Verbal Bullying Victimization Research Articles

A network analysis of depressive symptoms, psychosocial factors, and suicidal ideation in 8686 adolescents aged 12–20 years

Suicide has aroused global concern, and a better understanding of the complex interactions between suicide ideation and various psychopathological features is critical. We aimed to explore the complex interplays among adolescents. This study adopted a multistage stratified cluster sampling method and recruited adolescents aged 12 to 20 year-old from 8 middle and high schools between December 2020 and September 2021 in Guangzhou, China. We assessed loneliness, social support, bullying victimization, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. We used network analysis to examine the network structure of the correlates of suicidal ideation and identify central symptoms and bridge symptoms. We used case-drop bootstrapping and correlation stability coefficients to examine the stability of the network. Among 8686 adolescents, 347 (4 %) adolescents reported suicidal ideation in the past two weeks. Network analyses identified ‘hopeless’, ‘psychomotor’, and ‘failure’ were the three strongest edges linked to suicidal ideation. The most central nodes were identified as ‘hopeless’ being the most central node, followed by loneliness and verbal bullying victimization, while sexual bullying victimization, sex, and relational bullying were the strongest bridging symptoms. The findings shed light on the complexity of associations of suicidal ideation and could provide insight into school-based suicide risk assessment and prevention for adolescents.

The Associations between Father Involvement and Father-Daughter Relationship Quality on Girls' Experience of Social Bullying Victimization.

With much research into physical, cyber, and verbal bullying victimization, social bullying victimization is a type of victimization that can be hidden. Studies about Black father involvement have found involvement to be a buffer to adverse and risky behaviors of children, including different forms of victimization experienced by their daughters. This study examined one gap in the literature: the direct and potentially indirect associations between father involvement and father-child relationship quality on child reports of social bullying victimization among girls. The cross-sectional sample of 368 Black fathers and their daughters was sourced from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. Data from wave 5 were selected for the child (age 9) and father because social bullying victimization was first measured at this time point. Logistic regression analysis findings showed father involvement was associated with lower social bullying victimization. In addition, talking and sharing ideas quite well rather than extremely well with their fathers was associated with higher odds of social bullying victimization. Father-daughter relationship quality did not mediate the father involvement and social bullying victimization relationship. Findings provide additional support to include fathers, particularly Black fathers, in intervention/prevention efforts and the importance of increasing awareness and benefits of father involvement in subtle forms of victimization such as social bullying victimization among Black families.

Association between school climate and bullying victimization: Advancing integrated perspectives from parents and cross-country comparisons.

To advance our scientific understanding about school climate and bullying victimization from the perspectives of both parents and cross-country comparisons, the present study examined the cross-country similarities and differences of the associations between overall school climate and 3 forms of bullying victimization between United States (U.S.; N = 1,251) and Chinese (N = 999) parents across elementary, middle, and high schools. Confirmatory factor analyses and measurement invariance tests were first conducted to examine the cross-country validity of the Delaware Bullying Victimization Survey-Home (DBVS-H) between U.S. and Chinese parents. Comparison of latent means of bullying victimization revealed that U.S. parents reported higher frequencies of social/relational and verbal bullying victimization compared with Chinese parents. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was then used to examine the cross-country differences of the relationship between school climate and bullying victimization. For parents in both China and the U.S., school climate was found to be significantly associated with 3 types of bullying victimization (i.e., physical, verbal, and social/relational). The negative associations between school climate and all 3 types of bullying victimization reported by U.S. parents were significantly stronger than those found in Chinese parents. Implications for bullying prevention efforts involving parents from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds were discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

A meta-analysis of the outcomes of bullying prevention programs on subtypes of traditional bullying victimization: Verbal, relational, and physical

Abstract This paper presents the results from a meta-analytical review of the effectiveness of bullying prevention programs on three subtypes of traditional bullying victimization: physical, verbal, and relational. A systematic search of three online databases was conducted for bullying prevention program evaluations published between 1990 and 2018. The search yielded a final sample of 33 articles that met the identified inclusion criteria. The results of the meta-analysis suggest that bullying prevention programs are effective at reducing physical and relational forms of bullying victimization, but not verbal forms, at least in the United States. The results found that youth who participated in a prevention program, both inside and outside of the United States had 32% higher odds of a reduction in relational and physical bullying victimization compared to the control group, and 28% higher odds of a reduction in verbal bullying victimization for programs implemented outside the United States. The US programs were not effective with verbal bullying victimization. Future research could explore this potential gap related to verbal bullying victimization, and the difference in findings between studies conducted in the United States and those conducted internationally.

