The most difficult year for investors in more than a decade is officially coming to a close. It's a year that's seen all three major U.S. stock indexes -- the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite -- plunge into a bear market.

While periods of heightened volatility are known to weigh on investors' emotions, they're historically a great time to consider investing in dividend stocks. Publicly traded companies that pay a regular dividend are usually profitable and have demonstrated that they can navigate their way through economic contractions and recessions. In other words, they're just the type of time-tested stocks investors should be looking to buy during a bear market.

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Source Fool.com