Parental Messages, School Belonging, Social Skills, and Personal Control as Predictors of Bullying in Ethnic Minority Adolescents

While evidence of the mental health effects of bullying has amassed in recent years, less scholarship explores the dynamics of bullying as it manifests in culturally diverse environments. The purpose of this study was to determine how contextual factors influence participation in bullying behaviors in a sample of urban, low-income, ethnic minority students. Using structural equation modeling, researchers tested whether social competence mediates the relationship between (a) parents’ messages about aggression, (b) school belonging, (c) personal control and the outcome of bullying. Results of the study support evidence for a direct relationship between parental messages and bullying, social skills and bullying, parental messages and social skills, and personal control and social skills. Findings also indicate an indirect relationship between personal control and bully perpetration. Implications and directions for future research on contextual factors associated with bullying are discussed.