The Role of Masculinity in Children’s Bullying

The aim of the present study was to explore the association between gender role, in terms of self-attribution of masculine and feminine characteristics, and children's involvement in bullying problems during the elementary-school years. A total of 113, six- to ten-year-old children completed self-report measures of bullying and victimization and a masculinity–femininity scale. Their teachers provided ratings of pupils’ reactive and proactive aggressive behavior. Data from a hierarchical regression on bullying scores showed that, irrespective of sex, masculine traits predicted active bullying behavior. Moreover, bullying was also related to victimization and to teacher's evaluation of reactive aggression. Our findings suggest the need for longitudinal and cross-cultural studies in this line of research.     

Does cost–benefit analysis or self‐control predict involvement in bullying behavior by male prisoners?

The main aim of this study is to assess whether lack of self-control or the perceived costs and benefits of aggression provide the better predictors of bullying behavior and victimization, and direct aggression perpetration, in a sample of 122 male British prisoners. We also assessed whether bullying was associated with height and weight. Zero-order correlations showed that perceived benefits, self-control, and perceived costs were most closely associated with perpetration of bullying, and that lack of self-control was weakly associated with victimization. Height and weight were unrelated to bullying or victimization. In a standard regression analyses, perceived benefits was the strongest predictor of bullying perpetration, with lack of self-control contributing further; all three variables made a significant contribution when direct aggression was the criterion. Mediation analysis showed that a combined cost-benefit measure partially mediated the association between self-control and both bullying and direct aggression. The findings are discussed in relation to explanations of aggression based on impulse control or a cost-benefit analysis.     

Homophobic bullying and victimization among adolescents: The role of prejudice,moral disengagement,and sexual orientation

Abstract

Bullying is associated with harmful consequences for those who are involved, in particular for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and sexually questioning (LGBQ) adolescents, who are teased for their sexual orientation. Not only LGBQ youth may experience homophobic bullying, but also students who are perceived as not conforming to traditional masculine/feminine gender role expectations. Wrong beliefs, prejudices, and moral disengagement may account for the perpetration of homophobic bullying. The present work aims at investigating whether (boys and girls) heterosexual and LGBQ adolescents were differently involved in homophobic and non-homophobic bullying and victimization and whether biological sex and sexual orientation moderated the relationships between prejudice and moral disengagement and involvement in homophobic bullying and victimization. Participants were 197 adolescents (70 boys, 127 girls), aged 15–18 years (M = 16.32); 46 of them defined themselves as LGBQ people. They responded to questionnaires about bullying and victimization, prejudice against homosexuality, and moral disengagement in situations involving sexual orientation. Results of the univariate analyses pointed to a higher homophobic and non-homophobic victimization among LGBQ adolescents than among their heterosexual counterparts. In the regressions, homophobic bullying was associated with being male and heterosexual, and with moral disengagement, whereas homophobic victimization was related to a low level of prejudice, in particular for LGBQ youths. The findings underscore the importance of examining prejudice and moral disengagement when studying homophobic bullying and victimization and point to the need for developing intervention programs.     

School bullying as a predictor of violence later in life: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective longitudinal studies

This paper presents results from a thorough systematic review on the efficacy of school bullying (perpetration and victimization) in predicting aggression and violence later in life. Results are based on prospective longitudinal studies. Two meta-analyses are presented examining whether: a) school bullying (perpetration and victimization) is a significant predictor of later aggression and violence, and b) whether each effect remains significant after controlling for other major childhood risk factors which were significantly related to both the predictors and the outcomes. Results are based on extensive searches of the literature. Nineteen electronic databases and 63 journals were searched from the inception of each database or journal through the end of March, 2012. Bullying perpetration at school was a significant predictor of violence (Adjusted OR = 2.04; 95% CI: 1.69–2.45) an average of six years later in life. This value of OR means that bullying perpetration increased the risk of later violence by about two-thirds. The summary effect size for bullying victimization versus violence was markedly smaller but still highly significant (Adjusted OR = 1.42; 95% CI: 1.25–1.62). This value of OR means that victimization increased the risk of later violence by about one-third. Analyses are presented of various potential moderators (such as the number of risk factors controlled for and the length of the follow-up period) in an attempt to explain the significant heterogeneity in effect sizes. Sensitivity analyses are performed on both meta-analyses, and they indicate that overall there is no evidence of publication bias. The overall findings favor the existence of a more general long-term underlying antisocial tendency rather than a more specific underlying violent tendency. Implications of our research for policy and practice are highlighted and future needs in this area of research are indicated.     

