Citation

Ireland CA, Ireland JL. Aggressive Behav. 2000; 26(3): 213-223.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, International Society for Research on Aggression, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This aim of this study was to investigate the nature and extent of direct and indirect bullying in a maximum-security prison and to assess prisoners' attitudes toward victims of bullying. A total of 194 adult male prisoners completed the Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behavior Checklist (DIPC) [Ireland (1998): University of Central Lancashire; Ireland (1999a): Aggressive Behavior] and a modified version of the Rigby and Slee [1991: J Social Psychol 131:615-627] provictim scale. The results showed that more than half of the prisoners sampled had been bullied in the past week. Only a small number of prisoners could be classified as either a pure bully or a pure victim, with almost half classified as both a bully and a victim. The most frequent types of bullying used were psychological/verbal and indirect forms. No significant differences were found between pure bullies, bully/victims, pure victims, and the not involved groups' attitudes toward the victims of bullying. These findings hold implications for anti-bullying programs that fail to fully consider the prevalence of indirect forms of bullying and that an individual can be both a bully and a victim.