Contrasting Health-Related and Socio-Demographic Risks for Involvement in Bullying: Exploring the Link Between Stigma and Victimization

Introduction: There is increasing concern regarding youth who are bullied due to affiliation with a stigmatized group, such as youth who are overweight or have other health problems (e.g., asthma). Other stigmatized groups include ethnic minorities and those with strong religious affiliations (National Academies of Science, 2016). The current study sought to explore these potential stigma-related factors in relation to risk for involvement in bullying (i.e., bully, victim, bully-victim). We were also interested in risk for victimization through cyberbullying, as this is a particular form of victimization which has received less attention in relation to stigma.

Method: We drew upon data from 64,670 youth from 107 middle and high schools to examine risk for involvement in bullying for youth who are in often stigmatized or biased groups (e.g., racial minorities, low SES, strong ties to religion). We were particularly interested in variety of health behaviors that may place youth at an increased risk for involvement in bullying, such as obesity, asthma, sleep problems, and other health-related behaviors (e.g., overall health, eating habits).

Results: Approximately 4.2% of the sample frequently bullied other students, whereas 10.6% were frequently bullied, and 4.1% both frequently bullied and were victimized. Two-level hierarchical linear modeling analyses indicated that obese youth had significantly higher odds of reporting being a victim of bullying as compared to non-obese youth; however, they were not at increased risk for being either a bully or bully-victim. Youth with asthma were more likely to be a victim and bully-victim. Interestingly, youth experiencing sleep problems had significantly higher odds of reporting all forms of bullying involvement. Furthermore, Black, Hispanic, Asian and Other races/ethnicities had greater odds of reporting being a bully in the past 30 days, yet had significantly lower odds of reporting being a victim as compared to White youth. Taken together, these findings suggest that youth who are members of historically stigmatized groups, based on both health and socio-demographic characteristics are at increased risk for involvement in bullying, including cyberbullying. Additional analyses will be conducted to explore intersectionality between multiple stigmatized groups, such as health problems and socio-demographic risk.

Conclusions: Although we are unable to draw conclusions regarding causality the association between membership in a stigmatized group and bullying involvement, these findings do highlight the increased risk associated with membership in a historically stigmatized group. Additional implications for prevention and intervention will be discussed.