Defensive Reactions to Masculinity Threat: More Negative Affect Toward Effeminate (but not Masculine) Gay Men

We examined whether, due to men’s desire to reject stereotypically feminine traits in themselves, a masculinity threat would elicit negative affect toward effeminate, but not masculine gay men. Fifty-three male undergraduates from the United States received bogus feedback that they had either a “masculine” or “feminine” personality before rating affect toward two “types” of gay men: effeminate and masculine. Results were consistent with the notion that defensive reactions target groups stereotyped as having the specific traits perceivers wish to deny in themselves: masculinity threat selectively increased negative affect toward effeminate, but not masculine, gay men. Thus, gay men who exhibit feminine traits may be at particular risk from men whose masculinity is threatened.     

Linking Callous-Unemotional Traits to Instrumental and Non-Instrumental Forms of Aggression

The current study investigated the relation of callous-unemotional (CU) traits to bullying, victimization, and proactive and reactive aggression. We also examined whether CU traits will be more strongly related to groups of children exhibiting combined or pure forms of proactive and reactive aggression and combined or pure forms of bullying and victimization. The findings suggested that the presence of CU traits, which consists of three dimensions of behavior, uncaring, callousness, and unemotional, may designate important subgroups of aggressive children. Evidence suggested that the adolescents characterized by higher levels of CU traits were more likely to exhibit combined proactive and reactive aggression in comparison to pure forms of proactive or reactive aggression. Additionally, bullies scored higher on the uncaring dimension, and bully-victims (adolescents exhibiting both bullying and victimization) scored higher on the callous dimension. In contrast, victims of bullying scored lower on the uncaring dimension of behavior.     

Middle school students' perceptions of school climate,bullying prevalence,and social support and coping

The aim of this exploratory study was to examine middle school students’ (N = 88) perceptions of bullying, school climate and social support and coping. Data were collected using online surveys (n = 80) and face-to-face interviews (n = 8). Quantitative analyses revealed that prevalence of teasing, victimization, and bullying experiences significantly predicted perceptions of school climate. Qualitative findings provided further insight into student perceptions of bullying indicating several overlapping themes, when examining victimization, verbal and social bullying, causes of bullying, coping, and frustration with school resources dealing with aggressive behavior. Recommendations for addressing potential detrimental outcomes of bullying behavior and for improving perceptions of school climate are provided.     

Developmental relations between ADHD symptoms and bullying perpetration and victimization in adolescence

It has previously been hypothesized that individuals with elevated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms are at greater risk of bullying perpetration and victimization. Using autoregressive latent trajectory models with structured residuals (ALT‐SR) and four waves (ages 11, 13, 15, and 17) of longitudinal data from the normative z‐proso study (n = 1526, 52% male), we evaluated the developmental relations between ADHD and bullying using both self‐ and teacher‐reported ADHD symptom data. Analyses suggested that ADHD symptoms primarily increase the risk of bullying perpetration, with a within‐person effect of ADHD symptoms on bullying perpetration symptoms identified across ages 13–15 (β = .13) and ages 15–17 (β = .19) based on self‐reported ADHD symptoms and a similar effect identified across ages 11–13 (β = .24) and 13–15 (β = .29) based on teacher‐reported inattention symptoms. There were also some indications of reciprocal effects and effects involving victimization that merit further exploration in future research. Results imply that the content of bullying intervention and prevention programs should take account of ADHD symptoms to ensure that those with elevated symptoms can benefit as much as their typically developing peers. This will involve addressing bullying perpetration that may reflect impulsive/reactive aggression and impaired social skills rather than instrumental aggression. Further, programs should go beyond classical curriculum/classroom‐based delivery to ensure that individuals with elevated ADHD symptoms can be successfully engaged.     

