Psychometric properties of the triangulated version of the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire: Prevalence across seven roles

Abstract

This study created a Spanish triangulated version of the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire and obtained indicators of its validity and reliability. This new tool allows researchers to triangulate and flexibly investigate the three main roles in school bullying, obtaining seven potential roles (pure victim, pure bully, pure bystander, bully/victim, victim/bystander, bully/bystander, and bully/victim/bystander). The sample was 2,068 adolescents and young adults aged 11–19 years (Mage = 14.2 ± 1.48 years old; 53.8% females). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit for the three‐related‐factor model and adequate reliability (ω > 0.91) in all dimensions. About 28.2% of the sample reported victimization; of whom only 2.9% were pure victims, 15.1% were victim/bystanders, and 9.8% were involved in all three roles (bully/victim/bystanders). Only 0.8% played the role of a pure bully, and 0.4% were bully/victims. The most prevalent profile was that of pure bystander (30%). These results are discussed in light of their importance for the interpretation of the prevalence of traditional bullying, and their implications for bullying assessments and interventions.

Prevalence of Bullying in Grassroots Soccer in Spain: Victims, Bullies, and Bystanders

“…Studies are needed on the short -and long-term psychological effects of being bullied and possible mood disorders such as depression and anxiety in later years (Moore et al, 2017). The bystander rate in our series is similar to that reported in other studies of bullying in sports (Nery et al, 2019;Vveinhardt et al, 2018) and at school (Callaghan et al, 2019;González-Cabrera et al, 2020) and shows that a considerable number of bullying situations are witnessed. The bystanders mostly reported negative emotions in relation to bullying; they were more likely to try to stop the situation themselves (direct action) than to ask an adult for help (indirect action), and some reported doing nothing.…”

Cybervictimization, Self-Concept, Aggressiveness, and School Anxiety in School Children: A Structural Equations Analysis

“…Cyberbullying has become one of the most frequent psychosocial problems of childhood and adolescence [ 5 ] having prevalences ranging from 6% to 72% [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. This high variability may be explained by the distinct forms of construct conceptualization, and the distinct methodologies used for variable measurement.…”

Bullying in Adolescents: Differences between Gender and School Year and Relationship with Academic Performance

“…Research on bullying has focused, until recent years, on the bully/victim binomial, with much less attention paid to the bystander role. The reason why the bystander role has been less explored is its complexity, due to the numerous and conflicting strategic factors that lead to its adoption in a bullying context [ 14 ]. According to Salmivalli et al [ 15 ], there are several roles that can be defined.…”

“…According to Salmivalli et al [ 15 ], there are several roles that can be defined. These can be divided into: the role of the bully, the victim, the bully/victim, who can act as a helper of the harasser, reinforcing them, or a defender of the victim, and finally the spectator role or audience [ 14 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. The idea of a static role is discarded as the same person can assume different roles throughout the year [ 5 , 11 ].…”