Correlates of—and Consequences for—Bully-Victims in a Sample of Serious Adolescent Offenders

• Author: Nicole Leeper Piquero,Alex R. Piquero,Marion K. Underwood
• DOI: 10.1177/1541204016657396
• Published date: 01 October 2017
• Date: 01 October 2017
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Correlates of—and Consequences

for—Bully-Victims in a Sample

of Serious Adolescent Offenders

Alex R. Piquero

1

, Nicole Leeper Piquero

1

,

and Marion K. Underwood

2

Abstract

Previous research on bullying has demonstrated that youth who engage in bullying and are also

victims of bullying are at increased risk for maladjustment. Somewhat less investigated are the

correlates of—and consequences associated with—this small group of persons who are simulta-

neously perpetrators and victims of bullying, commonly referred to as bully-victims. This article

extends prior research by investigating bully-victims in a sample of serious adolescent offenders (n¼

1,354) who were followed for 7 years after their adjudication for a serious juvenile offense. Analyses

indicated that bully-victims had high levels of both symptomology and psychopathy as well as lower

levels of temperance. Bully-victims were at increased risk of experiencing a higher number of arrests

at the end of the 7-year follow-up period. Implications for future research are highlighted.

Keywords

bullying, bully-victims, serious adolescent offenders, antisocial behavior

Bullying perpetration and especially bullying victimization have long been of interest to researchers

in a variety of areas including psycholo gy, work/organizations, criminolog y, and public health

(Olweus, 1978). Most of the research on bullying has taken place within the school context, but

more recent attention has been paid to workplace bullying and especially cyberbullying. Although a

review of findings from the almost half a century of research is beyond the scope of this article, it is

sufficient to conclude that both perpetrators and especially victims of bullying suffer from a range of

psychosocial adjustment problems and experience adverse consequences and effects that permeate

many different life domains (cf. Connell, Morris, & Piquero, 2015; Hong & Espelage, 2012; Hansen,

Steenberg, Palic, & Elklit, 2012; Hawker & Boulton, 2000).

1

An important observation arose in the early 2000s that called attention to the small set of persons

who were simultaneously perpetrators and victims of bullying, or ‘‘bully-victims’’ (Espelage &

1

Program in Criminology, School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX,

USA

2

School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Alex R. Piquero, Program in Criminology, School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas,

Richardson, TX 75080, USA.

Email: apiquero@utdallas.edu

Youth Violence and JuvenileJustice

2017, Vol. 15(4) 359-373

ªThe Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/1541204016657396

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