In the Eye of the Beholder: Knowledge that a Man is Gay Promotes American College Students’ Attributions of Cross-Gender Characteristics

In this study, we examine whether an actual (rather than hypothetical) man being labeled “gay” either by himself or by another influences American (US) undergraduates’ attributions of the man’s masculinity, femininity, and likeability, replicating (with refinements) a similar study from the 1970s. One hundred ninety-two male and 591 female undergraduates, almost exclusively white, in Kentucky observed two gender-typical white men (one very masculine and the other of average masculinity, both low in femininity, both gay) play a word game on videotape; prior to playing, each man labeled either himself or the other man as either gay or adopted. Male participants rated the men as less masculine and more feminine than female participants, but the label used did not differentially influence male and female participants. Both male and female participants rated each man less masculine and more feminine when labeled gay than when the other man was labeled gay, and rated the more masculine man less masculine and more feminine when labeled gay than when labeled adopted. Whether either man was labeled by himself or by the other man, or whether either man was a labeler or in the presence of a self-labeler, had no effect on participants’ ratings of the men’s masculinity or femininity. Both men were rated as likeable across all conditions. While the stereotype of gay men as more feminine and less masculine than other men appears robust since the 1970 study, the dislike of gay men appears to have abated.     

Beyond the reactive‐proactive dichotomy: Rage,revenge, reward,and recreational aggression predict early high school bully and bully/victim status

The role of reactive and proactive aggression in school bullying perpetration remains unclear. In this study, we explore the predictive value of an expanded model of aggression motives based on the Quadripartite Violence Typology (QVT), which distinguishes between motivational valence (appetitive or aversive) and recruitment of deliberative self‐control to derive four classes of motives: Rage, Revenge, Reward, and Recreation. With a sample of 1,802 students from grades 7–9, we assessed aggression motives via self‐report, along with self‐report of bullying perpetration and victimization, which were used to assign students into categories of Pure Bully, Bully/Victim (B/V), Pure Victim, and Uninvolved. Two structural models were computed to examine the relationship between these four categories of bullying involvement and aggression motives, using conservative and liberal bullying cutoffs. As predicted, B/V status was more strongly related to Rage and Revenge motives. However, B/Vs had higher scores than Pure Bullies for almost all aggression motives, including Recreation. We discuss the implications of addressing Revenge and Recreation, as well as Reward and Rage (which map most clearly to proactive and reactive aggression, respectively) aggression motives, for bullying prevention and intervention strategies, especially among adolescents for whom extant bullying prevention strategies may be ineffective or counterproductive.

     

The Effects of Moral Emotional Traits on Workplace Bullying Perpetration

This study investigates the role of “moral” emotional traits—guilt proneness, shame proneness, empathic concern, and perspective taking—as predictors of workplace bullying perpetration. We also test and find support for a model derived from moral emotions literature and the sociometer theory of self-esteem in which the tendency to take reparative action following interpersonal transgressions mediates the buffering effect of guilt proneness on bullying. Data were obtained from working MBA students and advanced undergraduates during 2 survey sessions, 4 to 6 weeks apart. Findings indicate that moral emotional traits may be useful to consider in personnel selection as a means to reduce workplace bullying.     

青少年网络受欺负与网络欺负：攻击规范信念与自我控制双系统的作用

采用问卷调查法,以武汉市619名中学生为研究对象,探讨网络受欺负对网络欺负的影响及其作用机制。结果：①网络受欺负正向预测网络欺负;②攻击规范信念在网络受欺负对网络欺负的影响中起部分中介作用;③网络受欺负对网络欺负的直接效应受到自我控制双系统中控制系统的调节：网络受欺负对网络欺负的预测作用在控制力较低的青少年中更显著。研究揭示了网络受欺负与网络欺负的作用机制,有助于从自我控制角度进行的干预。     

Item response theory analysis of intimate-partner violence in a community sample

The Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2; Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, & Sugarman, 1996) is a widely used measure of physical, psychological, and sexual aggression as well as injury and negotiation between partners. In this study, we analyzed male-to-female and female-to-male physical aggression using data from 453 community couples. We used item-response theory (IRT) to assess the range and precision of physical aggression severity in the past year, as evaluated by the CTS2. Our analyses support a single dimension of physical aggression with quantitative, rather than qualitative, differentiation between minor and severe physical aggression items. Surprisingly, test information curves revealed that male perpetration and victimization items provided as much or more information as their counterpart female victimization and perpetration items over the same range of aggression severity. Finally, the data suggests that CTS2 items best assessed moderate-to-severe levels of physical aggression in the previous 12 months. However, virtually no information was assessed by male or female reports of perpetration or victimization items below or around the mean of aggression (i.e., theta; θ = 0). Suggestions for improved item coverage and implications for the assessment of aggression are discussed.     

