A Behaviorally Specific, Empirical Alternative to Bullying: Aggravated Peer Victimization

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Adolescent Health
• Victimization Studies

Background:

• Peer victimization is a significant concern for youth mental health.
• Existing measures like the Olweus bullying (OB) measure may not capture the full spectrum of serious peer victimization.
• The definition of bullying, particularly the concept of power imbalance, can be ambiguous.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test a behaviorally specific measure of serious peer victimization, termed aggravated peer victimization (APV).
• To compare the APV measure with the conventional Olweus bullying (OB) measure.
• To utilize empirically derived aggravating elements (injury, weapon, bias, sexual content, multiple perpetrators/contexts) for the APV measure.

Main Methods:

• Data from The National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence 2014.
• Telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample.
• Analysis of 1,949 youth aged 10-17.

Main Results:

• The APV measure identified twice as many youth with serious victimization episodes compared to the OB measure.
• Serious episodes included injury, weapons, sexual assaults, and bias content.
• APV explained significantly more variation in distress (R² = .19) than OB (R² = .12).

Conclusions:

• An empirical approach to serious peer victimization (APV) identifies more affected youth.
• APV's behaviorally specific criteria are advantageous over ambiguous elements like power imbalance.
• This measure offers a more effective way to identify and address severe peer victimization.