Are bully-victims homogeneous? Latent class analysis on school bullying

This study aimed to identify subgroups based on student’s verbal, social, and physical bullying and victimization behaviors using latent class analysis (LCA). The dataset used in this research consists of 3581 8th graders as participants from the 2014 5th annual survey of Seoul Education Longitudinal Study (SELS) in Korea. Broadly speaking, our analysis identified six subgroups: 31.9% of uninvolved, 7.1% of victims, 10.1% of bullies, 37.8% of bully-victims who showed high levels of verbal bullying victimization and perpetration (BV-V), 9.0% of bully-victims who showed high levels of verbal and social bullying victimization and perpetration (BV-VS), and, 4.1% of bully-victims who showed high levels of verbal, social, and physical bullying victimization and perpetration (BV-VSP). Our results indicate that the bully-victim group may not be homogeneous, but rather can be further identified and divided into three characteristic subgroups. Using the identified subgroups, more effective intervention could be made by clarifying the targeted group of students.

Examining the relationships between parent experiences and youth self-reports of slapping/spanking: a population-based cross-sectional study

BackgroundSlapping/spanking is related to a number of poor health outcomes. Understanding what factors are related to the increased or decreased use of spanking/slapping is necessary to inform prevention. This study used a population-based sample to determine the prevalence of slapping/spanking reported by youth; the relationship between sociodemographic factors and slapping/spanking; and the extent to which parental exposures to victimization and maltreatment in childhood and current parental mental health, substance use and family circumstances, are associated with youth reports of slapping/spanking.MethodsData were from the 2014 Ontario Child Health Study, a provincially representative sample of households with children and youth aged 4–17 years. Self-reported lifetime slapping/spanking prevalence was determined using a sub-sample of youth aged 14–17 years (n = 1883). Parents/primary caregivers (i.e., person most knowledgeable (PMK) of the youth) self-reported their own childhood experiences including bullying victimization, slapping/spanking and child maltreatment, and current mental health, substance use and family circumstances including mental health functioning and emotional well-being, alcohol use, smoking, marital conflict and family functioning. Analyses were conducted in 2018.ResultsLiving in urban compared to rural residence and family poverty were associated with decreased odds of slapping/spanking. PMK childhood experiences of physical and verbal bullying victimization, spanking, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and exposure to physical intimate partner violence were associated with increased odds of youth reported slapping/spanking (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] ranged from 1.33–1.77). PMK experiences of physical abuse and exposure to emotional/verbal intimate partner violence in childhood was associated with decreased odds of youth reported slapping/spanking (AOR = 0.72 and 0.88, respectively). PMK’s higher levels of marital conflict, languishing to moderate mental health functioning and emotional well-being, and moderate or greater alcohol use were associated with increased odds of youth reported slapping/spanking (AOR ranged from 1.36–1.61).ConclusionsIt may be important to consider parent/primary caregiver’s childhood experiences with victimization and maltreatment along with their current parental mental health, substance use and family circumstances when developing and testing strategies to prevent slapping/spanking.

Association between suffering experiences from precollege peer bullying at different stages and the quality of health-related life among college students

