Citation

Priesman E, Newman R, Ford JA. J. Psychoactive Drugs 2018; 50(2): 133-142.

Affiliation

c Associate Professor, Department of Sociology , University of Central Florida , Orlando , FL , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Haight-Ashbury Publications in association with the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic)

DOI

10.1080/02791072.2017.1371362

PMID

28937863

Abstract

The current research examines the association between bullying victimization, binge drinking, and marijuana use among adolescents. We seek to determine if this association varies based on the type of bullying experienced, traditional or cyberbullying. We used data from the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a nationally representative sample of high school students in the United States. The dependent variables were binge drinking and marijuana use. Our key independent variable, bullying victimization, included both traditional and cyberbullying. We estimated logistic regression models, by gender, to examine the association between bullying victimization and substance use. About 25% of the sample reported bullying victimization, including 10.39% for only traditional, 5.47% for only cyber, and 9.26% for both. Traditional bullying was not significantly associated with binge drinking, but was negatively related to marijuana use. Being the victim of cyberbullying and both types of bullying was significantly associated with binge drinking and marijuana use. We also found important gender differences. The current research adds to a growing list of studies that suggests that cyberbullying is associated with more adverse outcomes than traditional bullying. Bullying prevention and intervention efforts should focus on reducing cyberbullying and providing adolescents with the skills needed to effectively deal with cyberbullying.

Language: en

Keywords

Binge drinking; bullying; cyberbullying; marijuana use; victimization