Peer and teacher bullying/victimization of South Australian secondary school students: Prevalence and psychosocial profiles

This study examined the nature and prevalence of bullying/victimization by peers and teachers reported by 1,284 students (mean age = 15.2 years) drawn from a representative sample of 25 South Australian government and private schools. Students completed a self‐report survey containing questions relating to teacher and peer‐related bullying, measures of psychosocial adjustment, and personality. The results showed that students could be clearly differentiated according to the type of victimization they had experienced. Students reporting peer victimization typically showed high levels of social alienation, poorer psychological functioning, and poorer self‐esteem and self‐image. By contrast, victims of teacher victimization were more likely to be rated as less able academically, had less intention to complete school and were more likely to be engaged in high‐risk behaviours such as gambling, drug use and under‐age drinking. Most bullying was found to occur at school rather than outside school and involved verbal aggression rather than physical harm. Boys were significantly more likely to be bullied than girls, with the highest rates being observed amongst boys attending single‐sex government schools. Girls were more likely to be subject to bullying if they attended coeducational private schools. The implications of this work for enhancing school‐retention rates and addressing psychological distress amongst adolescent students are discussed.     

Gender differences in the relative impact of physical and relational bullying on adolescent injury and weapon carrying

Using structural equation modeling, concurrent associations were assessed among physical bullying, relational bullying, physical victimization, relational victimization, injury and weapon carrying using data from the population of 1300 adolescent girls and 1362 adolescent boys in grades 7-12 in a Colorado school district. For both genders, being a relational bully was a significantly stronger predictor of weapon carrying than being a physical bully, and both bullying types were significant predictors of more weapon carrying. For both genders, being a victim of physical bullying, a victim of relational bullying, or being a relational bully significantly predicted more injury. In latent means comparisons, adolescent girls reported more relational victimization and adolescent boys reported more physical bullying and victimization, more weapon carrying, and more injury. The relative strength of relational bullying on weapon carrying, and the health-related consequences of bullying on interpersonal violence and injury support concerted efforts in schools to mitigate these behaviors. Attention to differences related to age and gender also is indicated in the design of bullying mitigation programs.     

Bullies and victims in rural African American youth: behavioral characteristics and social network placement

Bullying and victimization are serious problems for youth of many ages and from a variety of backgrounds. These behaviors have not, however, been widely studied in rural minorities. The current work examined behavioral and social correlates of bullying and victimization in a sample of rural African American youth. Incidence rates of bullying, victimization, and aggressive victimization parallel those in other populations. Bullies were rated as aggressive, hyperactive, and manipulative. Bullies and victims were both sociometrically rejected, but while victims were on the margin of the social network, bullies were integrated in their groups. Bullies' associations were heterogeneous: they belonged to both aggressive and non-aggressive and popular and unpopular groups. They also were highly likely to be leaders of their groups.     

Associations between adults' recalled childhood bullying victimization,current social anxiety,coping, and self-blame: evidence for moderation and indirect effects

Abstract

Prior studies have shown that bullying victimization is common during childhood and may have negative effects over the short term. Evidence is also emerging that childhood bullying victimization in the form of teasing may precipitate social anxiety in adulthood. The present study extended the field by testing for associations between adults' recall of four common subtypes of childhood bullying victimization and their current social anxiety. It also provided the first test of whether coping moderated those associations, if they were indirect effects through self-blame, and if sex differences existed. Data were collected from 582 students aged 23+ years at two universities in the UK. Collectively, and for social exclusion and relational victimization uniquely, the subtypes of bullying victimization did predict social anxiety. Evidence for hypothesized moderation and indirect effects was obtained but these varied by subtype of victimization (but not sex). The theoretical and practical implications of these results were discussed.     

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.     

The social and emotional skills of bullies,victims, and bully–victims of Egyptian primary school children

This study examined whether bullies, victims, bully–victims (who are both bullies and victims), and students who reported no or low levels of bullying and victimization differed in their levels of social and emotional skills. Data were collected from 623 children in fifth and sixth grades from four Egyptian elementary schools; their ages ranged from 10 to 12 years. K‐means cluster analysis revealed four groups: bullies (n = 138), victims (n = 178), bully–victims (n = 59), and children who were not involved in bullying behaviour (n = 248). Data were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression. The findings indicated that boys were more involved in bullying behaviour than girls, and both bullies and bully–victims were less likely to adhere to social rules and politeness than children who were not involved in bullying. Both bullies and victims were less aware of the physiological reactions of their emotions than uninvolved children, and were less able to apply social rules in social interaction. Both victims and bully–victims reported less likeability than children not involved in bullying. Verbal sharing, attending to others’ emotions, and analysis of emotions did not have a statistically significant relationship with the probabilities of classifying children to any bullying group versus children not involved in bullying. Social skills were more important than emotional awareness in predicting the likelihood of classifying children in one of the three bullying groups versus children who not involved in bullying. The main conclusion is that social and emotional skills together may provide an effective means of intervention for bullying problems.     

