Bullying Victimization and Out-of-Home Care: The Role of Personal and Social Resources?

Abstract

Previous studies have indicated that youth in care may represent a high-risk group for bullying victimization. So far, research has focused primarily on problem behavior rather than on potential personal or social resources of youth in care, particularly in the context of bullying victimization. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether youth in care are more likely to experience bullying victimization. Furthermore, it was analyzed if personal and social resources were protective of bullying victimization and whether these associations were moderated by family placement while controlling for lifetime poly-victimization. An online survey was completed by n = 119 youth in care and n = 110 youth in biological families in Germany - with or without a social/biological caregiver. Overall, the results showed that youth in care were 7.41 times more likely to experience bullying victimization than youth in biological families. Personal and social resources did add to the explained variance of current bullying victimization beyond lifetime poly-victimization in the child’s report. In particular, low levels of child-reported parental support and school integration were associated with more bullying victimization. These associations were not moderated by family placement, indicating similar effects for both, youth in care and youth in biological families.