Bullying and victimization: Predictive role of individual, parental, and academic factors

Abstract

This study explored the roles of individual factors (age, gender, locus of control, selfesteem, and loneliness), parenting style, and academic achievement in discriminating students involved in bullying (as bullies, victims, and bully/victims) from those not involved. Participants comprised 742 middle school students (393 females, 349 males). The results of multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that a higher locus of control, lower strictness/supervision scores, increased age, and being male increased the likelihood of being a bully; a higher locus of control, higher loneliness score, and a lower acceptance/involvement score increased the likelihood of being a victim; and higher loneliness and psychological autonomy scores and lower acceptance/ involvement, strictness/supervision, and academic achievement scores increased the likelihood of being a bully/victim. Although parental style variables play an important role in involvement in bullying, the individual factor loneliness is a more powerful predictor than other predictors in discriminating victims and bully/victims from uninvolved students. Age and gender are stronger predictors than other predictors in discriminating bullies from uninvolved students.

Predictors of school bullying perpetration in adolescence: A systematic review

“…However, most of the works offer results that are consistent with the existence of a curvilinear relationship between the two variables. The probability of a student being a bully increases from grade to grade until about age 14 years, when it decreases (Atik & Güneri, 2013;Caballo et al, 2011;Carlyle & Steinman, 2007;CDC, 2011;Gendron et al, 2011;Nation et al, 2008;Volk et al, 2006;Wei et al, 2010;. However, some studies have found a progressive decrease in the probability of being a bully from age 11-12 years onwards Shetgiri, Lin, Avila, & Flores, 2012;.…”

“…Narcissism would especially contribute to the stability over time of bullying perpetration. Perhaps because of this ambivalent relationship between self-esteem and being a bully, the majority of the reviewed studies analyzing the relationship between the two variables have found that the association between them is nonsignificant (Atik & Güneri, 2013;Nation et al, 2008;; that is, the probability of being a bully is independent of the students' degree of self-esteem.…”

“…On the other hand, a greater presence of depressive symptoms predicts being a bully, although to a lesser extent than being a victim (Carlyle & Steinman, 2007;CDC, 2011;Marini et al, 2006;Wei et al, 2010;. The probability of being a bully increases among those who have an external locus of causality (Atik & Güneri, 2013). Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts-like intentional selfharm (CDC, 2011;Srabstein & Piazza, 2008)-are more common among bullies than students who are not involved in bullying (CDC, 2011;Wang et al, 2012).…”

“…Except for three works that found no statistically significant relation between academic performance and being a bully (Atik & Güneri, 2013;Wang et al, 2012;, the rest of the studies that analyzed this association coincide in highlighting poor academic performance as a risk factor for being a bully (Bradshaw et al, 2013;CDC, 2011;Hemphill et al, 2012;Mlisa, Ward, Flisher, & Lombard, 2008;Spriggs et al, 2007). The percentage of repeater bullies is greater than that of victims or students not involved in bullying .…”

“…The establishment of family rules and the parents' interest in their children's schoolwork, friendships, and activities decreases the probability of the students being bullies (Atik & Güneri, 2013;Gómez-Ortiz, Del Rey, Casas, & Ortega-Ruiz, 2014;Low & Espelage, 2013Marini et al, 2006;Pepler et al, 2008;Shetgiri, Lin, Avila, et al, 2012;Simões & Gaspar-Matos, 2011). In the same vein, the results are fairly consistent in pointing out that scarce closeness and trust towards the parents, as well as communication difficulties with them constitute a risk factor for the student to be a bully (Bayraktar, 2012;Gómez-Ortiz et al, 2014;Marini et al, 2006;Pepler et al, 2008;Shetgiri, Lin, Avila, et al, 2012;Spriggs et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2012).…”