Objective: To explore the effects of precollege peer bullying at different stages, on quality of life (QOL) among college students. Methods: A stratified cluster sampling method was used to select participants in October, 2018. Cluster sampling method was adopted to recruit a sample of 4 034 college students from four universities in Hefei city, Anhui province. Relations between peer bullying at different stages before entering college, and the quality of life, were investigated. t test and analysis of variance were used to compare the differences of QOL in different groups. Multiple linear regression models were used to assess the associations between various types of peer bullying at different stages and the QOL at precollege days. Results: Among all the 4 034 college students under study, mean scores of the 4 dimensions of QOL appeared as physical (12.61±2.02), psychological (14.09±2.62), social relationship (13.72±2.71) and environment (13.77±2.46), respectively. After adjusting the confounding factors, data from multiple linear regression showed that, factors as verbal bullying victimization during primary school (β=-0.21)/secondary school (β=-0.27)/or at both periods (β=-0.56), relational (β=-0.21) and physical (β=-0.38) bullying victimization in secondary school, and physical bullying victimization in both periods (β=-0.67) were negatively correlated with the physical dimension of QOL. Verbal bullying victimization in both periods (β=-0.41) and relational bullying victimization in secondary school (β=-0.42) were negatively correlated with psychological dimension of QOL. Factors as relational (β=-0.32) and physical (β=-0.51) bullying victimization in secondary school, physical/cyber bullying victimization in both periods (β=-0.57) were negatively correlated with the social dimension of QOL. Verbal bullying victimization during primary school (β=-0.20) and both periods (β=-0.46), relational bullying perpetration during primary school (β=-0.35) or at both periods (β=-0.90) were negatively correlated with the environmental dimension of QOL (All P<0.05). Index related to bullying victimization (β=-0.33, -0.36, -0.30, -0.33) and bullying perpetration β=-0.28, -0.31, -0.23, -0.28) were both negatively correlated to all the 4 dimensions (physical, psychological, social relationship and environment) of QOL (P<0.001). Conclusions: Various forms of peer bullying experiences occurring before college, were associated with the decreased scores of QOL in different domains, among the university students. Programs on prevention and control of peer bullying in different stages before college days seemed important thus should be strengthened.

An Examination of Bullying and Physical Health Problems in Adolescence among South Korean Youth

The current study provides a longitudinal examination of the relationship between bullying victimization and adolescent physical health. Relying on data from a large sample of adolescents from South Korean schools (Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey), a series of ordinary least squares regression models were estimated for adverse physical health outcomes. The results suggest that bullying victimization and perpetration is a significant risk factor for various forms of adverse physical health outcomes including asthma, rhinitis, and obesity. Specifically, being the victim of verbal bullying was associated with greater exposure to adverse health problems, including asthma, rhinitis, and obesity. We also found that being bullied physically was associated with a higher prevalence of obesity but those effects dissipated in fully controlled models. Lastly, we did observe that verbal bullying perpetration was associated with more asthma over time. Study limitations and implications for bullying prevention are also discussed.

Explaining the overlap between bullying perpetration and bullying victimization: assessing the time-ordered and correlative relationships

The integrated theoretical framework of lifestyles and routine activities and self-control theories is used to estimate the relationship between bullying perpetration and bullying victimization. Measures of bullying perpetration and associations with bullies are seen as risky behaviors to improve the rigor of the analysis of consistent behaviors within bullying victimization. The current study includes a comparison between the time-ordered and the reciprocal/correlative relationships between bullying perpetration and bullying victimization in path models. Both analyses of 2844 fourth grade students in South Korea from 2004 to 2008 support the main hypotheses: (1) Youth with low self-control had greater odds of being victimized by collective and verbal bullying (even after controlling for risky lifestyles), and (2) youth who were associated with bullies during the previous year were at higher risk of later collective and verbal bullying victimization (i.e., the time-ordered effect). Three different types of bullying perpetration (collective, verbal, and physical bullying) were significantly and positively correlated with each type of bullying victimization (i.e., the reciprocal effect).

Social Support as a School Victimisation Risk Factor

This study examined three sources of social support, peer groups, school and parents, and their impact on the risk of relational, verbal and physical bullying victimization in a representative sample of secondary school adolescents of Talavera de la Reina (Spain). Correlation analysis was used to establish associations and regression analysis in order to confirm the independent effect of each social support type with victimization. The results showed that low social support perception from peers, school and parents increased the risk of relational, verbal and physical bullying victimization. Additionally, the perception of lower parental social support increased the likelihood of relational and verbal bullying victimization, while the hypothesis that low perception of parental social support entailed a higher risk for physical victimization was not confirmed. These findings are discussed in light of previous studies.

