Students with disabilities are disproportionately involved within the bullying dynamic. Few studies have investigated the bullying involvement of youth with disabilities over time. The current study evaluated the victimization and perpetration rates of 6,531 students in Grades 3 through 12, including 16% with disabilities, over the course of 3 years. Results revealed that students with disabilities experienced greater rates of victimization and engaged in higher levels of perpetration than their peers without disabilities over time. In addition, the discrepancy in victimization and perpetration rates between youth with and without disabilities remained consistent longitudinally. Results from this study support the recommendation that students with disabilities should receive direct instruction in social and communication skills to buffer these adverse experiences.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BearG. G.MantzL. S.GluttingJ. J.YangC.BoyerD. E. (2015). Differences in bullying victimization between students with and without disabilities. School Psychology Review, 44, 98–116. doi:10.17105/SPR44-1.98-116
2.
BlakeJ. J.KimE. S.LundE. M.ZhouQ.KwokO.BenzM. R. (2014). Predictors of bully victimization in students with disabilities: A longitudinal examination using a national data set. Journal of Disability Policy Studies. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/1044207314539012
3.
BlakeJ. J.LundE. M.ZhouQ.KwokO.BenzM. R. (2012). National prevalence rates of bully victimization among students with disabilities in the United States. School Psychology Quarterly, 27, 210–222. doi:10.1037/spq0000008
4.
BradshawC. P.PasE. T.DebnamK. J.JohnsonS. L. (2015). A focus on implementation of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) in high schools: Association with bullying and other indicators of school disorder. School Psychology Review, 44, 480–498. doi:10.17105/spr-15-0105.1
5.
ChenC.HammJ. V.FarmerT. W.LambertK.MehtajiM. (2015). Exceptionality and peer victimization involvement in late childhood: Subtypes, stability, and social marginalization. Remedial and Special Education, 36, 299–311. doi:10.1177/0741932514564564
6.
ChristensenL. L.FrayntR. J.NeeceC. L.BakerB. L. (2012). Bullying and adolescents with intellectual disability. Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 5, 49–65. doi:10.1080/19315864.2011.637660
7.
Conti-RamsdenG.BottingN. (2004). Social difficulties and victimization in children with SLI at 11 years of age. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 145–161. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2004/013)
8.
CrickN. R.DodgeK. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children’s social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 74–101. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.115.1.74
9.
CrickN. R.DodgeK. A. (1996). Social information-processing mechanisms in reactive and proactive aggression. Child Development, 67, 993–1002. doi:10.2307/1131875
10.
DiStefanoC.ZhuM.MindrilaD. (2009). Understanding and using factor scores: Considerations for the applied researcher. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 14, 1–11. Retrieved from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=14&n=20
11.
DollB.SwearerS. M. (2006). Cognitive-behavioral interventions for participants in bullying and coercion. In MennutiR. B.FreemanA.ChristnerR. W. (Eds.), Cognitive-behavioral interventions in educational settings (pp. 183–201). London, England: Routledge.
12.
EspelageD. L.AstorR. A.CornellD.LesterJ.MayerM. J.PoteatV. P.TynesB. (2013). Prevention of bullying in schools, colleges, and universities. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
13.
EspelageD. L.HoltM. K. (2001). Bullying and victimization during early adolescence: Peer influences and psychosocial correlates. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 2, 123–142. doi:10.1300/J135v02n02_08
14.
EspelageD. L.RoseC. A.PolaninJ. R. (2015). Social-emotional learning program to reduce bullying, fighting, and victimization among middle school students with disabilities. Remedial and Special Education, 36, 299–311. doi:10.1177/0741932514564564
15.
EspelageD. L.RoseC. A.PolaninJ. (2016). Social-emotional learning program to promote prosocial and academic skills among middle school students with disabilities. Remedial and Special Education. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0741932515627475
16.
FarmerT. W.PetrinR.BrooksD. S.HammJ. V.LambertK.GravelleM. (2012). Bullying involvement and the school adjustment of rural students with and without disabilities. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 20, 19–37. doi:10.1177/1063426610392039
17.
GageN. A.LarsonA.ChafouleasS. M. (2016). The Meriden School Climate Survey–Student Version: Preliminary evidence of reli-ability and validity. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 41, 67–78. doi:10.1177/1534508415596960
18.
GumpelT. P.Zioni-KorenV.BekermanZ. (2014). An ethnographic study of participant roles in school bullying. Aggressive Behavior, 40, 214–228. doi:10.1002/ab.21515
19.
HamburgerM. E.BasileK. C.VivoloA. M. (2011). Measuring bullying victimization, perpetration, and bystander experiences: A compendium of assessment tools. Atlanta, GA: Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention.
20.
HartleyM. T.BaumanS.NixonC. L.DavisS. (2015). Comparative study of bullying victimization among students in general and special education. Exceptional Children, 81, 176–193. doi:10.1177/0014402914551741
21.
HonakerJ.KingG. (2010). What to do about missing values in time-series cross-sectional data. American Journal of Political Science, 54, 561–581. Retrieved from http://gking.harvard.edu/_les/abs/pr-abs.shtml
22.
HongJ. S.EspelageD. L. (2012). A review of research on bullying and peer victimization in school: An ecological system analysis. Aggressive and Violent Behavior, 17, 311–322. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2012.03.003
23.
KnoxE.Conti-RamsdenG. (2003). Bullying risks of 11-year-old children with specific language impairment (SLI): Does school placement matter?International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 38, 1–12. doi:10.1080/13682820304817
24.
