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Bullies and victims at school: are they the same pupils?
Br J Educ Psychol 2007; 77(Pt 2):441-64BJ

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.

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    Authors+Show Affiliations

    Solberg ME
    Research Center for Health Promotion, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. mona.solberg@psyhp.uib.no
    Olweus D
    No affiliation info available
    Endresen IM
    No affiliation info available

    MeSH

    AdolescentChildCrime VictimsFemaleHumansMalePrevalenceSchoolsSocial EnvironmentStudentsSurveys and QuestionnairesViolence

    Pub Type(s)

    Journal Article
    Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

    Language

    eng

    PubMed ID

    17504556

    Citation

    Solberg, Mona E., et al. "Bullies and Victims at School: Are They the Same Pupils?" The British Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 77, no. Pt 2, 2007, pp. 441-64.
    Solberg ME, Olweus D, Endresen IM. Bullies and victims at school: are they the same pupils? Br J Educ Psychol. 2007;77(Pt 2):441-64.
    Solberg, M. E., Olweus, D., & Endresen, I. M. (2007). Bullies and victims at school: are they the same pupils? The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(Pt 2), pp. 441-64.
    Solberg ME, Olweus D, Endresen IM. Bullies and Victims at School: Are They the Same Pupils. Br J Educ Psychol. 2007;77(Pt 2):441-64. PubMed PMID: 17504556.
    * Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
    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 -