A longitudinal investigation of the happy victimizer tendency in childhood: A matter of control or care?

This study examined the course and correlates of the happy victimizer tendency-the expectation that harming others to achieve a goal will result in positive emotional outcomes for the transgressor-from 4 to 6 years of age in a community sample of Canadian children (N = 150; 50% female; Time 1 Mage = 4.53 years, SD = .30; 33% European background). At each time point, we conducted semistructured interviews with children to assess their emotion expectancies and reasoning in response to hypothetical acts of aggression. Caregivers (84% mothers; 91% college diploma or higher; 41% yearly household income ≥$125,000 CAD [approximately $90,500 USD]) provided ratings of children's inhibitory control and sympathy at study onset. Most 4-year-old children expected to feel good after victimizing others, but this tendency declined through age 6. Children higher in sympathy were less likely to happy victimize at age 4, whereas greater inhibitory control predicted faster decreases in happy victimizing over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).