Direct and indirect bully‐victims: differential psychosocial risk factors associated with adolescents involved in bullying and victimization

Abstract

The present study examined psychosocial risk factors that differentiated direct and indirect bully-victims from bullies, victims and uninvolved adolescents. A total of 7,290 (3,756 girls) students (ages 13-18 yr) from a region of Southern Ontario, Canada, completed a number of self-report measures to determine the relation between direct and indirect bullying and victimization and several psychosocial risk factors, including normative beliefs about antisocial acts, angry-externalizing coping, social anxiety, depression, self-esteem, temperament, attachment, parental monitoring and peer relational problems. ANCOVA and logistic regression analyses indicated that indirect bully-victims and victims were similar in demonstrating greater internalizing problems and peer relational problems than indirect bullies and uninvolved participants. Furthermore, adolescents involved in indirect bullying (bullies, bully-victims) reported a higher level of normative beliefs legitimizing antisocial behaviour and less parental monitoring (males only) than indirect victims and uninvolved participants. Only normative beliefs legitimizing antisocial behaviour distinguished direct bully-victims and bullies from victims and uninvolved adolescents. Results illuminate the distinct characteristics of direct and indirect bully-victims; theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 32:551-569.

10. The Thin Line Between Civility and Incivility: Fostering Reflection and Self-Awareness to Create a Civil Learning Community

“…A particularly valuable distinction borrowed from the bullying literature (Marini et al, 2006;Marini, Dane, & Kennedy, in press), which focuses on the forms, functions and types of involvement, is illustrated in Figure 2.…”

“…An example of a possible conceptual bridge between incivility and our research on bullying is in the definition we use, which highlights the repeated and systematic use and abuse of power involved in bullying to obtain instrumental and social goals (Marini, Dane, Bosacki, & YLC-CURA, 2006;.…”

“…Bullying is a sub-type of aggression aimed primarily at harming the relationship between peers (Marini et al, 2006;Pepler, Jiang, Craig, & Connolly, 2008) and, while a comprehensive examination of the vast bullying literature is outside the scope of the present paper, a number of central issues will be used to inform our understanding of incivility, including: 1) the predominant focus on the physical aspects of bullying; 2) the lack of understanding of the heterogenous nature of bullying; 3) the serious underestimation of the pervasiveness and impact of indirect types of bullying; 4) the short and long-term consequences Figure 2 Multidimensional Bullying Identification Model The Thin Line Between Civility and Incivility of this type of meanness; and 5) most importantly, the failure to appreciate the transformation of bullying to fit in different settings such as the world of academia. A particularly valuable distinction borrowed from the bullying literature (Marini et al, 2006;Marini, Dane, & Kennedy, in press), which focuses on the forms, functions and types of involvement, is illustrated in Figure 2.…”

The Significance of Reciprocal and Unilateral Friendships for Peer Victimization in Adolescence

“…Because of their dual involvement, they may be most vulnerable and at highest risk for psychosocial problems because they display the behavioral patterns that are distinctive for bullies and for victims. Indeed, a small number of studies have shown that adolescent bullyvictims display a unique combination of psychosocial risk factors consistent with their bullying and victimization experiences (Austin and Joseph 1996;Haynie et al 2001;Marini et al 2006). However, bully-victims do not necessarily demonstrate poorer adjustment than victims on social features that are related to victimization (Marini et al 2006).…”

“…Indeed, a small number of studies have shown that adolescent bullyvictims display a unique combination of psychosocial risk factors consistent with their bullying and victimization experiences (Austin and Joseph 1996;Haynie et al 2001;Marini et al 2006). However, bully-victims do not necessarily demonstrate poorer adjustment than victims on social features that are related to victimization (Marini et al 2006). It has been found that bully-victims find it less difficult to make friends and tend to have slightly more positive relationships with classmates , although other studies suggest that bully-victims are more socially rejected (Perry et al 1988) and less accepted (Austin and Joseph 1996).…”