily peer victimization is associated with adolescent mood disturbances, but the pathways underlying such links remain unclear. The current study used daily diary data to test sleep as a mechanism explaining cross-day associations from peer victimization to mood. Participants were 195 adolescents in the Midwestern USA (Mage = 16.48, SD = 0.53; 66% female) who completed brief assessments of peer victimization, sleep, and negative and positive mood for 14 consecutive days. Although previous-day peer victimization was not directly associated with next-day mood, victimization was indirectly associated with next-day negative and positive mood via two sleep indicators. Specifically, previous-day peer victimization predicted poorer same-night sleep quality and, in turn, increased negative mood and decreased positive mood the next day. Previous-day peer victimization also predicted greater next-day sleep-related dysfunction (i.e., daytime sleepiness and lethargy) and, in turn, increased negative mood and decreased positive mood. Indirect effects via sleep duration and latency were not significant. The findings implicate sleep quality and daytime dysfunction as specific mechanisms in the link from adolescents’ daily peer victimization to mood fluctuations, highlighting potential intervention targets to disrupt the acute emotional toll of peer stress.