Time Trends, Trajectories, and Demographic Predictors of Bullying: A Prospective Study in Korean Adolescents
Received 1 October 2008; accepted 12 February 2009. published online 18 June 2009.
Refers to article:
Bullying: We Need to Increase Our Efforts and Broaden Our Focus
Pierre-André Michaud
Journal of Adolescent Health
October 2009 (Vol. 45, Issue 4, Pages 323-325) Full Text |
Full-Text PDF (201 KB)
Abstract
Purpose
To illustrate time trends and trajectories of bullying and identify demographic predictors of bullying.
Methods
A prospective study of 1666 seventh- and eighth-grade students from two Korean middle schools was conducted between 2000 and 2001. Using the Korean-Peer Nomination Inventory, bullying was categorized into four groups: victim, perpetrator, victim-perpetrator, and neither.
Results
Only the prevalence of male victims significantly decreased over the course of the study. Most students uninvolved in bullying at baseline remained so over the study period. In all, 52–58% of baseline victims and perpetrators and 74% of victim-perpetrators continued to be involved in bullying. Significantly more boys were involved with bullying than girls; individual stability of bullying behavior did not differ by gender. Shorter, heavier boys and those from lower SES, whose fathers had lower educational levels or whose mothers had higher educational levels, as well as shorter girls from Seoul or non-intact families, were at an increased risk for bullying.
Conclusions
Except for a modest decline in the number of male victims, participation in bullying (especially by victim-perpetrators) is stable over time. Along with disadvantaged background, distinct demographic profiles of bullying involvement by sex and bullying groups emerged, allowing early identification of bullying and targeting intervention and prevention.
aChild Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
bDepartment of Psychiatry, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang, South Korea
cDepartment of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
dThe Korea Institute for Children's Social Development, Seoul, South Korea
eInstitute for Juvenile Research, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
Address correspondence to: Young Shin Kim, M.D., M.S., M.P.H, Ph.D., Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 230 S. Frontage Road., New Haven, CT 06520.
ABSTRACT