Post on 25-Dec-2015
Factors influencing bully-victim Factors influencing bully-victim behaviour with special focus on behaviour with special focus on
self-esteem and depressionself-esteem and depression
Dóra Várnai M.A., Ágnes Németh PhD., Ágnes Balogh, M.A., Gyöngyi Kökönyei, M.A., Gabriella Pál, M.D.,
Anna Aszmann, M.D.
varnai@ogyei.hu
National Institute of Child Health
Bullying and nonbullying victimsBullying and nonbullying victims
Nonbullying victims - who seldom attempt to dominate others through aggressive behavior, they are often unassertive youngsters withdrawing from or concede to bullies and readily display emotional distress when bullied (Olweus, 1991)
Bullying victims - (sometimes described as provocative victims), who frequently aggress towards peers despite being bullied themselves, – engage in numerous aggressive acts towards peers– often show levels of aggression and aggression-related
cognitive profiles comparable to bullies who are not themselves frequent targets of aggression (Vernberg et al., 1999)
National Institute of Child Health Dóra Várnai, 2004
Bullying – the frequencies in the Hungarian Bullying – the frequencies in the Hungarian samplesample
Dóra Várnai, 2004
N=3838
N=655
N=899
N=559
•The recent Hungarian sample (2002/2003) was used for the analysis•Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, T-test, logistic
regression, non parametric tests
National Institute of Child Health
10,9% 64,1%
9,4%15,1% not involved in bullying
victim
bully
bully-victim
Age groups and bullyingAge groups and bullying
• The mean age is significantly lower in the bully-victim group, than in any of other three groups
14,83
13,6513,92
14,84
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Controls Bullies Victims Bully/victims
Controls
Bullies
VictimsBully/victims
T values Controls Bullies Victims
Bully victims t=11,252 t=10,028 t=2,081
Gender differencesGender differences
• There are significant gender differences between groups indicating that the proportion of bully-victims and bullies among boys is significantly higher than among girls (chi square=146,497)
GIRLS N %
Controls 2214 68,9
Bullies 327 12,2
Victim 392 10,2
Bully-victims 282 8,8
BOYS N %
Controls 1605 59,3
Bullies 568 21
Victims 260 9,6
Bully-victims 275 10,2
Dóra Várnai, 2004National Institute of Child Health
Family affluence and bullying
• No significant difference was found between groups in their families’ wealth (FAS), or SES of father
• Victims’ and bully victim’s mother’ SES is significantly lower than in any other group
National Institute of Child Health Dóra Várnai, 2004
FAS Mean Median
Controls 2,36 2
Victims 2,34 2
Bully victims 2,42 2
Bullies 2,38 2
ObesityObesity
• The ratio of obese children among bully victims is significantly higher than among controls (chi-
square=17,561*), or bullies (chi
square= 5,161*) but not significantly higher than among victims (chi square= 0,939)
National Institute of Child Health Dóra Várnai, 2004
Obese
Controls 384
10,8%
Bully victims 89
17,1%
Bullies 109
12,7%
Victims 89
15,0%
HeightHeight We used height standards
computed using age and self reported height (cm)
If we compare height category there are more short and normal and less tall children among bully victims than among controls (chi square=11,361*), or bullies (chi square=21,341*)
There are almost equal numbers of shorts, normals and talls among victims and bully victims (chi-square=4,711)
350 71 64
1813409
320286
1414 380
175 166
101
Controls Bullies Victims Bully_victims
short normal tall
Dóra Várnai, 2004National Institute of Child Health
Bullying and self-esteem Self – esteem was evaluated with Rosenberg self esteem items where higher scores indicate
higher self-esteem, It has been evaluated for 15-17 year olds Self-esteem of bully-victims and victims is significantly lower than of controls or of bullies
28,09 28,1926,29 26,21
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
controls bullies victims bully-victims
N=2804 N=668 N=394 N=318
T values Bully-victms
Victims
Bullies t=6,131* t= - 6,156*
Controls t= 6,805* t=7,094*
Dóra Várnai, 2004
Bullying and depression
National Institute of Child Health Dóra Várnai, 2004
Mean=3,55(Median=3,0)
Mean=3,65(Median=3,0)
Mean=1,91(Median=1,0)
Mean=2,16(Median=2,0)
0
0,5
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
3,5
4
controls bullies victims bully-victims
N=2827 N=680 N=405 N=333
•Depression was evaluated with Child Depression Inventory items (Kovács, 1985)
