The Immediate and Long-Term Effects of Family Income on Child and Adolescent Bullying

Abstract

Abstract Utilizing data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Mother and Child Samples, I investigate the relationship between bullying behavior and family income. I test the hypothesis that the relationship between bullying and socioeconomic status is curvilinear, with children from low and high-income families engaging in higher levels of bullying than those from middle- income families. Further, within the proposed U-shaped relationship between bullying and family income, I examine whether children from low-income families bully more than those from high income families. As expected, there is a curvilinear relationship between bullying and income. While low-income youth are at greatest risk for engaging in bullying, those youth at the upper end of the income gradient also have a higher propensity for participating in bullying behavior, compared to their more moderate-income counterparts. Although levels of bullying behavior decrease over time at both the lower and upper ends of the income gradient, strong curvilinear associations between bullying and family income exist both in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Further, child's age, school standing, and the amount of emotional support offered to the child are important factors in the initiation of bullying and in whether the behavior persists over time.