Race and General Strain Theory: Examining the Impact of Racial Discrimination and Fear on Adolescent Marijuana and Alcohol Use

ABSTRACTBackground: To extend our knowledge of general strain theory by exploring how under-researched strains such as racial discrimination, witnessing violence, physical victimization and verbal bullying affect adolescent substance use while considering differences according to racial identification. Methods: This research utilized data from wave three of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Statistical analysis was primarily composed of path analysis using full information maximum likelihood parameter estimates. Results: The findings reveal that reporting fear decreased alcohol and marijuana use among adolescents and that racial discrimination, witnessing violence, and being the victim of verbal bullying indirectly affected marijuana and alcohol use through fear. No support was found for depression as a mediating variable. Physical victimization was the only social strain that had a direct positive effect on marijuana and alcohol use but only for Hispanics and African Americans. Conclusions: The results suggest that strains may be operating differently and there may be differential levels of exposure to certain strains according to one's race.

Child Maltreatment and Bullying Victimization Among a Community-Based Sample of Sexual Minority Youth: The Meditating Role of Psychological Distress

Child maltreatment and bullying victimization disproportionately affect sexual minority youth. Little research exists that explores psychological distress as a modifiable risk factor connecting these two forms of victimization. Utilizing a community-based sample of sexual minority youth (N = 125, 15–19 y/o), this study provides estimates of child maltreatment and bullying victimization, identifies their associations, and explores psychological distress as a potential mediator. Approximately 46 % of the sample reported moderate to extreme childhood emotional abuse, followed by physical abuse (34 %), sexual abuse (32 %), emotional neglect (28 %), and physical neglect (26 %). Higher levels of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse were associated with more frequent bullying victimization. Psychological distress mediated the relationship between emotional abuse and verbal bullying victimization only. Additional research is needed to explore other potential mental health mediators (e.g., emotional dysregulation, posttraumatic stress). Addressing psychological distress holds the potential to prevent or reduce verbal bullying victimization by improving social functioning.

The Influence of Witnessing Inter-parental Violence and Bullying Victimization in Involvement in Fighting among Adolescents: Evidence from a School-based Cross-sectional Survey in Peru

BackgroundWitnessing inter-parental violence and bullying victimization is common for many children and adolescents. This study examines the role of witnessing inter-parental violence and bullying victimization in involvement in physical fighting among Peruvian adolescents.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,368 randomly selected adolescents in 2015. We conducted logistic regression analyses to obtain crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals for involvement in fighting among male and female adolescents.ResultsAmong all adolescents, 35.8% had been involved in fighting in the last 12 months, 32.9% had been victim of verbal bullying and 37.9% had been the victim of physical bullying. Additionally, 39.2% and 27.8% of adolescents witnessed violence against their mother and father, respectively, at least once in their lives. Multivariate logistic regression analyses found that late adolescence, participation in economic activities, being the victim of verbal bullying, stress, and witnessing violence against the father among male adolescents, and self-rated academic performance and being the victim of physical or verbal bullying among female adolescents were associated with higher odds of being involved in fighting.ConclusionVerbal bullying victimization and witnessing violence against the father in males and bullying victimization in females were associated with greater odds of adolescents being involved in fighting. Creating a non-violent environment at both home and school would be an effective strategy for reducing fighting among the adolescent population.

Relationships between bullying victimization psychological distress and breakfast skipping among boys and girls

The purpose of this study was to further explore the association between bullying victimization and breakfast skipping in children and adolescents. Compared to the previous study, we have used a larger and representative sample of middle and high school students, examined the effect of gender, different forms (physical, verbal, theft/vandalism and cyber) and severity of bullying on breakfast eating behaviour. Data from students (2286 boys and 2859 girls) aged 11 to 19 years (mean ± SD age: 14.6 ± 1.9 years) from the 2013 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) were analysed using self-reports of being bullied, diet, psychological distress, demographics, socio-economic status, weight status, and substance use. Results revealed greater odds of breakfast skipping in girl victims of physical, verbal, and cyber bullying, and in boy victims of verbal and cyber bullying. There was a dose–response relationship between experience of both school and cyber bullying victimization and breakfast skipping behaviour for both genders. Mediation analysis indicated that psychological distress fully mediated the relationship between both verbal and physical bullying victimization and breakfast skipping in girls, and partially mediated the relationship between verbal bullying victimization and breakfast skipping in boys. Psychological distress also partially mediated the link between cyber bullying victimization and breakfast skipping in both boys and girls. These results corroborate previous findings on the association between bullying victimization and breakfast skipping in children and adolescents. The strong and consistent associations with different forms of bullying victimization, the dose–response relationship, and the mediating role of psychological distress suggest a causal relationship.