Citation

Johnston P, Tankersley M, Joenson T, Hupp M, Buckley J, Redmond-McGowan M, Zanzinger A, Poirier A, Walsh A. Education 2014; 134(3): 316-325.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

Cyber-bullying has become increasingly problematic in academic settings including universities and colleges. The bullying literature has been expanding investigation of the bully behaviors and has identified four bully types to include pure offender, pure victim, offender and victim, neither-offender-nor-victim. The majority of research has focused on the pure offender and pure victim. The specific bully type the "offender then victim" or "bully victim" is of interest in this study as there may be variances in motivations between the types. Knowledge of such differences may have implications for practice. The bully victim is defined as someone who was a victim of bulling and subsequently bullied another person. This study was designed to identify motivations behind bully victim behaviors as compared to motivations associated with bully only types. The identification of motivations may serve to help faculty and counselors create more effective prevention strategies. Researchers used a qualitative approach and identified three persons who self-identified as bully victims. Each participant was interviewed about their bullying experiences.

RESULTS suggest that motivations of succorance and aggression associated with the bully victims are similar to those persons who bully only. There were additional motivations described by bully victims. Bully victims indicated they understood the negative physical reactions to bullying but did not realize there were mental impacts felt by victims. Additionally, the bully victims reported that they felt better about themselves after bullying others. The identification of motivations associated with each bully type may provide professionals in practice an effective framework for bully prevention and remediation efforts.

Language: en