Do Boys and Girls Act Differently in the Classroom? A Content Analysis of Student Characters in Educational Psychology Textbooks

Previous research on gender stereotyping in textbooks has focused primarily on pictures used in texts. However, many textbooks also use scenarios, with fictional characters, as pedagogical devices. Student characters in educational psychology textbooks were analyzed for potential gender stereotypes. Results revealed that male characters were depicted with negative masculine traits, such as aggression, significantly more often than were female characters. However, no differences were found for positive masculine traits or for feminine traits. Male characters were also portrayed as engaging in stereotypically masculine activities significantly more often than female characters, although no difference was found in science activity as a function of gender. The findings are discussed in terms of possible influence on preservice teachers who are the primary readers of educational psychology textbooks.     

From victim to victimizer: Hostility,anger, and depression as mediators of the bullying victimization–bullying perpetration association

The principal aim of this study was to test one cognitive (i.e., hostility) and two emotional (anger and depression) variables as possible mediators of the well-documented association between bullying victimization and bullying perpetration. Using data from the Illinois Study of Bullying and Sexual Violence (ISBSV), a sample of 718 pre-adolescent/early adolescent children (343 boys and 375 girls) provided self-report data in three waves, with six months between waves. Consistent with predictions, hostility and depression correlated equally well with prior bullying victimization but only hostility successfully mediated the relation between prior bullying victimization and subsequent bullying perpetration. Like hostility, anger successfully predicted bullying perpetration but unlike hostility it failed to mediate the victimization–perpetration association. Knowing that hostility provides a link between bullying victimization and bullying perpetration has both theoretical and practical implications. With respect to theory, the current results are largely consistent with the control model of criminal lifestyle development. From the standpoint of practice, intervention programs designed to address the cognitive construct of hostility, which appears to serve as a conduit through which bullying victimization leads to bullying perpetration, may not only help bullied children cope with the trauma of victimization but may also disrupt the victim to victimizer cycle responsible for creating an ever-expanding supply of new bullies.     

Comprehension of Sexual Consent as a Key Factor in the Perpetration of Sexual Aggression Among College Men

The comprehension of sexual consent is a crucial factor in healthy sexual relationships. This study examined the connection between the understanding of sexual consent and perpetration of sexual aggression. We surveyed 217 heterosexual male college students (M age = 20.9 years) using measures of sexual aggression, comprehension of sexual consent, rape myth acceptance, conformity to masculine norms, peer support of abuse, and attachment to abusive peers. We tested models examining factors related to comprehension of consent and the extent to which comprehension of consent was related to perpetration of sexual aggression. Rape myth acceptance, peer support of abuse, and conformity to masculine norms were found to predict comprehension of consent, which mediated the relationship between the social and cognitive variables and sexual aggression.     

Mothers and Children as Informants of Bullying Victimization: Results from an Epidemiological Cohort of Children

Stressful events early in life can affect children’s mental health problems. Collecting valid and reliable information about children’s bad experiences is important for research and clinical purposes. This study aimed to (1) investigate whether mothers and children provide valid reports of bullying victimization, (2) examine the inter-rater reliability between the two informants, (3) test the predictive validity of their reports with children’s emotional and behavioral problems and (4) compare the genetic and environmental etiology of bullying victimization as reported by mothers and children. We assessed bullying victimization in the Environmental-Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative sample of 1,116 families with twins. We collected reports from mothers and children during private interviews, including detailed narratives. Findings showed that we can rely on mothers and children as informants of bullying victimization: both informants provided information which adhered to the definition of bullying as involving repeated hurtful actions between peers in the presence of a power imbalance. Although mothers and children modestly agreed with each other about who was bullied during primary and secondary school, reports of bullying victimization from both informants were similarly associated with children’s emotional and behavioral problems and provided similar estimates of genetic and environmental influences. Findings from this study suggest that collecting information from multiple informants is ideal to capture all instances of bullying victimization. However, in the absence of child self-reports, mothers can be considered as a viable alternative, and vice versa.     

