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School, Neighborhood, and Family Factors Are Associated With Children's Bullying Involvement: A Nationally Representative Longitudinal Study

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Abstract

Objectives

To test whether school, neighborhood, and family factors are independently associated with children's involvement in bullying, over and above their own behaviors that may increase their risk for becoming involved in bullying.

Method

We examined bullying in the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally representative 1994–1995 birth cohort of 2,232 children. We used mother and teacher reports to identify children who experienced bullying between the ages of 5 and 7 years either as victims, bullies, or bully-victims. We collected information about school characteristics from the Department for Children, Schools and Families. We collected reports from mothers about children's neighborhood and home environments and reports from mothers and teachers about children's internalizing and externalizing problems when they were 5 years old.

Results

Multinomial logistic regressions showed that over and above other socioenvironmental factors and children's behavior problems, school size was associated with an increased risk for being a victim of bullying, problems with neighbors was associated with an increased risk for being a bully-victim, and family factors (e.g., child maltreatment, domestic violence) were associated with all groups of children involved in bullying.

Conclusions

Socioenvironmental factors are associated with children's risk for becoming involved in bullying over and above their own behaviors. Intervention programs amend at reducing bullying should extend their focus beyond schools to include local communities and families.

Section snippets

Method

Participants were members of the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study (E-Risk)22, which tracks the development of a birth cohort of 2,232 children. This E-Risk sample was drawn from a larger 1994–1995 birth register of twins born in England and Wales.23 The sample was constructed in 1999–2000 when 1,116 families with same-sex 5-year-old twins participated in home visit assessments, forming the base cohort for the longitudinal E-Risk study. Details of sample construction are reported

Are Early Socioenvironmental and Individual Factors Associated With Children's Risks for Being Involved in Bullying?

Univariate analyses indicated that school, neighborhood, family, and individual factors assessed when children were 5 years were associated with children's risks for being involved in bullying by age 7 years (Table 2).

Are Early Socioenvironmental Factors Uniquely Associated With Children's Risks for Being Involved in Bullying?

Multivariate analyses indicated that some socioenvironmental variables remained associated with children's involvement in bullying by age 7 years when they were considered simultaneously (Table 3, columns 1, 3, and 5). Results showed that a large number of children in schools were

Discussion

Using prospective longitudinal data from a representative sample of children during their first years of formal schooling, this study identifies early socio-environmental factors uniquely associated with children's involvement in bullying as victims, bullies, or bully-victims. Findings suggest that interventions aiming at limiting bullying behavior and victimization should not be restricted to the school environment and should also target local communities and families.

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    The Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Study is funded by the Medical Research Council (UK-Medical Research Council grant G9806489). This research on bullying is supported by the Jacobs Foundation, the British Academy, and the Nuffield Foundation.

    The authors thank the study families and teachers for participation. The authors also thank Michael Rutter and Robert Plomin, Thomas Achenbach for kind permission to adapt the Child Behavior Checklist, and the members of the E-Risk Study team for the hard work and insights.

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