Joint Development of Bullying and Victimization in Adolescence: Relations to Delinquency and Self-Harm

• NCJ Number: 224229
• Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 47 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 1030-1038
• Author(s): Edward D. Barker Ph.D.; Louise Arseneault Ph.D.; Mara Brendgen Ph.D.; Nathalie Fontaine Ph.D.; Barbara Maughan Ph.D.
• Date Published: September 2008
• Length: 9 pages
• Grant Number(s): MRC G0500953
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute for Health Research
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study estimated trajectories of bullying perpetration and bullying victimization in early to mid-adolescence, associations among the trajectories, and links with delinquency and self-harm.

Abstract

The study found that youths who were victims of bullying were at increased risk of bullying others. Sex-specific adjustment problems were linked with differing patterns of involvement in bullying and victimization among adolescents. Most adolescents followed a low or declining trajectory of bullying and victimization from early to mid-adolescence. Previous research findings were confirmed in showing a general decline in the overall prevalence patterns of bullying and victimization with age; however, general trends masked the presence of subgroups with distinctly different developmental profiles. One subgroup followed trajectories of high/increasing bullying and low victimization. A small group followed trajectories of low/decreasing bullying and high/increasing victimization (victims). A minority followed trajectories of high/increasing bullying and high/increasing victimization (bully-victims). The study also identified a joint trajectory that was not hypothesized: high/increasing bullying and high/decreasing victimization, a pattern that suggests transition from victim to bully status during adolescence. These findings suggest that programs designed to reduce bullying behavior should be concerned with victims as well as bullies, since victimization increased the risk for bullying. Preventive effort should target the small group of adolescents whose risk of victimization increased during the early to mid-teens. They were at increased risk of both self-harm and delinquency in adolescence. Such youth may be at risk for other adjustment problems, such as alcohol use, drug use, sexually risky behaviors, and suicidal ideation/attempts. Study participants were from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, a large representative cohort of adolescents (n=4,597, 51 percent boys), constituted at age 12 and assessed annually up to age 17. Bullying and victimization were assessed up to age 16, the end of compulsory schooling in Scotland. 2 tables, 2 figures, and 49 references