Psychological Dating Violence Perpetration and Victimization: Trajectories From Middle to High School

Despite evidence documenting the negative consequences, psychological dating violence occurs frequently in adolescent dating relationships. No information exists on the trajectories that adolescents follow and their association to nonphysical peer violence. The sample comprised 624 randomly selected 6th graders. In yearly surveys from 6th through 12th grade, 550 of the 624 students reported dating at least twice during the 3 months prior to completing the survey. These students responded to questions about frequency of engagement in psychological dating violence perpetration and victimization. We used Proc TRAJ to identify developmental trajectories of behavior over time and generalized estimating equation models to examine the associations of the trajectories and peer aggression. Adolescents followed three distinct developmental trajectories related to psychological dating violence victimization and perpetration: low, increasing, and high. Based on the joint probabilities of victimization and perpetration, we identified four predominant groups: low victimization/low perpetration (LVLP; 36%), increasing victimization/increasing perpetration (40%), high victimization/high perpetration (HVHP; 15%), and increasing victimization/low perpetration (IVLP; 7%). The LVLP had significantly more boys and White students; the HVHP group had an even gender distribution and more African‐American students. For all groups, peer aggression decreased from Grade 6 to 12; students in the HVHP group reported the highest peer aggression, and students in the LVLP reported the lowest peer aggression. Findings suggest a strong, reciprocal relationship in the developmental trajectories of adolescents who experience and perpetrate psychological dating violence. Those highly engaged in these behaviors were also more likely to be violent toward peers. Aggr. Behav. 38:510‐520, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

COLLEGE WOMEN'S AGGRESSION IN RELATIONSHIPS:THE ROLE OF CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENT VICTIMIZATION

Despite growing evidence suggesting that women engage in verbal and physical dating aggression, there is a dearth of research examining the predictors of women's engagement in these behaviors. Utilizing a college sample, the purpose of the current study was to explore women's perpetration of dating aggression within the context of victimization experiences. Women ( N  = 374) completed surveys at the beginning and end of a 10-week academic quarter for course credit. Results from two retrospective regression analyses (all Time 1 variables) suggested that (1) paternal physical abuse and adolescent/adulthood verbal victimization predicted women's reports of verbal perpetration and (2) childhood sexual abuse, adolescent/adulthood verbal victimization, adolescent/adulthood physical victimization, and adolescent/adulthood verbal perpetration predicted women's reports of physical perpetration. Results from the two prospective, longitudinal regression analyses suggested that (1) verbal perpetration (as measured at Time 1) and verbal victimization over the interim predicted women's reports of verbal perpetration over the interim and (2) physical perpetration (as measured at Time 1), verbal perpetration over the interim, and physical victimization over the interim predicted women's reports of physical perpetration over the interim. These data suggest the importance of considering previous victimization experiences, mutual partner aggression, and a history of aggressive behaviors when examining women's use of aggression in dating relationships.     

The Factor Structure of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory

Seventy-seven female and 86 male psychologist practitioners filled out the Bem Sex Rote Inventory to describe either a healthy adult male, healthy adult female, or healthy adult, sex unspecified. Analyzing the data according to Bem's classification of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny produced a significant Scale X Condition interaction with male and female practitioners ascribing significantly more masculine than feminine traits to healthy adult men, yet displaying no comparable differences when rating healthy adult women. Analyzing the data according to Spence's classification of masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated produced a Group X Condition interaction with practitioners ascribing significantly more masculine traits to healthy adult men and significantly more feminine traits to healthy adult women. Reanalyses omitting "masculine" and "feminine" from Bem's fist of sex-typed traits produced nonsignificant results. The relationship of this to recent criticisms of the construct validity of the BSRI and to the validity of earlier results of therapist sex-role bias was discussed.