Gendered Risks of Bullying Perpetration and Victimization Among a Middle School Student Cohort

• In Event: Theoretical Investigations into Bullying and Delinquency

Abstract

Bullying behaviors transmitted by and between adolescents are often cultivated in school related contexts. Such conduct has been explained using a wide range of psychosocial correlates including family, cognition, delinquency and peer influences. This paper draws from the results of the first wave of a longitudinal study conducted in 2016 which explored the nature, scope and effect of these relationships on actual and perceived acts of bullying among a middle school student cohort. The specific focus of this cross-sectional analysis is on the gendered risks of bullying perpetration and victimization among a group of 300 male and female students enrolled in the 6th grade at a middle school located in the northeast during the 2016-2017 academic year. Data were also analyzed using logistic and multiple regression statistical models. This paper will identify and explore any patterned differences in how male and female participants engage in antisocial cognition, either proactive or reactive and ways in which these factors might shape the nature and type of school based bullying experiences. It will contribute to existing literature on psychological and social factors that protect against and facilitate bullying among middle school youth and also help inform gender based anti-bulling initiatives.

Author

• Lindsey Livingston Runell, Kutztown University