Bully/victim status from a social information -processing perspective: A comparative path analysis of competing models

The present study was designed to develop and empirically validate a social cognitive model of bully/victim status (i.e., bully, bully-victim, victim, and not-involved student) from a social information-processing framework. Specifically, boys were hypothesized to report attitudes more supportive of bullying and higher rates of aggression than girls. Gender was hypothesized to moderate the effect of locus of control on aggression. That is, the influence of locus of control on aggression was hypothesized to differ for boys and girls. Both positive attitudes towards bullying and more external locus of control orientations were hypothesized to predict higher rates of aggression. Attitudes towards bullying were also hypothesized to mediate the relationship between locus of control and aggression. Finally, locus of control and aggression were hypothesized to significantly effect children\u27s bully/victim status. Participants included 469 middle school students (204 boys and 265 girls) from three Midwestern middle schools. Data for the present study were collected in the spring of 2002. A chi-square difference test between the competing proposed models indicated that the full model (versus the nested model) provided significantly better fit; thus, attitudes towards bullying did not significantly mediate the relation between locus of control and aggression. As hypothesized, boys reported attitudes significantly more supportive of bullying than girls. A significant gender difference in aggression was not identified. Gender did significantly moderate the effect of locus of control on aggression. Locus of control did not significantly predict attitudes towards bullying; however, more external locus of control orientations significantly predicted higher rates of aggression. Logistic regressions revealed that external locus of control orientations significantly predicted involvement in bullying for victims compared to not-involved students while higher rates of aggression predicted group membership for bullies, bully-victims, and victims compared to not-involved students. Implications for the present study as well as limitations and directions for future research are also presented