Correlates and Consequences of Peer Victimization

This article questions the definition and measurement of bullying among genders. Because females often experience more indirect forms of bullying such as teasing, rather than direct bullying/physical violence, it appears in most research that males are more likely to be both perpetrators and victims of bullying. Thus, the experiences of females have been mostly overlooked. The authors utilize data from two waves of a longitudinal panel study of 1,222 youths in 15 U.S. schools to examine the correlates and consequences for both genders of direct and indirect bullying. The study finds that there are many significant gender similarities and differences in both forms of bullying victimization, and explores the extent to which the correlates and consequences of bullying victimization have been misspecified due to an emphasis on direct forms of bullying.