Factors influencing bully-victim behaviour with special focus on self-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. National Institute of Child Health

Bullying 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 HealthDóra Várnai, 2004

Bullying – the frequencies in the Hungarian sample 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

Age groups and bullying The mean age is significantly lower in the bully-victim group, than in any of other three groups T valuesControlsBulliesVictims Bully victimst=11,252t=10,028t=2,081

Gender 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) GIRLSN% Controls221468,9 Bullies32712,2 Victim39210,2 Bully-victims2828,8 BOYSN% Controls160559,3 Bullies56821 Victims2609,6 Bully-victims27510,2 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 HealthDóra Várnai, 2004 FASMeanMedian Controls2,362 Victims2,342 Bully victims2,422 Bullies2,382

Obesity 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 Controls384 10,8% Bully victims89 17,1% Bullies109 12,7% Victims89 15,0%

Height 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) shortnormaltall 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 year olds Self-esteem of bully-victims and victims is significantly lower than of controls or of bullies N=2804N=668N=394N=318 T valuesBully- victms Victims Bulliest=6,131*t= - 6,156* Controlst= 6,805*t=7,094* Dóra Várnai, 2004

Bullying and depression National Institute of Child HealthDóra Várnai, 2004 N=2827N=680 N=405N=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 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 HealthDóra Várnai, 2004 MeanMedian Bully victims 3,093,00 Controls3,023,00 Victims2,783,00 Bullies3,494,00

Attitude 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 MeanMedian Controls16,02516,00 Bullies15,2915,00 Victims14,62815,00 Bully- victims 14,62516,00 Dóra Várnai, 2004 National Institute of Child Health

Attitude 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 MeansMedians Controls Victims13,2514 Bullies12,7613 Bully-victims12,5913 National Institute of Child HealthDóra Várnai, 2004

Parental 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 controlMaternal control MeansMediansMeansMedians Controls12,8213,0013,8715,00 Victims12,5913,0013,7714,00 Bully-victims12,1513,0013,3214,00 Bullies12,1513,0013,2814,00

Parental 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 loveMothernal love MeansMediansMeansMedians Controls10,151111,1212 Victims9,931010,912 Bullies9,71010,8911 Bully victims9,761010,7511

Logistic 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 ORCompared to Controls Compared to Victims Compared to Bullies Depression1,226Non sign ,251 Obesity1,569Non 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 HealthDóra Várnai, 2004

Conclusion 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! National Institute of Child Health