| The present study seeks to examine the nature and prevalence of childhood bullying with respect to age and gender. A review of the literature on aggression and bullying is offered, including the predominant theoretical explanations underlying aggressive behavior patterns. Subtypes of aggression are described, including proactive aggression (i.e., a deliberate or planned effort to attain desired results, such as coercing others), reactive aggression (i.e., an unplanned, impetuous response to a perceived threat), overt or direct aggression (i.e., openly confrontational behavior directed toward others, such as physical attacks or threats), and relational aggression (i.e., not involving direct confrontation with the victim, but including exclusion from social groups or teasing). Self, teacher, and parent reports were administered and bullying and victimization were examined with respect to categories of overt and relational aggressive behavior. In order to examine hypotheses, a series of one-way ANOVAs were conducted followed by post hoc testing. Although it was hypothesized that bullying behavior would decrease with age, no significant support was found for this based upon data from multiple informants. Consistent with expectations, males were rated overall as engaging in more fighting and overt aggression than females. Although self-reports about bullying behavior did not match the expectation that higher levels of such behavior would be reported in grade 6 than in grade 5 with a subsequent decrease by grade 10, self-reports of victimization did appear to follow this expected pattern. Gender findings for overt bullying did not follow the same patterns as findings for proactive aggression as anticipated. To assess for the presence of gender differences within the collective sample and within each grade, a series of t-tests were conducted. These resulted in support in grade 6 for the expectation that boys would demonstrate higher levels of overt bullying behavior, and in grade 10 for the expectation that girls would demonstrate higher levels of relational bullying behavior. Pearson correlations revealed low to moderate correlations among ratings on several dependent variables, with several more strongly-correlated ratings. Findings are discussed with regard to the extension of the current research base, as well as directions for future research and intervention strategies. |
