Ethnicity and bullying involvement in a national UK youth sample

This study investigated ethnic differences in bullying involvement (as victim and bully) among a UK wide sample of adolescents, controlling for potential confounders, including age, gender, economic situation, family structure and parent–adolescent relationships. 4668 youths, aged 10 to 15, who participate in the UK Household Longitudinal Study were assessed for bullying involvement. Binary logistic regression models were used to estimate ethnic differences across bullying roles while controlling for potential confounders. Overall, ethnic minority youths were not more likely to be victims; African boys and girls were significantly less likely to be victimised than same sex White youths. Pakistani and Caribbean girls were significantly more likely to have bullied others compared to White girls. Further research is necessary to explore why Pakistani and Caribbean girls may be more often perpetrators of bullying than girls in other ethnic groups.