Who escapes or remains a victim of bullying in primary school?

The stability of both direct and relational victimization and factors that contribute to remaining, escaping or becoming a victim of bullying were investigated. 663 children at baseline aged 6–9 (years 2–4) were interviewed about their bullying experiences and parents completed a behaviour and health measure. Children's perception of the degree of social hierarchical structuring and social prominence in their class was determined by peer nominations. 432 children participated in the follow‐up either 2 or 4 years after baseline aged 10–11 (year 6) and completed a bullying questionnaire. Relational victims and children from classes with a high hierarchical structure were more likely to have dropped out of the study compared to neutral children, and children from classes with a low hierarchical structure. Relative risk analyses indicated a twofold increased risk of remaining a direct victim at follow‐up, compared to a child not involved at baseline becoming a victim over the follow‐up period. In contrast, relational victimization increased but was not found to be stable. Logistic regression analyses revealed that being a girl, and receiving few positive peer nominations predicted remaining a direct victim. Becoming a relational victim at follow‐up was predicted by a strong class hierarchy. The implications for future study of early recognition of likely long term victims and early preventative bullying initiatives are discussed.     

Children's intervention strategies in situations of victimization by bullying: Social cognitions of outsiders versus defenders

This study examined the social cognitions of outsiders and defenders about intervening in situations of victimization by bullying. Do outsiders and defenders behave differently in victimization situations because of differences in competence beliefs, or because of a selectivity effect in intervening? These issues were examined in a sample of 102 outsiders and 107 defenders who were classified into these bullying roles through a peer-nomination procedure out of a total sample of 761 10- to 14-year-old Dutch children. These children were presented with imaginary victimization events. They answered questions about their cognitions and self-efficacy beliefs about intervening in victimization situations and about handling such situations. Outsiders, compared to defenders, claimed to intervene indirectly in victimization situations rather than directly. Defenders, compared to outsiders, claimed to intervene directly in victimization situations rather than indirectly. Both outsiders and defenders claimed to be more likely to intervene when a friend was being victimized than when a neutral classmate was being victimized. Outsiders and defenders did not differ in their self-efficacy for indirect intervention, but only defenders claimed a high self-efficacy for direct intervention. Both outsiders and defenders claimed to benefit from direct help when they themselves are victimized, but only outsiders also reported to need indirect help. The results suggest that outsiders and defenders behave differently in victimization situations because of differences in competence beliefs rather than because of a selectivity effect. More generally, the results suggest that not only defenders but also outsiders have the intention to help children who are being bullied. However, outsiders' anti-bullying attempts are likely to be indirect and less firm than those of defenders.     

受欺负与青少年外化问题关系的“健康环境悖论”：敌意性归因的中介作用

“健康环境悖论”是指在总体受欺负水平较低的环境中, 受欺负的个体会表现出更多适应问题。本研究以来自47个班级的1764名5年级到8年级学生为被试(男生956人, 平均年龄14.46岁), 考察了班级平均受欺负水平在个体受欺负经历与外化问题间的调节作用及敌意性归因的中介作用。结果发现：(1)受欺负与外化问题的关系存在“健康环境悖论”现象, 即班级平均受欺负水平能调节个体受欺负经历与外化问题的关系, 在班级平均受欺负水平较低的班级中受欺负经历与外化问题的关联更强; (2)班级平均受欺负水平对受欺负与外化问题的调节作用通过敌意性归因的中介作用实现。本研究证实了受欺负与外化问题的健康环境悖论现象, 并首次揭示了敌意性归因的中介作用机制。     

Bullying behaviors in female and male adolescent offenders: prevalence,types, and association with psychosocial adjustment

