The Social Goals and Gains Model of Adolescent Bullying: A Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Model

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Social Relationships

Abstract

Why do some adolescents bully? There is a long-standing debate on the motives that drive bullying in adolescence. Such knowledge is critical for the development of interventions to reduce bullying. We propose and substantiate a Social Goals and Gains Model of Adolescent Bullying. The model holds that adolescents who hold agentic goals (i.e., getting ahead of others) unlike those who hold communal goals (i.e., getting along with others), are more likely to bully peers. Such bullying in turn, predicts increased popularity but reduced likeability. To substantiate this model, we meta-analyzed data of 67,401 adolescents (mean age range 9,8 – 16,4), gathered in 55 studies with Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling (MASEM). Results both support and refine our model: adolescents’ agentic goals were associated with higher bullying, which was, in turn, associated with higher popularity and lower likeability. However, there was no significant association between adolescents’ communal goals and bullying. Together, these findings suggest that bullying is often driven by social goals: adolescents aim at agency when they bully, and they win popularity in the face of losing likeability. Unlike traditional more ‘medical’ models of bullying, adolescent bullies might not be the socially impaired but instead, might actually be quite socially skilled. Interventions targeting these socially skilled bullies should aim to change the means with which they acquire agency and address peer norms that reward adolescent bullying with popularity.
Keywords: Agency, Communion, Bullying, Likeability, Popularity, MASEM

Authors

• Maud Hensums, University of Amsterdam
  Presenting Author

• Eddie Brummelman, Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Helle Larsen, University of Amsterdam
  Non-Presenting Author

• Wouter Van den Bos, University of Amsterdam
  Non-Presenting Author

• Geertjan Overbeek, University of Amsterdam
  Non-Presenting Author