Typology of the Onset of School Violence Perpetration and Victimization in Real and Cyber Worlds: Extension of Multiple Event Process Survival Mixture Model

Abstract

Bullying has been a long-lasting, serious social problem. To effectively prevent bullying, it is essential to examine when different types and roles of violence emerge and what causes them. Current study analyzes the longitudinal panel data set (N = 3942, age ranged 13–18, 51.4% male) to identify student profiles of bullying engagement over time. Data collection occurred in South Korea and data on race/ethnicity was not collected. Results showed that (1) the risk of traditional bullying was more significant than the risk of cyberbullying, (2) three profiles of bullying groups were identified to understand the pathways to different types of bullying engagement, and (3) different factors affect bullying group profiles. These findings highlight the utility of a person-centered, longitudinal approach to better capture the complexity of the development of bullying. In particular, they suggest that tailored, developmentally appropriate interventions—especially during the transition from elementary to middle school—are essential for reducing students' risk of engaging in both traditional and cyberbullying.