Survey of secondary youth on relational aggression: impact of bullying social status, and attitudes

Aggression toward peers is a pervasive problem among school-aged youth. Specifically, relational aggression refers to actions intended to harm another through manipulating social relationships. A diverse group of students (N=14,083) were surveyed regarding their pro-bullying attitudes, perceived social status, and whether they had perpetrated relational bullying toward another student. Participants average age was 13years and were diverse in grade level, racial identity, and disability status. Utilizing multiple-groups latent class analyses, a 3-class model emerged that involved the following classes: non-aggressors, those who perceived themselves as socially dominant and those who engaged in relational aggression, with differences in gender and school level representations in those groups. Implications regarding group distinction are made and recommendations for practitioners are provided.