title: Bullying and victimization: prevalence and relationship to gender, grade level, ethnicity, self-esteem, and depression.
abstract: This study investigated the prevalence of bullying and victimization among students in grades 7 and 8. It also explored the relationship of bullying and victimization to gender, grade level, ethnicity, self-esteem, and depression. Three survey instruments were used to obtain data from a convenience sample of 454 public school students. Twenty-four percent reported bullying involvement. Chi-square tests indicated significantly more male than female bullying involvement, seventh graders reported more involvement than did eighth graders, and there were no statistically significant differences in involvement based on ethnicity. Both bullies and victims manifested higher levels of depression than did students who were neither bullies nor victims. There were no significant differences between groups in terms of self-esteem.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Delta State University, Cleveland, Mississippi 38733, USA. Lseals@deltastate.edu
authors.forename: Dorothy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Seals
authors.forename: Jerry
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Young
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D000378:Agonistic Behavior; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008922:Mississippi / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology