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Author: Wong, Jennifer S.
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Wong, Jennifer S.
No Bullies Allowed: Understanding Peer Victimization, the Impacts on Delinquency, and the Effectiveness of Prevention Programs
Ph.D. Dissertation, The Pardee RAND Graduate School, March 2009.
Also: http://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs_dissertations/2009/RAND_RGSD240.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: RAND
Keyword(s): Bullying/Victimization; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Peers/Peer influence/Peer relations; Propensity Scores; Self-Reporting; Variables, Independent - Covariate

Over the past decade school bullying has emerged as a prominent issue of concern for students, parents, educators, and researchers in North America and around the world. Research evidence suggests non-trivial and potentially serious negative repercussions of both bullying and victimization. The first chapter of the dissertation presents a comprehensive narrative literature review on the nature and significance of school bullying including controversies in definition; types of measurement; a description of victims, bully-victims, bullies, and bystanders with regard to defining characteristics, risk and protective factors, and outcomes and correlates of involvement in bullying/victimization; and a review of theoretical models that explain why bullying occurs. The second chapter of the dissertation uses a large, nationally representative panel dataset, the NLSY97, and a propensity score matching technique to assess the impact of bully victimization on a range of 10 delinquency outcomes measured over a six-year period. This analytic strategy considers the effect of baseline group differences by matching bullied and non-bullied subjects on propensity scores, thus allowing observable covariates to be eliminated as potential confounders of the estimated treatment effect. Results show that victimization prior to the age of 12 years is significantly predictive of the development of several delinquent behaviors, including running away from home, selling drugs, vandalism, theft, other property crimes, and assault. Using meta-analysis, the final chapter of the dissertation assesses the overall effectiveness of school-based programs for preventing bullying and victimization. Results suggest that as a whole, prevention programs are significantly effective at reducing the problem of victimization in schools, but are only marginally successful at reducing bullying. After participating in bullying prevention programs, students report an effect size of .188 for reduction in victimization, and an effect size of .109 for reduction in bullying others. The possibility of systematic between-study heterogeneity was explored via moderator analyses, and several significant moderators of treatment impact on victimization were identified. More work is needed to determine why programs are more successful with victims of bullying than with perpetrators, and prevention efforts should focus on the development of programs that are more likely to bring about successful reductions in both bullying and victimization.
Bibliography Citation
Wong, Jennifer S. No Bullies Allowed: Understanding Peer Victimization, the Impacts on Delinquency, and the Effectiveness of Prevention Programs. Ph.D. Dissertation, The Pardee RAND Graduate School, March 2009..
2. Wong, Jennifer S.
Schonlau, Matthias
Does Bully Victimization Predict Future Delinquency? A Propensity Score Matching Approach
Criminal Justice and Behavior 40,11 (November 2013): 1184-1208.
Also: http://cjb.sagepub.com/content/40/11/1184.abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Bullying/Victimization; Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Propensity Scores

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Over the past decade school bullying has emerged as a prominent issue of concern for students, parents, educators, and researchers. Bully victimization has been linked to a long list of negative outcomes, such as depression, peer rejection, school dropout, eating disorders, delinquency, and violence. Previous research relating bully victimization to delinquency has typically used standard regression techniques that may not sufficiently control for heterogeneity between bullied and nonbullied youths. Using a large, nationally representative panel dataset, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), we use a propensity score matching technique to assess the impact of bully victimization on a range of delinquency outcomes. Results show that 19% of respondents had been victimized prior to the age of 12 years (n = 8,833). Early victimization is predictive of the development of 6 out of 10 delinquent behaviors measured over a period of 6 years, including assault, vandalism, theft, other property crimes (such as receiving stolen property or fraud), selling drugs, and running away from home. Bully victimization should be considered an important precursor to delinquency.
Bibliography Citation
Wong, Jennifer S. and Matthias Schonlau. "Does Bully Victimization Predict Future Delinquency? A Propensity Score Matching Approach." Criminal Justice and Behavior 40,11 (November 2013): 1184-1208.