Despite the surge of research on bullying, few studies have examined bullying in young offenders, particularly female young offenders. This study investigated the prevalence, types, and correlates of bullying behaviors in 193 male and 50 female incarcerated adolescents from nine young offender facilities. Overall, 37% of participants identified themselves as bully‐victims, 32% as pure bullies, 23% as not involved, and 8% as pure victims. In comparison to males, females were more likely to report being involved with bullying in some capacity, particularly as pure victims, and being bullied by sexual touching and comments. Pure victims reported higher rates of psychological distress and suicidal behaviors than those youth not involved in bullying, and pure bullies were more likely to have been previously incarcerated and affiliated with a gang. Bully‐victims reported the highest rates of previous abuse, peer victimization in the community, drug use, and suicide attempts while in custody. All groups, including pure victims, reported high rates of bullying others in the community. Treatment providers should recognize that offenders who are victims are often bullies as well, and be alert to broad mental health needs among victims and bully‐victims. Given the prevalence and potential serious consequences of bullying, the development of anti‐bullying policies appears to be an important step in recognizing and reducing bullying. Aggr. Behav. 00:1–16, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Evaluation of an intervention program for the reduction of bullying and victimization in schools

The present study evaluates the effect of an intervention program on the reduction of bullying and victimization in schools with a sample of 239 students aged 10–16 years old in Rome, Italy. The program deals with bullying and violence. It consists of three videos and a booklet that help students to develop the social cognitive competence skills to understand the negative consequences of aggressive behavior. The intervention was evaluated using an experimental design with pre‐test and post‐test analyses. Students were randomly allocated to experimental or control classes. Students completed a self‐report questionnaire in which they were asked to indicate on a 5–point scale how often they were victimized or bullied others. Victimization and bullying were assessed by using questions about specific types of actions, a composite measure of victimization and bullying, and a single question about victimization and bullying in general. Results showed that the program worked best for older students, but not for younger ones who in some cases reported an increased level of victimization after the intervention. For older students there was a decrease in victimization according to the sum of types of behavior for the experimental group, but an increase for the control group. The same result was found for direct victimization, having belongings stolen, and being called nasty names. Therefore, the program seemed to be beneficial for older students but possibly damaging for younger students. It is suggested that the program could have worked better with older students because of the cognitive skills it required. Younger students could have reported higher levels of bullying after the intervention because they became more sensitized to the topic of bullying. Aggr. Behav. 30:1–15, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Person–Group Dissimilarity in Involvement in Bullying and Its Relation with Social Status

This study tested a person-group dissimilarity model for the relation between peer preference on the one hand, and bullying and victimization on the other. This model accounts for both individual and group (i.e., classroom) factors and postulates that children will be rejected by their peers when they display behaviors that deviate from the group norm. We tested the model in a sample of 2,578 early adolescents in 109 middle school classrooms. Multilevel analysis was used to account for our nested data when examining individual and group effects simultaneously in cross-level interaction terms. The results supported our hypotheses based on the dissimilarity model. Classroom norms of behavior appeared to affect the relation between involvement in bullying and peer preference, in that early adolescents who bullied were more likely to be rejected by their peers in a classroom where bullying was non-normative. In classrooms where bullying was normative, adolescents who bullied were less likely to be rejected or were even liked by their peers (i.e., positive scores on peer preference). The same was true for victimization, although victims still had low scores on peer preference even when victimization was normative. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed in terms of directions for future research and intervention in bullying.     

Vertical vs horizontal bullying: A need of socio‐interactive ethical trainings at workplace

Bullying at workplaces is a growing problem associated with several antecedents and outcomes of psychological disorders. Extant literature shows the relationship of victimization with the owning‐up curriculum to confront bullying, but so far there is little research to cure the issue of bullying through ethics and there is no study to check the impact of ethical lessons and exercises in training materials to curb bullying at workplace. The current paper is based on a literature review of aggression and bullying, and chiefly addresses the HR practices in rescuing the people from peer victimization. Conceptually segregating supervisor‐subordinate (vertical) and peer‐peer (horizontal) bullying psychology, this paper attempts to see what possible corrective steps can be taken by senior managers, supervisors and psychologists to resolve this critical problem through interior capacities. In this paper, we have developed three propositions for conducting a future empirical investigation in connection to a cohort study. By addressing the counterproductive/deviant behavior, the present report is likely to be beneficial for psychology scientists and HR practitioners in noticing and resolving the bullying issues at the workplace for the well‐being of employees.     

Reactions to bullying and peer victimization: Narratives,physiological arousal,and personality

A mediational model of bullying and victimization is proposed and tested. Ninety-nine 10- to 13-year-old children provided two oral narratives of their victimization experiences, as perpetrator and victim, with their physiological arousal being measured while they told the narratives. The children and one of their parents also completed a variety of questionnaires, including a Big 5 measure of personality and measures of bullying and victimization tendencies. Mediational analyses indicated that children who score low on Conscientiousness and high on Neuroticism are more likely to experience negative affect during peer conflict, such as feeling angrier, blaming the bully more, and forgiving less, and that these reactions are related to higher levels of victimization. For bullies, relations among Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and bullying appear to be mediated by lesser feelings of guilt and gains in physiological arousal while telling a bullying narrative. Advantages of a mediational model of peer victimization processes and implications for interventions are discussed.     

