Co-occurrence of victimization from five subtypes of bullying: physical, verbal, social exclusion, spreading rumors, and cyber.
OBJECTIVE
To examine co-occurrence of five subtypes of peer victimization.


METHODS
Data were obtained from a national sample of 7,475 US adolescents in grades 6 through 10 in the 2005/2006 Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study. Latent class analyses (LCA) were conducted on victimization by physical, verbal, social exclusion, spreading rumors, and cyber bullying.


RESULTS
Three latent classes were identified, including an all-types victims class (9.7% of males and 6.2% of females), a verbal/relational victims class (28.1% of males and 35.1% of females), and a nonvictim class (62.2% of males and 58.7% of females). Males were more likely to be all-type victims. There was a graded relationship between the three latent classes and level of depression, frequency of medically attended injuries, and medicine use, especially among females.


CONCLUSIONS
Increased co-occurrence of victimization types put adolescents at greater risks for poorer physical and psychological outcomes.
Wang
Jing
J
Prevention Research Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD 20892-7510, USA. wangji2@mail.nih.gov
Iannotti
Ronald J
RJ
Luk
Jeremy W
JW
Nansel
Tonja R
TR
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D058445:Bullying / Q000523:psychology*; D040421:Cell Phone; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012919:Social Behavior; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D014754:Violence