Exploring Risks Associated With Bullying Perpetration Among Hispanic/Latino Adolescents: Are They Similar for Foreign-Born and U.S.-Born?

Previous research indicates that racial and ethnic minority adolescents show an increased risk for bullying involvement. However, research on racial and ethnic differences in bullying has mainly focused on the differences between Whites and African American adolescents in the United States. Research on the bullying perpetration of foreign-born students is scarce. To fill this gap in the literature, this study utilizes the immigrant paradox to compare the prevalence rates and correlates of bullying perpetration between foreign-born and U.S.-born Hispanic/Latino adolescents. Data from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children, 2009 to 2010 cohort study in the United States were used. The sample included 1,451 Hispanic/Latino adolescents from which 287 were foreign-born ( Mage = 13.32, SD = 1.68; 55% girls) and 1,164 were U.S.-born ( Mage = 13.05, SD = 1.68; 51.4% girls). Self-report questionnaires were administered to measure bullying involvement, substance abuse, befriending deviant peers, physical fight, demographic variables, and family characteristics. Findings showed that foreign-born adolescents did not differ from U.S.-born Hispanic/Latino adolescents (9.8% vs. 9.9%) regarding bullying perpetration. In addition, logistic regression analyses revealed that only bullying victimization was a common correlate for bullying perpetration across both groups. For foreign-born Hispanic/Latino adolescents, only befriending deviant peers was significantly associated with bullying perpetration. For the U.S.-born group, alcohol use and physical fights increased the odds of bullying perpetration. Implications for future research (e.g., the significance of the intersection of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class) and practice (e.g., the need to foster positive school environments) will be discussed.

Parents’ Responses to Relational Bullying in New Zealand

<p>Relational bullying is a significant and widespread issue that is experienced by many young people in New Zealand. To implement effective and consistent prevention and intervention strategies, it is crucial to understand the perspectives of everyone involved. However, there is currently limited research on parents’ perspectives of relational bullying. While research in the field of bullying prevention is increasingly focused on the perspectives and responsibility of multiple parties, a significant gap in the literature remains: the perspectives of the parents of children who are involved as perpetrators of bullying, as well as those parents of children who are both bullies as well as victims. The present doctoral research yielded findings describing parents’ responses to their child’s involvement in relational bullying, including those involved in bullying perpetration. This project was comprised of three studies focussing specifically on relational bullying. The first study examined parents’ responses to hypothetical scenarios depicting their child perpetrating or experiencing exclusion, rumour spreading, and manipulation. The second study asked parent participants to reflect on any actual experience they had with supporting their child as a victim or perpetrator of relational bullying. In the third study, participants reflected on their own experiences with relational bullying during their childhood or adolescence, considering the continued impact on their current lives and on their parenting. Data collection was via one anonymous, online survey. These qualitative responses were analysed thematically to produce both individual study findings and overarching themes that reflected the participants’ perspectives. The responses revealed that parents respond to the three distinct forms of relational bullying (exclusion, rumour spreading, and manipulation) in different ways, with some forms of relational bullying viewed as less serious than others. In addition, the findings provide insight into how parents supported their child when they were involved in relational bullying perpetration. Parents responding to their child’s involvement in the perpetration of relational bullying often took action, assisted their child to make amends, and continued to monitor their child’s progress. When parent participants considered their own experiences of relational bullying, they identified being deeply impacted by the bullying at the time it happened, and they explained that it continued to have an ongoing impact on their current lives and on their parenting behaviour with their own children. The findings from the project overall illustrate the need for a cultural shift in the attitudes towards bullying that permeate the New Zealand context.</p>

Parents’ Responses to Relational Bullying in New Zealand

<p>Relational bullying is a significant and widespread issue that is experienced by many young people in New Zealand. To implement effective and consistent prevention and intervention strategies, it is crucial to understand the perspectives of everyone involved. However, there is currently limited research on parents’ perspectives of relational bullying. While research in the field of bullying prevention is increasingly focused on the perspectives and responsibility of multiple parties, a significant gap in the literature remains: the perspectives of the parents of children who are involved as perpetrators of bullying, as well as those parents of children who are both bullies as well as victims. The present doctoral research yielded findings describing parents’ responses to their child’s involvement in relational bullying, including those involved in bullying perpetration. This project was comprised of three studies focussing specifically on relational bullying. The first study examined parents’ responses to hypothetical scenarios depicting their child perpetrating or experiencing exclusion, rumour spreading, and manipulation. The second study asked parent participants to reflect on any actual experience they had with supporting their child as a victim or perpetrator of relational bullying. In the third study, participants reflected on their own experiences with relational bullying during their childhood or adolescence, considering the continued impact on their current lives and on their parenting. Data collection was via one anonymous, online survey. These qualitative responses were analysed thematically to produce both individual study findings and overarching themes that reflected the participants’ perspectives. The responses revealed that parents respond to the three distinct forms of relational bullying (exclusion, rumour spreading, and manipulation) in different ways, with some forms of relational bullying viewed as less serious than others. In addition, the findings provide insight into how parents supported their child when they were involved in relational bullying perpetration. Parents responding to their child’s involvement in the perpetration of relational bullying often took action, assisted their child to make amends, and continued to monitor their child’s progress. When parent participants considered their own experiences of relational bullying, they identified being deeply impacted by the bullying at the time it happened, and they explained that it continued to have an ongoing impact on their current lives and on their parenting behaviour with their own children. The findings from the project overall illustrate the need for a cultural shift in the attitudes towards bullying that permeate the New Zealand context.</p>

