Bullying Perpetration, Victimization Are Related to Measures of Neighborhood, Family Disadvantage

Background: Bullying is being increasingly recognized as a serious public health problem, leading to additional research toward understanding it causes. Objective: To examine the role of resource deprivation in childhood bullying and psychopathy while accounting for other risk factors. Design: Cross-sectional study. Participants/Methods: The authors used data from the Preschool Depression Study. Participants were 306 children with a mean age of 4.5 years who were selected to have higher levels of emotional behavioral problems. Bullying behavior was assessed through a questionnaire designed by the authors, and a number of demographic and social functioning factors were also evaluated. Resource deprivation included an income-to-needs assessment of the family in addition to a measure of neighborhood disadvantage. Results: Resource deprivation was significantly associated with bullying behavior and remained a significant link even when many other factors, such as parental arrests, domest more...