Purpose Four forms of school bullying behaviors among US adolescents and their association with socio-demographic characteristics, parental support and friends were examined. Methods Data were obtained from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) 2005 Survey, a nationally-representative sample of grades 6 to 10 (N = 7182). The Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire was used to measure physical, verbal and relational forms of bullying. Two items were added using the same format to measure cyber bullying. For each form, four categories were created: bully, victim, bully-victim, and not involved. Multinomial logistic regressions were applied, with socio-demographic variables, parental support and number of friends as predictors. Results Prevalence rates of having bullied others or having been bullied at school for at least once in the last 2 months were 20.8% physically, 53.6% verbally, 51.4% socially or 13.6% electronically. Boys were more involved in physical or verbal bullying, while girls were more involved in relational bullying. Boys were more likely to be cyber bullies, while girls were more likely to be cyber victims. African-American adolescents were involved in more bullying (physical, verbal or cyber) but less victimization (verbal or relational). Higher parental support was associated with less involvement across all forms and classifications of bullying. Having more friends was associated with more bullying and less victimization for physical, verbal and relational forms, but was not associated with cyber bullying. Conclusions Parental support may protect adolescents from all four forms of bullying. Friends associate differentially with traditional and cyber bullying. Results indicate that cyber bullying has a distinct nature from traditional bullying.

Purpose-Although bullying is recognized as a serious problem in the U.S., little is known about racial/ethnic differences in bullying risk. This study examined associations between bullying and family, peer, and school relations for White, Black and Hispanic adolescents.Methods-A nationally-representative sample (n=11,033) of adolescents in grades six to ten participated in the 2001 Health Behaviors in School-Aged Children survey, self-reporting bullying involvement and information on family, peer and school relations. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression analyses controlling for gender, age and affluence were stratified by race/ethnicity.Results-Nine percent of respondents were victims of bullying, 9% were bullies, and 3% were bully-victims. Black adolescents reported a significantly lower prevalence of victimization than White and Hispanic students. Multivariate results indicated modest racial/ethnic variation in associations between bullying and family, peer and school factors. Parental communication, social isolation, and classmate relationships were similarly related to bullying across racial/ethnic groups. Living with two biological parents was protective against bullying involvement for White students only. Further, although school satisfaction and performance were negatively associated with bullying involvement for White and Hispanic students, school factors were largely unrelated to bullying among Black students.Conclusions-Although school attachment and performance were inconsistently related to bullying behavior across race/ethnicity, bullying behaviors are consistently related to peer relationships across Black, White and Hispanic adolescents. Negative associations between family communication and bullying behaviors for White, Black and Hispanic adolescents suggest the importance of addressing family interactions in future bullying prevention efforts.

Purpose This research identified conceptually cohesive latent classes of youth dating violence (DV) and examined associations between covariates and classes by gender. Methods A nationally representative sample of 2,203 tenth-grade students completed assessments of physical and verbal DV victimization and perpetration, depressive symptoms, health complaints, and substance use. A Factor Mixture Model was used to identify patterns of DV. Gender differences among classes were examined for depressive symptoms, health complaints, and substance use. Results Prevalence of DV victimization was 35% and perpetration was 31%. A three-class model fit adequately and provided conceptual cohesion: Class 1) non-involved (65%); Class 2) victims/perpetrators of verbal DV (30%); and Class 3) victims/perpetrators of verbal and physical DV (5%). Compared to Class 1 adolescents, those in Classes 2 and 3 were more likely to report depressive symptoms, psychological complaints, and alcohol use. Females in Classes 2 and 3 were also more likely to report physical complaints, cigarette use, and marijuana use. Among females involved in DV, those in Class 3 compared to Class 2 reported more depressive symptoms, physical and psychological complaints, and cigarette and marijuana use. Conclusions The three-class model distinguished involvement in verbal acts from involvement in verbal and physical acts. Adolescents involved in DV had similar probabilities of reporting perpetration and victimization suggesting violence within relationships may be mutual. Involvement in DV was associated with more health issues and concurrent problem behaviors. For females in particular, the increased involvement in DV was associated with other health indicators.

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The goal of this research was to develop and evaluate measures of adolescent diabetes management self-efficacy and outcome expectations that reflect developmentally relevant, situation-specific challenges to current diabetes regimens. Self-efficacy for diabetes management, expected outcomes of adherence, adherence to the diabetes regimen, and glycemic control were assessed in 168 adolescents (ages 10-16 years) with type 1 diabetes. Factor analyses indicated a single scale for self-efficacy and two distinct factors representing positive and negative outcome expectations. Reliability and predictive validity of the new scales were supported. In regression analyses, self-efficacy and the interaction of self-efficacy with expectations of positive outcomes were significantly associated with diabetes self-management adherence and glycemic control in older adolescents. The effect of self-efficacy was greatest when adolescents had stronger beliefs in the beneficial outcomes of adherence. These brief measures can be used to identify youths at risk of poor diabetes self-management. Interventions targeting self-efficacy may lead to improved diabetes self-management.

Purpose-The study compared levels of depression among bullies, victims and bully-victims of traditional (physical, verbal and relational) and cyber bullying, and examined the association between depression and frequency of involvement in each form of bullying.Methods-A U.S. nationally-representative sample of students in grades 6 to 10 (N = 7313) completed the bullying and depression items in the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) 2005 Survey.Results-Depression was associated with each of four forms of bullying. Cyber victims reported higher depression than bullies or bully-victims, a finding not observed in other forms of bullying. For physical, verbal and relational bullies, victims and bully victims, the frequently-involved group reported significantly higher level of depression than the corresponding occasionallyinvolved group. For cyber bullying, differences were found only between occasional and frequent victims. Conclusion-Findingsindicate the importance of further study of cyber bullying as its association with depression is distinct from traditional forms of bullying. Keywords Cyber bullying; Traditional bullying; DepressionBullying is a pervasive problem among children and adolescents, and may take various forms including physical (e.g., hitting), verbal (e.g., name-calling), relational (e.g., social isolation), or occurring in cyber space [1,2]. Previous studies have consistently shown that depression is associated with exposure to bullying [3]. Bully-victims, a group of individuals who are both bullies and victims, are a distinct group at highest risk for psychosocial problems [4]. However, few studies have examined the association between depression and different forms of bullying [5]. In addition, because research on cyber bullying is still in its early stage, little is known about how level of depression differs in cyber bullies, victims, and bully-victims. The current study: (1) examines the association between depression and frequency of involvement in physical, verbal, relational and cyber forms of bullying and Contact details for the corresponding author: Jing Wang, Ph.D., 6100 Executive Blvd, MSC 7510, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA, wangji2@mail.nih.gov, Phone: 301-435-6932; FAX: 301-402-2084. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Bullying/Victimization-Olweus' revised bully/victim instrument [9] was used to measure physical (1 item, e.g., hitting), verbal (3 items, e.g., calling mean name) and relational bullying (2 items, i.e., social isolation and spreading false rumors), with added items measuring cyber bullying (2 items, ...

The majority of adolescents do not meet current recommendations of PA. Further investment at national and international levels is therefore necessary to increase PA participation among children and adolescents and reduce the future health burden associated with inactivity.

Increased co-occurrence of victimization types put adolescents at greater risks for poorer physical and psychological outcomes.