Correlates of Bullying Behavior among Incarcerated Youth

Purpose: Bullying is a significant problem in United States, with approximately 25% of youth experiencing physical or psychological aggression from their peers. Victims of bullying experience multiple negative consequences, including depression, anxiety, low self esteem, and academic problems. In addition, bullies report elevated rates of substance abuse, depression, and criminal behavior into adulthood. One population with particularly high rates of bullying behavior is incarcerated youth; upwards of 70% of young offenders report bullying behavior. Yet almost all empirical investigations of bullying behavior have been conducted in school-based rather than juvenile justice settings. Little is known about the correlates of bullying behavior among U.S. incarcerated youth. Further research is necessary to identify those youth most at-risk for bullying and the factors to address in prevention and intervention programs.

Methods: This NIDA-funded study investigates correlates of bullying behavior among residents (N= 723) in the Missouri Division of Youth Services. All youth providing informed consent completed a structured face-to-face interview assessing delinquent behavior, substance-related problems, psychiatric symptoms, and personality characteristics. Youth were asked how often they “strong-armed students (e.g., bullied, threatened with force).” Response options were on a 9-point ordinal scale, ranging from zero times in the past year to 2-3 times/day during the past year. Multivariate regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with bullying behaviors while controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, and other delinquent behaviors. Estimated probabilities of bullying behaviors were computed through simulation procedures, which involved taking random draws from the posterior distribution of the regression models.

Results: Approximately 52% of the study sample self-reported bullying other students or peers at least once in the year prior to incarceration. Among those youth who reported any past-year bullying, approximately 47% reported bullying other students once a week or more. Multivariate regression analyses revealed numerous clinical and psychosocial factors were significantly associated with increased levels of bullying behavior, including being older, residing in rural areas, self-reported alcohol use, and antisocial personality characteristics. Bullying behavior was also significantly associated with an increased likelihood of bullying parents and teachers, stealing, and participating in gang-related activities.

Implications: Findings confirm that incarcerated youth in the U.S. participate in bullying behavior at elevated rates compared to youth in the general population. Given that incarcerated youth may be most at risk for bullying yet least likely to receive traditional school-based prevention programming, interventions within residential juvenile justice facilities should be designed to decrease bullying behaviors as well as address the psychosocial problems associated with such behaviors. Previous work has found bullying behavior associated with Axis I disorders among general population samples (Kumpulainen, Rasanen, & Puura, 2001). The present study complements this research by highlighting personality dimensions associated with this type of behavior such as antisociality and impulsivity, and suggests rehabilitative efforts to address these problems may offer promising approaches to reducing bullying behavior among this population. Effective school-based prevention curriculums aimed at enhancing social and emotional skills (Frey, et al., 2005; Jenson & Dieterich, 2007) need to be tested and adapted for delinquent youth.