Abstract
This study investigated whether and how classroom-level bullies’ friendship networks, which reflect the popularity of bullies, were associated with the self-esteem of middle school students in the classroom. We analyzed survey data from 2,444 students in 101 classrooms from 22 middle schools in Korea. Respondents reported their friends’ and bullies’ names from their classroom. For each student, we generated the number of close friends that a respondent reported (outdegree) and the number of classmates who nominated him or her as a close friend (indegree). Bullies’ popularity was measured by the sum of all the bullies’ indegrees in a classroom. The findings showed that students in a classroom of bullies with larger popularity had a lower level of self-esteem. Moreover, bullies’ popularity was harmful to nonvictims’ self-esteem as well as victims’ self-esteem. This study suggests that even indirect exposure to bullying in a classroom can decrease the self-esteem of nonvictims by leading to negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, fear, and/or guilty feelings.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Interpersonal Violence |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 2019 Jan 1 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Clinical Psychology
- Applied Psychology
Cite this
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How the Popularity of Bullies Influences the Self-Esteem of Their Classmates : A Study of First-Year Middle School Students in South Korea. / Lee, Min Ah; Shin, Cholkyun; Kang, Jeong Han.
In: Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 01.01.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - How the Popularity of Bullies Influences the Self-Esteem of Their Classmates
T2 - A Study of First-Year Middle School Students in South Korea
AU - Lee, Min Ah
AU - Shin, Cholkyun
AU - Kang, Jeong Han
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - This study investigated whether and how classroom-level bullies’ friendship networks, which reflect the popularity of bullies, were associated with the self-esteem of middle school students in the classroom. We analyzed survey data from 2,444 students in 101 classrooms from 22 middle schools in Korea. Respondents reported their friends’ and bullies’ names from their classroom. For each student, we generated the number of close friends that a respondent reported (outdegree) and the number of classmates who nominated him or her as a close friend (indegree). Bullies’ popularity was measured by the sum of all the bullies’ indegrees in a classroom. The findings showed that students in a classroom of bullies with larger popularity had a lower level of self-esteem. Moreover, bullies’ popularity was harmful to nonvictims’ self-esteem as well as victims’ self-esteem. This study suggests that even indirect exposure to bullying in a classroom can decrease the self-esteem of nonvictims by leading to negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, fear, and/or guilty feelings.
AB - This study investigated whether and how classroom-level bullies’ friendship networks, which reflect the popularity of bullies, were associated with the self-esteem of middle school students in the classroom. We analyzed survey data from 2,444 students in 101 classrooms from 22 middle schools in Korea. Respondents reported their friends’ and bullies’ names from their classroom. For each student, we generated the number of close friends that a respondent reported (outdegree) and the number of classmates who nominated him or her as a close friend (indegree). Bullies’ popularity was measured by the sum of all the bullies’ indegrees in a classroom. The findings showed that students in a classroom of bullies with larger popularity had a lower level of self-esteem. Moreover, bullies’ popularity was harmful to nonvictims’ self-esteem as well as victims’ self-esteem. This study suggests that even indirect exposure to bullying in a classroom can decrease the self-esteem of nonvictims by leading to negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, fear, and/or guilty feelings.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071491539&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85071491539&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0886260519870164
DO - 10.1177/0886260519870164
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85071491539
JO - Journal of Interpersonal Violence
JF - Journal of Interpersonal Violence
SN - 0886-2605
ER -