Money and age in schools: Bullying and power imbalances

School bullying continues to be a serious problem around the world. Thus, it seems crucial to clearly identify the risk factors associated with being a victim or a bully. The current study focused in particular on the role that age and socio-economic differences between classmates could play on bullying. Logistic and multilevel analyses were conducted using data from 53,316 5th and 9th grade students from a representative sample of public and private Colombian schools. Higher age and better family socio-economic conditions than classmates were risk factors associated with being a bully, while younger age and poorer socio-economic conditions than classmates were associated with being a victim of bullying. Coming from authoritarian families or violent neighborhoods, and supporting beliefs legitimizing aggression, were also associated with bullying and victimization. Empathy was negatively associated with being a bully, and in some cases positively associated with being a victim. The results highlight the need to take into account possible sources of power imbalances, such as age and socio-economic differences among classmates, when seeking to prevent bullying. In particular, interventions focused on peer group dynamics might contribute to avoid power imbalances or to prevent power imbalances from becoming power abuse. Aggr. Behav. 41:280-293, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.