Bullying in school and adolescent sense of empowerment: an analysis of relationships with parents,friends, and teachers

We explore the development of bullying and victimization in school by investigating 11‐, 13‐ and 15‐year‐olds' sense of interpersonal empowerment with parents, friends and teachers. A national sample of 4386 male and female students from 243 middle and secondary schools in Italy were surveyed. Boys were more likely than girls to be bullies and more likely to have been a bully/victim. Victimization and the likelihood of being both a bully and a victim declined with age. Bullying increased with age among boys whereas for girls it was slightly more prevalent at age 13 than ages 11 or 15. The sense of empowerment students experience with their teachers decreased in the older cohorts. Disempowered relationships with teachers consistently predicted bullying behaviour. Higher social competence was reported by 13‐ and 15‐year‐old bullies. Chronically bullied students had lower social competence in all age cohorts. Otherwise, predictors of victimization varied by age: 11‐year‐old victims felt less empowered by their teachers; 15‐year‐old victims reported more difficulties in negotiating cooperative relationships with parents. Bullies in all cohorts and younger bully/victims feel less empowered by their teachers. These findings suggest that students who are disempowered by teachers may either compensate by oppressing (bullying) peers or generalize the power differential with peers (become a victim). Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Victimization in the school and the workplace: Are there any links?

We examine whether reported roles in school bullying, and victimization in the workplace, are connected; the influence of victim coping strategies at school; and sex differences. A questionnaire was completed by 5,288 adults from various workplace venues in Great Britain. We analysed two questions on school experiences (participant role; coping strategies if bullied) and questions on workplace bullying (experiences of being bullied). We found a significant relationship between reported roles in school bullying, and experience of workplace victimization. The highest risk of workplace victimization was for those who were both bullies and victims at school (bully/victims), followed by those who were only victims. An analysis of relative risk of workplace bullying, given being a victim at school plus using various coping strategies, revealed an increased risk for the strategies ‘tried to make fun of it’, and ‘did not really cope’. Women were at slightly higher risk of getting bullied at work, but there were no interactions with roles at school, and only one interaction with coping strategies. This is the first study to report an association between school and workplace bullying. Victims at school are more at risk of workplace victimization, but the especial risk for ‘bully/victims’ supports other indications that this particular category of school pupils should be a focus of concern. The findings also suggest that school pupils who consistently cannot cope with bullying, or try to make fun of the bullying, are more at risk for later problems in the workplace. However, associations are modest; many victims of school bullying are not being victimized in later life, and the results also suggest important contextual or environmental effects on risks of victimization.     

Bullying and victimization among black and Hispanic adolescents

The prevalence of bullying and victimization by gender, grade level, and race/ethnicity was examined among a sample of low socioeconomic, Black and Hispanic 6th- to 12th-graders in a large urban school district in Texas. Bullying and victimization were measured using specific behaviors. Students were classified as bullies (7%), victims (12%), bully-victims (5%), or neither (76%), depending on the number and frequency of reported experiences. For specific types of bullying (e.g., spreading rumors, excluding others), 4.5%-9.4% of students reported participation. Specific types of victimization (e.g., being hit or pushed, picked on) ranged from 6%-12%. Gender differences were not observed for general bullying and victimization, but physical and some verbal types were more prevalent among males. Blacks were more likely to participate in bullying and victimization, and these experiences seemed to peak in the 9th grade. This study adds to the literature as few U.S. studies on both general and specific types of bullying have been conducted among low socioeconomic, racial/ethnic minority students in middle and high school.     

The development of the Social Bullying Involvement Scales

This study reports findings of a newly developed measure of social bullying based on Underwood's [2003] framework of social aggression. The Social Bullying Involvement Scales (SBIS) consist of four scales measuring the extent to which children experience social victimization, engage in social bullying, witness social bullying, and intervene in social bullying. The sample consisted of 636 participants (311 females and 325 males, age range 11-16 years; 71% White). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a revised version of Underwood's framework for each of the four participant role scales. Internal consistencies for each scale ranged from .93 to .97. Results revealed that social victimization was related to an increase in anxiety, depressive, and externalizing behaviors. Social bullying was associated with an increase in general externalizing behaviors only. Social witnessing was moderately correlated with depression scores. Intervening in social bullying was not linked with psychological maladjustment or externalizing behaviors. The SBIS provides a comprehensive measure of social victimization, social bullying, social witnessing, and social intervening.