Unraveling the Bidirectional Relationship Between Bullying Victimization and Perpetration: A Test of Mechanisms From Opportunity and General Strain Theories

Abstract

This study tested two theories designed to explain the bullying perpetration–victimization relationship. Peer delinquency was hypothesized to mediate the pathway from bullying perpetration to victimization, in line with opportunity, lifestyle, and routine activities theories, and anger was held to mediate the pathway from bullying victimization to perpetration as set forth in general strain theory. These pathways were tested in a sample of 3,411 youth (1,728 boys, 1,683 girls) from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. A causal mediation analysis performed on three nonoverlapping waves of data, in which prior levels of each predicted variable were controlled, uncovered support for peer delinquency as a mediator of the perpetration–victimization pathway but failed to identify anger as a mediator of the victimization–perpetration pathway. Additional research is required to identify a mediator for the victimization–perpetration pathway and determine whether variables other than peer delinquency mediate the perpetration–victimization pathway.

Rumination as a Mediator of the Prospective Association Between Victimization and Bullying

“…Whereas past research has examined the role of anger and/or hostility in the association between victimization and bullying (Moon et al, 2012 ; Walters & Espelage, 2018 ; Walters, 2020b ), the current study, to our knowledge, is the first to demonstrate that rumination specifically about past experiences of victimization mediates the link between victimization and perpetration. Taken together, our results demonstrate that rumination is one pathway in which victimization influences subsequent bullying, but that there may be other pathways through which victimization leads to bullying.…”

“…The few studies that have examined potential mediators of the association between victimization and bullying specifically (rather than aggression more generally) have considered both emotional (e.g., anger) and cognitive (e.g., hostility) variables that are components of aggression (e.g., DeWall, Anderson, & Bushman, 2012 ). Surprisingly, the studies that examined anger as a mediator did not find it to be a significant mediator of the association between victimization and bullying (Moon et al, 2012 ; Walters, 2020b ; Walters & Espelage, 2018 ). There are several reasons, however, to still expect angry rumination to mediate the association between victimization and bullying.…”

“…First, angry rumination (i.e., dwelling on one’s anger) uniquely predicts aggression beyond the effects of general feelings of anger (Peled & Moretti, 2007 ). Second, past research examining emotional and cognitive components of variables that may mediate the association between victimization and perpetration suggest that the emotional component may not be sufficient on its own to be a mediator (e.g., Walters, 2020b ; Walters & Espelage, 2018 ). Angry rumination includes an emotional component (anger), but also a strong cognitive component (rumination).…”

“…For example, early victimization (in childhood or early adolescence) is a risk factor for aggression (e.g., Reijntjes et al, 2011 ; Rusby, Forrester, Biglan, & Metzler, 2005 ; Schwartz, McFadyen-Ketchum, Dodge, Petit, & Bates, 1998 ). Moreover, there are some youth who are bullied yet also bully peers themselves (i.e., “bully-victims”; Yang & Salmivalli, 2013 ), and some evidence that a subset of youth who are victimized in childhood later turn to bully perpetration (Barker, Arseneault, Brengden, Fontaine, & Maughan, 2008 ; Haltigan & Vaillancourt, 2014 ; Walters, 2020a , 2020b ; Walters & Espelage, 2018 ). Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying the link between peer victimization and bully perpetration over time are still unclear.…”

“…Whereas past research has identified socio-cognitive factors (e.g., self-evaluations, rumination) as potential mediators between victimization and internalizing symptoms (e.g., Mathieson, Klimes-Dougan, & Crick, 2014 ; Troop-Gordon & Ladd, 2005 ), there is limited research examining socio-cognitive factors as mediators between victimization and aggression. Furthermore, the extant research has primarily focused on one type of social cognitive bias (i.e., hostile attribution bias) and only a handful of studies (e.g., Moon, Morash, & McCluskey, 2012 ; Walters, 2020b ; Walters & Espelage, 2018 ) have examined pathways underlying the association between victimization and bullying perpetration, which is a specific type of aggression that may be associated with worse outcomes for victims (Felix, Sharkey, Green, Furlong, & Tanigawa, 2011 ; Ybarra, Espelage, & Mitchell, 2014 ). Besides hostile attribution bias, victimization is also associated with other maladaptive socio-cognitive factors, such as rumination (e.g., Monti, Rudolph, & Miernicki, 2017 ), that may play a role in whether victimization leads to perpetration.…”