Poster #226 - Differential Psychosocial Risk Factors Among Adolescent Bullies, Victims and Bully-Victims: A Cross-Cultural Analysis

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Bullying is a dangerous and ubiquitous social phenomenon that affects up to 600 million adolescents worldwide each year (Volk, Craig, Boyce & King, 2006). Contemporary researchers have defined bullying as harmful and goal-directed aggressive behaviour which occurs in the context of a power imbalance (Volk, Dane & Marini, 2014). For bullies, there is mixed evidence about the long-term negative consequences of their behaviour, but researchers generally agree that it is associated with poor psychosocial adjustment and an increased long-term probability of engaging in further antisocial and aggressive behaviour (Kumpulainen et al., 1998; Copeland, Wolke, Angold & Costello, 2013). For victims, being bullied is associated with an increased probability of generalized or social anxiety, loneliness, depression and feelings of low self-worth (Hawker & Boulton, 2000). Furthermore, bully-victims, individuals who both bully others and are victimized, are also prone to experiencing unique outcomes such as having fewer friends and having poorer theory of mind in comparison to their pure bully counterparts (Farmer et al., 2010; Hughes, Cutting & Dunn, 2001). The current study sought to add to the existing literature on psychosocial functioning amongst adolescent bullies, victims and bully-victims by examining the cross-cultural similarities and differences between these individuals.

Participants for the current study were 440 adolescents drawn from two separate schools in Baoding Province, China, and 350 adolescents from extracurricular clubs in southern Ontario, Canada. Participants were asked to complete a bullying questionnaire which assessed the frequency of their involvement in bullying and victimization (Volk & Lagzdins, 2009). Based on these self-reports, participants were categorized as uninvolved, pure bullies, pure victims or bully-victims. Participants were also asked to complete the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire which assessed positive and negative psychosocial functioning attributes across five categories (i.e., emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer relationships and prosociality; Goodman, 1994).

A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to examine whether there were differences in psychosocial functioning between pure bullies, pure victims, bully-victims and adolescents who were uninvolved. The results suggested that there were significant cross-cultural effects of bullying status (i.e., bully, victim, bully-victim or uninvolved) on conduct problems, hyperactivity, and peer relationships. However, an effect of bullying status on emotional symptoms was observed amongst Canadian adolescents, but not Chinese adolescents. Notably, no significant differences were observed between groups across both cultures in terms of prosociality, suggesting there are no self-reported differences in prosocial behaviour between individuals who bully and those who do not (See Tables 1 and 2). Further examination of post-hoc analyses revealed additional significant differences in psychosocial functioning amongst individuals who are involved in bullying as either a pure bully, a pure victim or a bully-victim.

The current study adds breadth to the extant literature regarding cross-culturally observed similarities and differences in psychosocial functioning amongst adolescents involved in bullying in a variety of roles. Additionally, our results are consistent with a growing body of literature which suggests that individuals who engage in bullying may alternate between prosocial and coercive behaviour to gain social dominance (e.g., Hawley, 2015).

Authors

• Katerina Schiralli, Brock University
  Presenting Author

• Anthony Volk, Brock University
  Non-Presenting Author