Mutual long term effects of school bullying, victimization, and justice sensitivity in adolescents.
In the present study, we investigate long term relations between experiences of aggression at school and the development of justice sensitivity as a personality disposition in adolescents. We assessed justice sensitivity (from the victim, observer, and perpetrator perspective) bullying, and victimization among 565 German 12 to 18 year olds in a one year longitudinal study with two measurement points. Latent path analyses revealed gender differences in long term effects of bullying and victimization on observer sensitivity and victim sensitivity. Experiences of victimization at T1 predicted an increase in victim sensitivity among girls and a decrease in victim sensitivity among boys. Bullying behavior at T1 predicted an increase in victim sensitivity among boys and a decrease in observer sensitivity among girls. We did not find long term effects of justice sensitivity on bullying and victimization. Our findings indicate that experiences of bullying and victimization have gender specific influences on the development of moral personality dispositions in adolescents.
Journal of adolescence