Bullying Types and Roles in Early Adolescence: Latent Classes of Perpetrators and Victims

Bullying Types and Roles in Early Adolescence: Latent Classes of Perpetrators and Victims

Academic Unit

College of Education and Human Development

Publication Date

12-2021

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Although research has suggested that youth involved in bullying as victims, perpetrators, or both are at risk for negative outcomes, less work has investigated different patterns in how youth are involved in bullying with consideration for both the role (i.e., victimization and perpetration) as well as type of behaviors experienced (i.e., cyber, verbal, relational, and physical). Using Latent Class Analysis (LCA), the current study investigated patterns of bullying involvement with a sample of 799 middle school students. Results indicated that five classes of bully-involved youth emerged, including a (a) not involved class, (b) traditional bully victim class, (c) verbal bully-victim class, (d) traditional victim-only class, and (e) cyber bully-victim class. Notably, the bully-involved groups demonstrated significantly more internalizing, externalizing, and school related problems than youth not involved in bullying. Implications regarding identification of youth at risk for social and emotional challenges and intervention planning for bully involved youth are discussed.

Journal Title

Journal of School Psychology

Volume

89

Issue

1

ISSN

0022-4405

Beginning Page Number

51

Last Page Number

71

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2021.09.003

Bullying Types and Roles in Early Adolescence: Latent Classes of Perpetrators and Victims

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