Reciprocity of Cognitive and Emotional Antecedents to Bullying: Bidirectional Relations Between Cognitive Impulsivity and Anger

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility that cognitive and affective variables form a reciprocal relationship when it comes to predicting future bullying perpetration. To this end, the bidirectional relationship between cognitive impulsivity and anger was evaluated in an effort to determine whether both cross-lagged pathways contributed to a rise in bullying behavior. The reciprocal hypothesis was tested in a sample of 1,160 early adolescents (567 boys, 593 girls) from the Illinois Study of Bullying and Sexual Violence (ISBSV). Cognitive impulsivity and anger were cross-lagged at Waves 1 and 2 of the ISBSV, after which they were correlated with bullying perpetration at Wave 3 in a three-wave longitudinal path analysis. Results from the path analysis identified the presence of a significant bidirectional association between Cognitive Impulsivity-1 and Anger-2 and between Anger-1 and Cognitive Impulsivity-2, with both cross-lags effectively predicting future bullying behavior.

From Victims to Perpetrators of Bullying: The Role of Irrational Cognitions, Externalizing Problems, and Parental Attachment

The transition from bullying victimization to bullying perpetration is well documented in the literature. However, the mechanisms linking bullying victimization to perpetration are not fully understood. The main aim of the current study was to conduct a preliminary research investigating the indirect effects of youths bullying victimization on bullying perpetration through irrational cognitions and externalizing problems. The second aim of the study was to explore the moderating role of the type of parental attachment (secure vs. insecure) in the proposed model in explaining the association of bullying victimization and bullying perpetration. Data were collected from 269 adolescents (11-15 years; M = 11.98, SD = .68), enrolled in middle public schools from Romania. Path analysis and moderated path analysis were conducted to explore the direct and indirect effects and moderating effects, respectively. Study findings indicate that bullying victimization was indirectly related to bullying perpetration separately through youths’ irrational cognition as well as through externalizing problems. The serial indirect pathway from victimization to perpetration through irrational cognitions leading further to externalizing problems was also significant. However, the type of attachment that adolescents reported having toward their parents failed to moderate the indirect pathways, since all the interaction terms were nonsignificant. These findings advance the field prevention and intervention by identifying irrational cognitions and externalizing problems as important targets that anti-bullying programs should address to stop the transition from victims of bullying to perpetrators.

The Relation of Callous–Unemotional Traits and Bullying in Early Adolescence Is Independent from Sex and Age and Moderated by Conduct Problems

In youths, callous–unemotional (CU) traits and conduct problems (CP) are independently associated with bullying perpetration and these effects are also observed when controlling for sex. Moreover, research indicates that the co-existence of high levels of both CU and CP further increase the risk. Although several studies have examined the relationship between CU traits and traditional bullying, few have also included a measure of cyberbullying and very few of them have focused the early adolescence. The aim of this study was to replicate and extend these findings in a large sample of Italian early adolescents considering both traditional and cyberbullying behaviors. Data were extracted from the Bullying and Youth Mental Health Naples study (BYMHNS) which included 2959 students of 10–15 years of age. CP, CU traits, traditional bullying behaviors, and cyberbullying behaviors were assessed by multi-item self-report scales. As expected, we replicated the significant and specific association between CU traits and traditional bullying, extending the findings to cyberbullying. In addition, in the latter case the effect was moderated by CP. The theoretical and clinical implications of these results were discussed.

Bullying Perpetration, Moral Disengagement and Need for Popularity: Examining Reciprocal Associations in Adolescence

Precursors and consequences of bullying have been widely explored, but much remains unclear about the association of moral and motivational factors. This study examined longitudinal associations between need for popularity, moral disengagement, and bullying perpetration. A total of 3017 participants, aged 11 to 16 years in wave 1 (49% girls; Mage = 13.15, SD = 1.09), were surveyed across four waves with six-month intervals. At the between-person level, cross-lagged modeling revealed a positive bidirectional association between moral disengagement and need for popularity; bullying perpetration was predicted by both need for popularity and moral disengagement. From the within-person level, random intercept cross-lagged analyses revealed that need for popularity predicted both moral disengagement and bullying perpetration. The results highlight the interplay between motivational and moral mechanisms that underlies bullying behavior.