•Higher scores on scale indicate higher level of depression, that is significantly higher for victims or bully victims, than of bullies and controls
Time out with friendsTime out with friends• Bully-victims don’t spend less
afternoons with friends than
controls: it seems that their social
network is not significantly poorer
as that of the normal population
• They spend more time out with
friends than victims,
• But significantly less time out than
bullies
National Institute of Child Health Dóra Várnai, 2004
Mean Median
Bully victims
3,09 3,00
Controls 3,02 3,00
Victims 2,78 3,00
Bullies 3,49 4,00
Attitude towards classmatesAttitude towards classmates
Higher scores indicate more preferable attitude towards classmates
There is significant difference between bully-victims and controls or bullies, indicating that bully victims judge class climate less advisable
There is no significant difference between victims and bully-victims in this point of view
Mean Median
Controls 16,025 16,00
Bullies 15,29 15,00
Victims 14,628 15,00
Bully-victims
14,625 16,00
Dóra Várnai, 2004National Institute of Child Health
Attitude towards teachersAttitude towards teachers
Using this scale-like variable higher scores indicate better attitude towards teachers
Bully victims, just as bullies judge teachers significantly less fair and helpful than do controls and victims
Means Medians
Controls 13.58 14
Victims 13,25 14
Bullies 12,76 13
Bully-victims 12,59 13
National Institute of Child Health Dóra Várnai, 2004
Parental controlParental control Higher scores indicate higher parental control The paternal control is significantly lower for bully-victims and bullies
than for controls or victims The same is true for mother control, but in mother control there is no
difference between victims and controls, whilst paternal control is higher for controls
Paternal control Maternal control
Means Medians Means Medians
Controls 12,82 13,00 13,87 15,00
Victims 12,59 13,00 13,77 14,00
Bully-victims 12,15 13,00 13,32 14,00
Bullies 12,15 13,00 13,28 14,00
Parental loveParental love There is significant difference of maternal and
paternal love variable indicating that bullies and bully-victim report to have lower level of maternal affection than controls or victims
(There is significant difference between victims and controls as well on both variables)
Paternal love Mothernal love
Means Medians Means Medians
Controls 10,15 11 11,12 12
Victims 9,93 10 10,9 12
Bullies 9,7 10 10,89 11
Bully victims 9,76 10 10,75 11
Logistic regression modelLogistic regression model Logistic regression models were built (with the above mentioned variables as
independent variables), but the multicollinearity proved to be too high in some cases– our future plan is to handle these variables together
Those who are obese have 1, 569 times higher chance to become bully-victims than to be controls and depressed children have 1,226 times higher chance to become bully-victim than to be control
OR Compared to Controls
Compared to Victims
Compared to Bullies
Depression 1,226 Non sign. 1.010
1,251
Obesity 1,569 Non sign.
1,172
1,421
National Institute of Child Health
Possible reasons
• Victims’ aggression towards peers could be a reactive following episodes of being bullied
• This suggests bully-victims may access physically aggressive responses quicker in potential confrontations with peers and in some instances fail to select appropriate alternatives to aggression during confrontation
• Perhaps victims' intentions to aggress are generated by less adaptive coping with emotional arousal.
• Negative body image is associated with bullying – they do not
have more mature means from which to form masculine identity
National Institute of Child Health Dóra Várnai, 2004
ConclusionConclusion• Younger children, boys and obese children are at higher risk to be a
bully victims• Bully victims are rather similar to victims and differ from bullies or
controls in obesity, depression and lack of self-esteem, worse attitude towards classmates
• Bully victims are rather similar to bullies in lower parental control, lower percepted affection for mother or father, worse attitude towards teachers
• They do not differ from the other groups in height or in family affluence and they don’t spend less time out with friends than controls do
• They really shape a mixed group sharing characteristic of both bullies and victims
Dóra Várnai, 2004National Institute of Child Health
Thank you!Thank you!
VARNAI@OGYEI.HU
National Institute of Child Health