Empirically Based Classification of Peer Violence in a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescents: a Latent Class Analysis

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the pattern of traditional- and cyberbullying, and fighting involvement and identify its most important correlates in a nationally representative sample. We analyzed the data of Hungarian 11–18-year-old adolescents in the framework of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study. A latent class analysis was performed first and afterwards a multinomial logistic regression analysis to examine factors explaining class membership. Four latent classes were identified: “high probability involvement in all forms of violence”; “low involvement in any forms of violence”; “predominantly involved in traditional bullying and fighting”; “high engagement in online victimization”. As no clear victim or perpetrator group was identified, a high overlap between these violence involvement statuses is reinforced.