Provictim attitudes and empathy in relation to bullying behaviour among prisoners

Abstract

Purpose. The main aims of the study were to investigate attitudes towards the victims of bullying, and to explore the role of empathy in bullying others. It was predicted that those who reported ‘bullying others’ would report less positive attitudes towards victims and lower levels of empathy than those who did not engage in bullying behaviour. It was predicted that differences would be found in attitudes and empathy between sex. No predictions were made with regard to adults vs. young offenders.Method. The sample was selected from five separate prison establishments and consisted of 98 young offenders (21 women and 77 men) and 211 adult offenders (53 women and 158 men). Prisoners were categorized as ‘bullies’, ‘bully/victims’, ‘pure victims’ or ‘not involved’ on the basis of a self‐report behaviour checklist (Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist (DIPC)). A modified version of the Rigby & Slee (1991) Provictim Scale and the Davis (1980) Interpersonal Reactivity Index were used to measure attitudes and empathy respectively.Results. The attitudes of the ‘bully’ and the ‘bully/victim’ group were found to reflect their behaviour in that both were less ‘provictim’ than those not involved in bullying. Women were significantly more provictim than men, and adults were significantly more provictim than young offenders. Women scored significantly higher on some components of empathy than men. The implications of these findings for bullying intervention programmes are discussed.