Bullying Victimization as a Strain: Examining Changes in Bullying Victimization and Delinquency among Korean Students from a Developmental General Strain Theory Perspective

• Date: 01 February 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0022427819866873
• Published date: 01 February 2020
• Author: Christi Metcalfe,Yeoju Park
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Bullying Victimization

as a Strain: Examining

Changes in Bullying

Victimization and

Delinquency among

Korean Students from

a Developmental

General Strain Theory

Perspective

Yeoju Park

1

and Christi Metcalfe

1

Abstract

Objectives: Using a developmental extension of Agnew’s general strain the-

ory (GST), the current study aims to assess the within-individual associa-

tions between bullying victimization and delinquency, as well as the recent

versus enduring effects of bullying victimization experiences and the mod-

erating influences of sever al risk factors. Method: Ra ndom effects Tobit

models are conducted to exam ine the relationship betwee n changes in

bullying victimization and five forms of delinquency using five waves from

1

Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Currell College, University of South

Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

Corresponding Author:

Yeoju Park, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Currell College, University

of South Carolina, 1305 Greene Street, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.

Email: ypark@email.sc.edu

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2020, Vol. 57(1) 31-65

ªThe Author(s) 2019

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0022427819866873

journals.sagepub.com/home/jrc

the Korean Youth Panel Surv ey. A measure calculati ng the duration of

consecutive bullying experiences is introduced into these models to capture

the enduring effects of this strain, and margins analyses are used to assess

moderating influences . Results: There is a positi ve relationship betwe en

experiencing a bullying event and delinquency, and this relationship is stron-

ger at higher levels of risk factors. Moreover, bullying victimization over

consecutive years has a consistent harmful effect with regard to analogous

behavior and violence and theft, as opposed to a diminishing effect for overall

delinquency,substance use, and bullying. Conclusions: While there is support

for many of the propositions of GST, there are some inconsistences regard-

ing the duration effects. The findings suggest the need for further assess-

ments of the temporal patterns of strains.

Keywords

bullying victimization, general strain theory, delinquency, South Korea

Agnew’s (1992, 2001) general strain theory (GST) has been used exten-

sively to explain how victimization experiences can result in delinquent

coping or what has been termed the victim–offender overlap (e.g., Agnew

2002; Agnew et al. 2002; Baron 2004; Hay and Evans 2006; Hay, Meldrum,

and Mann 2010). Put simply, victimization experiences represent negative

stimuli that can increase negative affective states and ultimately deviant

behaviors. Additionally, social supports, personality traits (e.g., negative

emotionality/low constraint), and peer associations are expected to condi-

tion this relationship, such that the association between victimization and

delinquency should be weaker in the presence of positive supporting

mechanisms (Agnew 2006, 2013; Agnew et al. 2002).

Among these propositions, though, Agnew (1992 ) also indicates that

strains are more consequential based on their magnitude, recency, duration,

and clustering, implying that the temporal patterns of strains matter in the

coping process. Although given less attention in the literature, these ele-

ments suggest that GST can fit into a developmental framework and make

predictions about within-individual variations in strain (Slocum 2010a,

2010b; Slocum, Simpson, and Smith 2005), including victimization. In this

way, victimization can be viewed as a life event that contributes to both

continuity and change in offending behavior within the life course (Eitle

2010; Ousey and Wilcox 2007), particularly during the adolescent period.

Referencing these timing elements, Higgins et al. (2012) state that an

32 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 57(1)

“important issue within the literature is to determine the ...potential timing

of the victimization and its implications for future delinquent behavior”

(p. 111). Also, Slocum (2010a) acknowledges that “not much is known

about how the duration of exposure to stressors influences outcomes ...or

whether exposure to chronic stressors serves as a source of continuity in

offending” (p. 215).

As a means of considering these temporal elements of victimization and

offending, the current study uses a national sample of Korean students

followed from 8th grade to 12th grade to explore the relationship between

changes in victimization experiences and changes in offending during ado-

lescence. We focus on bullying victimization given its prevalence among

school-aged children across nations (Due et al. 2005), frequency during

everyday school routines (Kim, Koh, and Leventhal 2005), and perceived

magnitude as a strain (Agnew 2001; Baron 2009). Victimization committed

by intimate groups, including school peers, can be particularly detrimental

by lowering perceptions of social support (Haynie et al. 2009) and nega-

tively influencing the victim’s school environment (Olweus 1978, 1993,

1994), especially as victims and perpetrators continually share the same

environment. Also, similar to children in the West, about 32 percent of

Korean students aged 9 to 17 suffer from school bullying (Korea National

Statistical Office 2013), including physical and emotional bullying experi-

ences (Jeong, Davis, and Han 2015; Moon, Morash, and McCluskey 2012).

While Agnew (2015) suggests that Western and Asian societies experience

similar strains, he also acknowledges that conflicts with others and threats

to family honor, both of which are relevant to bullying experiences, could

be seen as greater strains in Asian societies. There is currently mixed

evidence regarding how Korean youths respond to bullying victimization

(Moon et al. 2009; Moon et al. 2012).

We begin by exploring the temporal patterns of bullying victimization

over adolescence in order to gain a better understanding of the prevalence of

this form of victimization across time, effect of changes in victimization

experiences (within individuals), contemporary consequences of a victimi-

zation event (recency effect), and enduring influence of repeated events

(duration effect). In light of Agnew’s (1992, 2006, 2013) moderation argu-

ments, we also consider how exposure to a combination of risk factors over

several years might be harmful when experiencing a bullying victimization

event. We acknowledge the extensive amount of mixed evidence regarding

the moderation propositions and adopt suggestions by Agnew (2013) and

Thaxton and Agnew (2018) to consider the conditioning factors in combi-

nation as well as alternative methods of estimating the interaction effects.

Park and Metcalfe 33