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T IP SH E E TS ««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««« 2 Risk Factors and Outcomes of Bullying 3 RISK F A C T O RS F O R A ND idiosyncratic to individual schools and O U T C O M ES O F BU L L Y IN G A ND communities, determining accurate V I C T I M I Z A T I O N prevalence rates is spurious at best. To date, there is no longitudinal, nationally Susan M. Swearer representative assessment of bullying and University of Nebraska - Lincoln victimization in the United States. However, one study analyzed prevalence rates for No individual exists in isolation. We are all bullying and victimization across 22 products of the interaction between our countries and found that in the U.S. ELRORJ\DQGRXUHQYLURQPHQW7KH³IDWKHURI prevalence rates were 22.1% for male bully VRFLDOSV\FKRORJ\´.XUW/HZLQZURWHWKDW perpetrators; 15.1% for female bully behavior is a function of the interaction perpetrators; 23.7% for male victims; 18.8% between the individual and his or her for female victims; 10.6% for male bully- environment (Lewin, 1936). This prophetic victims; and 4.9% for female bully-victims formula holds true for our understanding of (Cook, Williams, Guerra, & Kim, 2010). bullying behavior. Individuals exist within However, until a nationally representative, multiple environments: home, school, longitudinal study on bullying and neighborhood, church, community, and victimization is conducted, prevalence rates society. Within the interaction between will reflect differences in sample individuals and these environments are risk characteristics and methodology. factors for bullying and victimization. In this paper research on risk factors for bullying Individual Risk Factors and victimization across multiple contexts-- individual, peer, school, family, community, Gender. While both girls and boys are and society will be synthesized. It is involved in bullying perpetration and important to keep in mind that these factors victimization, research has found that boys do not exist in isolation. There is no, one are involved in bullying at greater rates than single causal factor for bullying. In fact, it is girls (Cook, Williams, Guerra, Kim, & the interaction between these multiple Sadek, 2010). contexts defined as the social-ecology in which bullying and victimization unfold G rade level. Bullying has generally been (Espelage & Swearer, 2004, 2011; Swearer shown to be most prevalent in middle school & Doll, 2001; Swearer et al., 2006; Swearer (Nansel et al., 2001); however, research has et al., in press). Outcomes of bullying will suggested that bullying peaks during school be reviewed, with the call to address transition (i.e., between elementary and bullying as a social-ecological problem that middle school and between middle and high requires prevention and intervention efforts school) as youth are negotiating new peer to target the interaction between individuals groups and use bullying as a means to and their multiple environments in order to achieve social dominance (Pellegrini et al., be effective. 2011). Prevalence of bullying and victimization. Ethnicity. Involvement in bullying is a Given the vast methodological variation in cross-cultural phenomenon (Jimerson, studying bullying and victimization and the Swearer, & Espelage, 2010) and transcends fact that bullying is a phenomenon that is ethnicity. However, research has shown that 4 Risk Factors and Outcomes of Bullying students who are in the ethnic minority in a which contributes to their ability to bully school are more likely to be bullied than and manipulate others. students who are in the ethnic majority (Graham, 2006). Low academic achievement. The relationship between bullying and academic Religious orientation. Surprisingly, while achievement is complicated. Some research the media has reported on the connection has demonstrated that victims and bully between bullying and religious orientation victims do poorly in school (Glew, Fan, (i.e., Muslims in the United States), a Katon, Rivara, & Kernic, 2005), while other paucity of research on this risk factor for research has found that the connection bullying has been conducted. In a study of between being bullied and low academic 243 Hindu, Muslim, and Pakistani children achievement is more robust when there is in the U.K., 57% of boys and 43% of girls low parental support and school reported being bullied because of religious disengagement (Beran, 2008). or cultural differences (Eslea & Mukhtar, 2000). Indeed, most students report being Sexual orientation. Recent media reports bullied because they are different from the have drawn attention to youth who have normative group (Swearer & Cary, 2003). been bullied due to their sexual orientation. Research conducted with 7,261 students Socioeconomic status. Greater disparities (ages 13 to 21) in 2009 found that 84.6% of between socioeconomic status within a LGBT students reported being verbally country were associated with higher levels harassed, 40.1% reported being physically of victimization (Due et al., 2009). Other harassed and 18.8% reported being research has found that low income status physically assaulted at school in the past was a risk factor for aggression in male and year because of their sexual orientation female students (Harachi et al., 2005). (GLSEN, 2009). However, it is likely that the relationship between socioeconomic status and being Disability status. The research on bullying bullied is contextually-driven and varies toward and by students with disabilities has across communities. yielded mixed results. Some research has found that students on the autism spectrum Poor social skills. Bullying has been called are more likely to be victimized than their D³VRFLDOUHODWLRQVKLSSUREOHP´ 3HSOHU non-disabled peers (Little, 2002). Other Jiang, Craig, & Connolly, 2008). Indeed, research has found that students with victims, bully-victims, and some bullies behavior disorders are more likely to display deficits in social skills (Cook et al., perpetrate bullying, but the bullying 2010). behavior may be retaliatory, in response to being bullied (Rose, 2011). Superior social skills. However, among a subset of bully perpetrators there are Externalizing behavior. One of the DSM- students who are perceived as popular and IV-75FULWHULDIRUFRQGXFWGLVRUGHULV³RIWHQ cool (Rodkin, Farmer, Pearl, & VanAcker, EXOOLHVWKUHDWHQVRULQWLPLGDWHVRWKHUV´ 2006). For these youth, their popularity Bullying is an aggressive behavior and status affords them high social standing studies have consistently found an association between conduct problems and Risk Factors and Outcomes of Bullying 5 bullying (Cook et al., 2010). Youth who are onto school property) (Swearer et al., in bully-victims have reported the highest press). levels of conduct-disordered behavior (Kokkinos & Panayiotou, 2004). Alcohol/Drug use. The relationship between alcohol/drug use and bullying is Internalizing symptoms. Research has well-documented. In a study of middle found that bully-victims, victims, and bullies through high school students, researchers all experience depressive disorders. In one found that aggressive victims and aggressive study, 18% of bully-victims, 13% of bullies, non-victims were more likely than their non- and 10% of victims experienced depression aggressive counterparts to use drugs and (Kumpulainen, Rasanen, & Puura, 2001), alcohol (Brockenbrough, Cornell, & Loper, which is higher than the estimated 8.3% of 2002) and a study of 43, 093 U.S. adults adolescents who are diagnosed with a found that bullying was significantly depressive disorder (NIMH, 2011). Other correlated with lifetime alcohol and drug use research has supported the finding that (Vaughn, Bender, DeLisi, Beaver, Perron, & bully-victims are at the greatest risk for Howard, 2010). Thus, involvement in experiencing comorbid internalizing and bullying is related to concurrent externalizing problems (Cook et al., 2010).