Citation

Guy A, Lee K, Wolke D. Front. Psychiatry 2019; 10: e868.

Affiliation

Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Frontiers Media)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00868

PMID

31824358

PMCID

PMC6883422

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of bullying role, i.e., bully, victim, and bully-victim, on three measures of peer status; perceived popularity, social preference, and social impact. In addition to completing peer nominations for these measures of peer status, adolescents (n = 2,721) aged 11 to 16 years from 5 secondary schools completed an online survey that assessed bullying involvement (self- and peer-reported), self-esteem, and behavioral difficulties. Compared to uninvolved adolescents, all bullying roles had a greater social impact. Bullies scored higher than all other roles for perceived popularity, whereas victims and bully-victims were the lowest in social preference. These significant group comparisons remained when controlling for demographic variables, behavioral difficulties, self-esteem and prosocial behavior. Overall, the perceived popularity found for bullies suggests that these adolescents are socially rewarded by peers for their victimization of others. These findings highlight the need to address the whole peer system in raising the social status of those who are victimized, whilst reducing the rewards received by bullies for their behavior.

Copyright © 2019 Guy, Lee and Wolke.

Language: en

Keywords

adolescence; bullying; peer relationships; peer status; victimization