Bullying and Being Bullied: To What Extent Are Bullies Also Victims?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the victim-bully cycle in middle school and to identify student and school characteristics that contributed to the cycle of bullying, using cross-sectional data from the New Brunswick School Climate Study (N = 6,883 in grade 6 and N = 6,868 in grade 8). The results of a multivariate, multilevel analysis clearly indicated that the relationship of bully to victim was reciprocal. At the student level, gender, affective condition, and physical condition contributed to the victim-bully cycle in both grades. The number of siblings contributed to the cycle of bullying in grade 8. Gender, affective condition, and the number of siblings were more characteristics of bullies than victims, whereas physical condition was more a characteristic of victims than bullies. The victim-bully cycle at the school level has rarely been reported in the literature. This study suggests that the cycle of bullying was present in several aspects of school life. School size and discipline climate contributed to the victim-bully cycle in both grades. Parental involvement contributed to the cycle of bullying in grade 6, whereas academic press contributed to the cycle of bullying in grade 8. Although discipline climate both helped victims and discouraged bullies, parental involvement and academic press discouraged bullies more than helped victims.