Patterns of Bullying and Sexual Harassment: Connections with Parents and Teachers as Direct Protective Factors

Abstract

Involvement in bullying and sexual harassment in adolescence is associated with a variety of internalizing, externalizing, and health-risk behaviors. Yet, the two behaviors are often studied independently. The current study examined how bullying and sexual harassment co-occur and whether social connections protected youth from risk patterns. The data for this study come from the 2013 Minnesota Student Survey (N = 121,311; 50% female, 74% White, 26% received free or reduced-price lunch; M = 14.9, SD = 1.3). Students reported on bullying and sexual harassment victimization and perpetration. Using latent class analysis, youth were classified into five patterns: High-Risk of All Forms of Victimization and Perpetration (7%), Relational and Cyberbullying Victimization (17%), Sexual Harassment Victimization and Perpetration (8%), Physical Bullying Perpetration (6%), and Low-Risk (62%). Compared to the low-risk class, the four other classes had lower levels of social connections, particularly with teachers and parents. Older youth (9th and 11th grade students) were at greater risk for the sexual harassment pattern, while younger youth (8th grade students) were at greater risk for bullying patterns. The results indicate that efforts to reduce bullying should also address sexual harassment and social connections with adults.

Traditional and cyber bullying and sexual harassment: A longitudinal assessment of risk and protective factors

“…While Doty et al () assessed victimization along with perpetration and did not include cyber sexual harassment, our findings are similar in that we found a high‐risk group, separate bullying groups with some overlap between traditional and cyber bullying, and a low‐risk group. However, the low‐risk group in this study included a smaller percentage of students (50% vs. 62%).…”

“…Bullying and sexual harassment perpetration are distinct public health problems that co‐occur among adolescents (Doty, Gower, Rudi, McMorris, & Borowsky, ; Espelage, Basile, De La Rue, & Hamburger, ; Espelage, Basile, & Hamburger, ). With increased access to technology (Anderson & Jiang, ), adolescents now have additional opportunities for perpetrating via cell phones and/or computers.…”

“…While no studies to the authors’ knowledge have assessed the co‐occurrence of all forms of traditional and cyber bullying and sexual harassment, Doty et al () assessed person‐centered patterns of cyberbullying victimization and traditional bullying and sexual harassment perpetration and victimization among 8 th , 9 th , and 11 th grade students in Minnesota at one time‐point. The authors identified five latent classes of students − high‐risk for all forms of victimization and perpetration (7%), relational and cyberbullying victimization (17%), sexual harassment victimization and perpetration (8%), physical bullying perpetration (6%), and low‐risk (62%) − and found that lower levels of social connections with teachers and peers increased risk for all classes when compared to the low‐risk class.…”

“…The current study seeks to build on Doty et al () work in that we: (1) assess latent classes of traditional and cyber bullying and sexual harassment perpetration (both forms of traditional and cyber perpetration) in high school and (2) examine risk and protective factors for bullying and sexual harassment in middle school based on participants’ perceptions of factors across different social ecological levels (Basile et al, ; Dahlberg & Krug, ). Similar to Doty et al (), we expect that at least three classes of perpetration among high school adolescents will emerge (Hypothesis 1). Additionally, because bullying and sexual harassment have both shared and unique predictors, we expect that students reporting higher levels of both bullying and sexual harassment perpetration would have more associated risk factors and less associated protective factors in middle school than other students (Hypothesis 2).…”

Peer Victimization of Maltreated Youth: Distinct Risk for Physically Abused Versus Neglected Children

“…An additional finding in this study is that higher caregiver education decreased bully victimization risk. Previous studies have explored socioeconomic status, connectedness with family, mothers who support coping strategies, and parent involvement with school problems as protective against bullying . Parental reluctance to offer help with school problems was significantly associated with youth's involvement in both bully perpetration and bully victimization in another study .…”