10.1177/0886260502238731ARTICLEJOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE / February 2003Unnever, Cornell / BULLYING, SELF-CONTROL, & ADHD Bullying, Self-Control, and ADHD

We investigated the influence of low self-control and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on bullying and bully victimization in a sample of 1,315 middle-school students using a school survey. Students who reported taking medication for ADHD were at increased risk for bullying as well as victimization by bullies. The cor-relation between ADHD status and bullying could be explained by low self-control, a construct theorized by Gottfredson and Hirschi to be the most important determinant of criminality. In contrast, the correlation between ADHD status and bullying victim-ization was independent of self-control. Subsequent analyses found that self-control influenced bullying victimization through interactions with student gender and mea-sures of physical size and strength. These findings identify low self-control and ADHD as potential risk factors for bullying and victimization and have implications for research on self-control in young adolescents