Abstract
BACKGROUND
The reported prevalence of bully-victims and aggressive/provocative victims varies quite considerably in previous research, and only a few studies have reported prevalence rates across grades. There is also a lack of detailed analyses of the extent to which victims are also bullies, and bullies are also victims.
AIMS
To study the prevalence of male and female bully-victims across grade/age and to establish the degree of overlap or relative size of the bully-victim group by relating them to all victims, all bullies and all involved students.
SAMPLES
Participants in Study 1 were 5,171 pupils in grades 5-9 from 37 schools. Study 2 comprised 12,983 pupils in grades 4-10 from 66 schools.
METHODS
The Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire was administered to the pupils in their ordinary classrooms.
RESULTS
The prevalence of bully-victims was low and mainly declined across grades. There were far more boys than girls in the bully-victim group. Bully-victims resembled victims only (pure victims) in terms of age-trends and bullies only (pure bullies) in terms of sex composition. The overlap of bully-victims with the total victim group was fairly small (10-20%) in all grades. In primary grades, bully-victims constituted about 30-50% of the total bully group, whereas in higher grades these proportions were considerably lower.
CONCLUSION
Our analyses and overview of previous research suggest that the bully-victim group is small, and that the large variations across studies are mainly due to differences in choice of cutoff point. Bully-victims should generally be seen and treated statistically as a distinct subgroup. The relatively larger proportion of bully-victims in lower grades should be explored further.
TY - JOUR
T1 - Bullies and victims at school: are they the same pupils?
AU - Solberg,Mona E,
AU - Olweus,Dan,
AU - Endresen,Inger M,
PY - 2007/5/17/pubmed
PY - 2007/8/1/medline
PY - 2007/5/17/entrez
SP - 441
EP - 64
JF - The British journal of educational psychology
JO - Br J Educ Psychol
VL - 77
IS - Pt 2
N2 - BACKGROUND: The reported prevalence of bully-victims and aggressive/provocative victims varies quite considerably in previous research, and only a few studies have reported prevalence rates across grades. There is also a lack of detailed analyses of the extent to which victims are also bullies, and bullies are also victims. AIMS: To study the prevalence of male and female bully-victims across grade/age and to establish the degree of overlap or relative size of the bully-victim group by relating them to all victims, all bullies and all involved students. SAMPLES: Participants in Study 1 were 5,171 pupils in grades 5-9 from 37 schools. Study 2 comprised 12,983 pupils in grades 4-10 from 66 schools. METHODS: The Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire was administered to the pupils in their ordinary classrooms. RESULTS: The prevalence of bully-victims was low and mainly declined across grades. There were far more boys than girls in the bully-victim group. Bully-victims resembled victims only (pure victims) in terms of age-trends and bullies only (pure bullies) in terms of sex composition. The overlap of bully-victims with the total victim group was fairly small (10-20%) in all grades. In primary grades, bully-victims constituted about 30-50% of the total bully group, whereas in higher grades these proportions were considerably lower. CONCLUSION: Our analyses and overview of previous research suggest that the bully-victim group is small, and that the large variations across studies are mainly due to differences in choice of cutoff point. Bully-victims should generally be seen and treated statistically as a distinct subgroup. The relatively larger proportion of bully-victims in lower grades should be explored further.
SN - 0007-0998
UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/17504556/Bullies_and_victims_at_school:_are_they_the_same_pupils
L2 - https://doi.org/10.1348/000709906X105689
DB - PRIME
DP - Unbound Medicine
ER -
