Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8V 3C5, USA.
Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90007, USA.
J Youth Adolesc. 2018 Mar;47(3):601-618. doi: 10.1007/s10964-017-0783-4. Epub 2017 Dec 13.
Bullying and homophobic teasing behaviors affect the lives of many school aged children, often co-occur, and tend to peak in middle school. While bullying and homophobic teasing behaviors are known to be peer group phenomena, studies typically examine the associations at the individual or school levels. An examination of these behaviors at the peer group level can aid in our understanding of the formation and maintenance of peer groups that engage in these forms of aggressive behavior (selection), and the extent to which friends and the peer group impact individual rates of these aggressive behaviors (influence). In this longitudinal study, we assess the co-evolution of friendship networks, bullying perpetration, and homophobic teasing among middle school students (n = 190) using a Stochastic Actor-Based Model (SABM) for longitudinal networks. Data were collected from 6-8th-grade students (Baseline age 12-15; 53% Female; 47% Male) across three waves of data. The sample was diverse with 58% African American, 31% White, and 11% Hispanic. Since bullying and homophobic teasing behaviors are related yet distinct forms of peer aggression, to capture the unique and combined effects of these behaviors we ran models separately and then together in a competing model. Results indicated that on average individuals with higher rates of bullying perpetration and homophobic teasing were associated with becoming increasingly popular as a friend. However, the effects were not linear, and individuals with the highest rates of bullying perpetration and homophobic teasing were less likely to receive friendship nominations. There was no evidence that bullying perpetration or homophobic teasing were associated with the number of friendship nominations made. Further, there was a preference for individuals to form or maintain friendships with peers who engaged in similar rates of homophobic name-calling; however, this effect was not found for bullying perpetration. Additionally, changes in individual rates of bullying perpetration were not found to be predicted by the bullying perpetration of their friends; however, changes in adolescent homophobic teasing were predicted by the homophobic teasing behaviors of their friends. In a competing model that combined bullying perpetration and homophobic teasing, we found no evidence that these behaviors were associated with popularity. These findings are likely due to the high association between bullying perpetration and homophobic teasing combined with the small sample size. However, friendship selection was based on homophobic name-calling, such that, there was a preference to befriend individuals with similar rates of homophobic teasing. We also examined several risk factors (dominance, traditional masculinity, impulsivity, femininity, positive attitudes of bullying, and neighborhood violence), although, impulsivity was the only covariate that was associated with higher levels of bullying perpetration and homophobic teasing. More specifically, youth with higher rates of impulsivity engaged in higher rates of bullying perpetration and homophobic teasing over time. The findings suggest bullying perpetration and homophobic teasing have important influences on friendship formation, and close friendships influence youth's engagement in homophobic teasing. Implications for prevention and intervention efforts are discussed in terms of targeting peer groups and popular peers to help reduce rates of these aggressive behaviors.
欺凌和恐同欺凌行为影响着许多学龄儿童的生活，它们往往同时发生，并在中学阶段达到高峰。虽然欺凌和恐同欺凌行为是众所周知的同伴群体现象，但研究通常只在个体或学校层面上考察它们之间的关联。在同伴群体层面上研究这些行为，可以帮助我们理解形成和维持参与这些形式的攻击性行为的同伴群体（选择），以及朋友和同伴群体对个体参与这些攻击性行为的程度的影响（影响）。在这项纵向研究中，我们使用随机主体模型（SABM）来评估中学生（n=190）的友谊网络、欺凌行为和恐同欺凌行为的共同演变。数据来自 6-8 年级的学生（基线年龄 12-15 岁；53%为女性；47%为男性），共收集了三波数据。该样本具有多样性，其中 58%为非裔美国人，31%为白人，11%为西班牙裔。由于欺凌和恐同欺凌行为是相关但不同形式的同伴攻击，为了捕捉这些行为的独特和综合影响，我们分别在竞争模型中运行了这些模型。结果表明，平均而言，欺凌行为和恐同欺凌行为发生率较高的个体，其作为朋友的受欢迎程度也会随之增加。然而，这种影响并不是线性的，欺凌行为和恐同欺凌行为发生率最高的个体，获得友谊提名的可能性较低。没有证据表明欺凌行为或恐同欺凌行为与获得的友谊提名数量有关。此外，与同伴的欺凌行为相比，青少年更倾向于与有类似恐同辱骂行为的同伴建立或维持友谊；然而，这种效应在欺凌行为中并没有发现。此外，个体欺凌行为发生率的变化也没有被发现是由其朋友的欺凌行为所预测的；然而，青少年的恐同欺凌行为变化却可以被朋友的恐同欺凌行为所预测。在一个将欺凌行为和恐同欺凌行为结合起来的竞争模型中，我们没有发现这些行为与受欢迎程度有关的证据。这可能是由于欺凌行为和恐同欺凌行为之间存在很高的关联，再加上样本量较小。然而，友谊的选择是基于恐同辱骂行为的，也就是说，人们更倾向于与具有相似恐同欺凌行为的人交朋友。我们还考察了几个风险因素（支配地位、传统男子气概、冲动、女性化、对欺凌行为的积极态度和邻里暴力），尽管冲动是与欺凌行为和恐同欺凌行为发生率较高相关的唯一协变量。具体来说，冲动程度较高的青少年随着时间的推移，会表现出更高水平的欺凌行为和恐同欺凌行为。研究结果表明，欺凌行为和恐同欺凌行为对友谊的形成有重要影响，而亲密的友谊会影响青少年参与恐同欺凌行为。研究结果还讨论了针对同伴群体和受欢迎的同伴的预防和干预措施的意义，以帮助降低这些攻击性行为的发生率。
