Behaviours indicative of bullying among young and juvenile male offenders: a study of perpetrator and victim characteristics

Abstract

The actual characteristics of young offenders involved in behaviours indicative of ''bullying others'' or of ''being bullied'' have received only limited research attention. No research to date has focused on prison-based behavioural characteristics. The present study aimed to explore these characteristics in a sample of young and juvenile male offenders. Subsidiary aims included examining the nature and extent of behaviours indicative of bullying, and the extent to which a developmental model of aggression can be applied to a prison sample. One hundred and thirty-three offenders (102 young and 31 juvenile) completed a behavioural measure of behaviours indicative of bullying (Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist). Juvenile offenders were more likely to report ''being bullied'' physically than young offenders and were less likely to report ''bullying others'' overall, directly and psychologically/verbally. Young offenders were more likely to be classified as ''bully/victims'' than juveniles. Prison-based behavioural characteristics were more predictive of membership to the perpetrator and/or victim groups than personal descriptive characteristics such as age, sentence length, offence type, ethnic origin and total amount of time spent in prison. Bully/victims were predicted by increased negative and drug-related behaviour and pure victims by decreased positive behaviour. There were no significant predictors for pure bullies. Bully/victims were found to react more aggressively to their victimization than pure victims. The present findings suggest that there are reliable predictors of involvement as a perpetrator and/or victim among young and juvenile samples. The findings are compared to previous research and discussed with regard to the environment in which bullying behaviour is being assessed.

The Influence of Psychosocial Factors on Bullying Involvement of Students With Disabilities

“…Delinquency and peer aggression have been consistently linked in contemporary literature (Ireland & Monaghan, 2006;Sigfusdottir, Gudjonsson, & Sigurdsson, 2010), where students who have assumed bullying roles have a higher likelihood of engaging in high-risk or delinquent behaviors (Ireland & Monanghan, 2006;Mishna, 2003). Although delinquency encompasses a broad range of behaviors, Sourander and colleagues (2007) argued that "bullying is a component of an anti-social, rule-breaking pattern of behavior" (p. 546).…”

Characteristics of male and female prisoners involved in bullying behavior

“…This method of classification has been used in several previous studies of prison bullying [Ireland, 1999[Ireland, , 2001Ireland and Monaghan, 2006]. Thirty-six percent were classified as not-involved, following by 29% as bully/victims, 23% as pure victims and 12% as pure bullies.…”

Intra‐group aggression among prisoners: bullying intensity and exploration of victim‐perpetrator mutuality

“…Ireland and Monaghan, 2006;Ireland and Power, 2004;Palmer and Farmer, 2002]. Behavioural checklists avoid use of the term ''bullying'', instead presenting participants with a range of discrete behaviours that they are then asked to indicate whether or not they have experienced and/or engaged in.…”