Department of Psychology, Loyola University.
Behav Sci Law. 2011 Sep-Oct;29(5):677-94. doi: 10.1002/bsl.1000. Epub 2011 Jul 24.
The current study investigated bullying behaviors in 284 school children in the fourth through seventh grades at the time of the initial assessment. Peer ratings of bullying behavior were obtained at the end of the spring semester of one school year and at the end of the fall semester of the next school year. Importantly, peer ratings were obtained by assessing not only the level at which participants actually bully other students but also whether participants help bullies to hurt the victim (assister), encourage bullies (reinforce), or help the victim of bullying (defender). Our results did not support the utility of differentiating between bullies, assisters, or reinforcers. Specifically, these bullying roles were highly intercorrelated, both concurrently and across school years, and they showed similar correlations with aggression and several characteristics often associated with aggression (i.e., conduct problems, callous-unemotional traits, and positive expectancies about aggression). In contrast, ratings of defending designated a particularly prosocial group of students. Finally, whereas bullying appeared to be very similar in boys and girls, it was somewhat more stable across school years and was related to lower levels of prosocial behavior in boys, both of which could suggest that bullying may be somewhat more related to social group dynamics in girls.
本研究调查了 284 名四至七年级在校儿童的欺凌行为。在一个学年的春季学期末和下一个学年的秋季学期末，获得了同伴对欺凌行为的评价。重要的是，同伴评价不仅评估了参与者实际欺凌其他学生的程度，还评估了参与者是否帮助欺凌者伤害受害者（助手）、鼓励欺凌者（强化者）或帮助欺凌受害者（保护者）。我们的结果不支持区分欺凌者、助手或强化者的效用。具体来说，这些欺凌角色在同时和跨学年都高度相关，并且与攻击性和几个通常与攻击性相关的特征（即行为问题、无情特质和对攻击性的积极期望）具有相似的相关性。相比之下，对指定防御者的评价则代表了一个特别亲社会的学生群体。最后，尽管男孩和女孩的欺凌行为非常相似，但它在学年之间更为稳定，并且与男孩的亲社会行为水平较低有关，这两者都表明欺凌行为在女孩中可能与社会群体动态更为相关。
