Bully Victimization, Truancy, and Violent Offending: Evidence From the ASEP Truancy Reduction Experiment

Abstract

Research indicates truancy and being bullied (otherwise called bully victimization) are independently linked to violent offending. We examine the associations between truancy, bully victimization, and violent offending in a sample of young people who participated in the Ability School Engagement Program (ASEP) truancy reduction experiment. Pre-intervention, half of the sample reported missing school because they were being bullied. Experiment and control participants both exhibited significant reductions in bully victimization and missing school because of bully victimization. Neither groups exhibited significant reductions in violent offending. Contrasting expectations, participants in the control group had significantly larger reductions in missing school because of bully victimization. Post-intervention measures of bully victimization were significantly related to higher odds of violent offending. Bully victimization is a critical factor in understanding the nexus between truancy and violent offending which, if neglected in an intervention (like ASEP) can lead to backfire effects for young people.

Humor Styles, Bullying Victimization and Psychological School Adjustment: Mediation, Moderation and Person-Oriented Analyses

“…Bullying results in serious consequences for students’ overall mental health and in psychological adjustment problems [ 2 ]. In terms of school adjustment, students who are victims of bullying tend to have lower levels of school attachment [ 28 ], perform worse in school [ 29 ], stay away from school more often [ 30 ] and dislike being in school because they feel unsafe [ 31 ]. Unlike normal peer conflicts in which neither side has a power advantage, bullying is persistent and tends to intensify over time [ 32 ].…”

The UN Sustainable Development Goals and Provision of Security, Responses to Crime and Security Threats, and Fair Criminal Justice Systems

“…The term "delinquency" typically refers to the delinquent behaviour of juveniles, often characterised by repeat offending (Azeredo et al, 2019). In a broader sense, juvenile delinquency includes criminal offences, misdemeanours, and other forms of deviant behaviours or status offences, such as bullying, truancy, curfew violations, running away from home, and licit and illicit drug use (Cardwell et al, 2020;Filipčič, 2015). It is not uncommon for juveniles to exhibit some delinquent behaviour or engage in minor delinquent acts; approximately 90% or more of all adolescents reportedly engage in delinquency at least once during adolescence (Agnew & Brezina, 2018).…”

Defense, disrespect, and #deadly: A qualitative exploration of precursors to youth violence informed through hospital-based violence prevention program follow up

“…Bullying, gang violence, and self-directed violence is increasingly found to occur in the online space influencing peer groups across contexts (Patton, Hong, Ranney, Patel, Kelley, Eschmann, & Washington, 2014). In schools, the prevalence of cyberbullying can range from targeted harassment to threats of violence (Ansary, 2020) with such cyber-victimization, in turn, resulting in retributive violence (Cardwell et al, 2021;Cho et al, 2017). On the streets, youth at risk for engaging in violence include active gang members who use social media to plan and engage in delinquency, incite violence, or support local substance use and distribution (Pyrooz, Decker & Moule, 2015).…”