McNeishD. A.StapletonL. M. (2014). The effect of small sample size on the two-level model estimates: A review and illustration. Educational Psychology Review. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s10648-014-9287-x
25.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2015). The condition of education 2015. Washington, DC: Author.
26.
National School Climate Council. (2007). The school climate challenge: Narrowing the gap between school climate research and school climate policy, practice guidelines and teacher education policy. Retrieved from http://www.schoolclimate.org/climate/advocacy.php
27.
NeseR. N. T.HornerR. H.DickeyC. R.StillerB.TomlanovichA. (2014). Decreasing bullying behaviors in middle school: Expect respect. School Psychology Quarterly, 29, 272–286. doi:10.1037/spq0000070
28.
OlweusD. (1995). Bullying or peer abuse at school: Facts and intervention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 196–200. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.ep10772640
29.
OstrovJ. M.Murray-CloseD.GodleskiS. A.HartE. J. (2013). Prospective associations between forms and functions of aggression and social and affective processes in early childhood. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 116, 19–36. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2012.12.009
30.
PinheiroJ.BatesD.DebRoyS., & R Core Team (2014). nlme: Linear and nonlinear mixed effects models (R Package Version 3.1-117). Retrieved from http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=nlme
31.
RaudenbushS. W.BrykA. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
32.
RoseC. A.EspelageD. L. (2012). Risk and protective factors associated with the bullying involvement of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 37, 133–148.
33.
RoseC. A.EspelageD. L.Monda-AmayaL. E. (2009). Bullying and victimization rates among students in general and special education: A comparative analysis. Educational Psychology, 29, 761–776. doi:10.1080/01443410903254864
34.
RoseC. A.EspelageD. L.Monda-AmayaL. E.ShogrenK. A.AragonS. R. (2015). Bullying and middle school students with and without specific learning disabilities: An examination of social-ecological predictors. Journal for Learning Disabilities, 48, 239–254 doi:10.1177/0022219413496279.
35.
RoseC. A.Monda-AmayaL. E.EspelageD. L. (2011). Bullying perpetration and victimization in special education: A review of the literature. Remedial and Special Education, 32, 114–130. doi:10.1177/0741932510361247
36.
RoseC. A.SimpsonC. G.MossA. (2015). The bullying dynamic: Prevalence of involvement among a large-scale sample of middle and high school youth with and without disabilities. Psychology in the Schools, 52, 515–531. doi:10.1002/pits.21840
37.
RoseC. A.SimpsonC. G.PreastJ. L. (2016). Exploring psychosocial predictors of bullying involvement for students with disabilities. Remedial and Special Education. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0741932516629219
38.
RoseC. A.StormontM.WangZ.SimpsonC. G.PreastJ. L.GreenA. L. (2015). Bullying and students with disabilities: Examination of disability status and educational placement. School Psychology Review, 44, 425–444. doi:10.17105/spr-15-0080.1
39.
RossS. W.HornerR. H. (2009). Bully prevention in positive behavior support. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 42, 747. doi:10.1901/jaba.2009.42-747
40.
RubinD. B. (1987). Statistical analysis with missing data. New York, NY: Wiley.
41.
RupparA.L.GaffneyJ.S. (2011). Individualized education program team decisions: A preliminary study of conversations, negotiations, and power. Research & Practices for Persons With Severe Disabilities, 36, 11–22. doi:10.2511/rpsd.36.1-2.11
42.
SalmivalliC. (2010). Bullying and the peer group: A review. Aggression & Violent Behavior, 15, 112–120. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2009.08.007
43.
SonE.ParishS. L.PetersonN. A. (2012). National prevalence of peer victimization among young children with disabilities in the United States. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 1540–1545. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.04.014
44.
SonE.PetersonN. A.PottickK. J.ZippayA.ParishS. L.LohrmannS. (2014). Peer victimization among young children with disabilities: Early risk and protective factors. Exceptional Children, 80, 368–384. doi:10.1177/0014402914533422
45.
SwearerS. M.HymelS. (2015). Understanding the psychology of bullying: Moving toward a social-ecological diathesis-stress model. American Psychologist, 70, 344–353. doi:10.1037/a0038929
46.
SwearerS. M.WangC.MaagJ. W.SiebeckerA. B.FrerichsL. J. (2012). Understanding the bullying dynamic among students in special and general education. Journal of School Psychology, 50, 503–520. doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2012.04.001
47.
TwymanK. A.SaylorC. F.SaiaD.MaciasM. M.TaylorL. A.SprattE. (2010). Bullying and ostracism experiences in children with special health care needs. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 31, 1–8. doi:10.1097/DBP.0b013e3181c828c8
48.
What Works Clearinghouse. (2013, March). What Works Clearinghouse: Procedures and standards handbook (Version 3.0). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved from http://whatworks.ed.gov
49.
WeiX.BlackorbyJ.SchillerE. (2011). Growth in reading achievement of students with disability ages 7 to 17. Exceptional Children, 78, 89–106. doi:10.1177/001440291107800106
50.
WhitneyI.SmithP. K.ThompsonD. (1994). Bullying and children with special educational needs. In SmithP. K.SharpS. (Eds.), School bullying: Insights and perspectives (pp. 213–240). London, England: Routledge.
51.
YellM. L. (2012). The law and special education (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
52.
ZablotskyB.BradshawC. P.AndersonC. M.LawP. (2012). Involvement in bullying among children with autism spectrum disorders: Parents’ perspectives on the influence of school factors. JAMA Pediatrics, 37, 179–191.
53.
ZablotskyB.BradshawC. P.AndersonC. M.LawP. (2013). Risk factors for bullying among children with autism spectrum disorders. Autism, 18, 419–427. doi:10.1177/1362361313477920
