The Effects of Individual and School Characteristics on Students' Bullying: a Multilevel Analysis of Public Middle Schools in Taiwan

This study investigated the effects of individual characteristics (gender, depression, and delinquency) and school organizational factors (school size and student-teacher ratio) on adolescents' verbal and physical bullying behaviors. A random sample of 1172 7th-9th grade students from 12 public middle schools in Taichung City, Taiwan was selected for this study. Self-report questionnaires were administered and students' bullying behavior was assessed by items from the California School Climate & Safety Survey. The results showed that that during the previous semester, 25.4% of the students had ever hit classmates, while 52.8% had verbally insulted other students. Hierarchical linear modeling was employed to conduct a two-level analysis. On the individual level, gender, depression and previous involvement in delinquent behaviors were found to significantly contribute to both verbal and physical bullying. Fixed effect coefficients of the three factors were 0.62***, 0.04*** and 0.55*** for verbal bullying and 0.49***, 0.05*** and 0.80*** for physical bullying. School size and student-teacher ratio were non-significantly related to bullying behaviors. These findings have implications for both school safety planning and violence prevention.