Bullying and its Relation to Child Abuse, Sexual Victimization, Domestic Violence, and Witnessing Community Violence

What We Found

In our study of 700 fifth grade students we found in student self-reports:

• 14% bullies
• 12% victims
• 8% bully-victims
• 66% not involved in bullying

We then compared groups on the amount of victimization in other areas (i.e., outside of the school) they reported:

• Bully-victims reported the most child maltreatment (44%), which included experiences with physical and psychological abuse and neglect.
• Bully-victims also reported the highest rates of sexual victimization (32%), which included experiences with sexual harassment as well as sexual abuse, and included familial and non-familial perpetrators.
• Bully-victims and bullies witnessed higher levels of victimization within their homes (e.g., domestic violence) and communities (e.g., witnessing attacks) than other youth (59% for bully-victims, 61% for bullies).

Implications

This study highlights the importance of finding out whether youth involved in school bullying either as victim or perpetrator or bully-victim have experienced victimization (e.g., child abuse or witness to domestic violence) elsewhere, such as within the home or community.

• School Counselors. Any counseling that students receive should take into account the home environment and the community. A thorough assessment will enable counselors to better understand a youth’s role in bullying and also provide information about contributions to the youth’s psychological well-being.
• School Bullying Prevention Programs. At the school level bullying prevention programs should include components that address the wider range of victimizations some students might have experienced.
• Comprehensive Counseling and Family Therapy. Students involved in bullying, particularly bully-victims who report the highest rates of child maltreatment, sexual victimization, and indirect victimization, http://www.education.com/special-edition/nature-deficit-disorder/might need more comprehensive counseling outside the school environment. These youth also might benefit from family therapy in some cases.

It is important to note that not all youth involved in bullying have experienced victimization in other domains. Indeed, the majority of youth did not report significant victimization outside of school. However, it is nonetheless important to keep the broader victimization context in mind so that the youth who do experience multiple victimization forms can obtain the services that they need.

Take Home Message

School officials need to consider the wide range of victimizations youth involved in bullying might have experienced to best help them end their bullying involvement and increase their psychological well-being.

Full Reference for Study

Holt, M., Finkelhor, D., & Kaufman Kantor, K. (in press). Hidden victimization in bullying assessment. School Psychology Review, 36, 345-360.

Links to Lab and Author Websites

http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/researchers/holt-melissa.html
www.unh.edu/ccrc
www.unh.edu/frl