Harassment Among Youth: Who Engages in More Bullying in Secondary Schools, Boys or Girls? Agravios entre jóvenes. ¿Quién hace más bullying en secundarias, los hombres o las mujeres?

Abstract

This study examines the roles of Victim, Perpetrator, and Bystander in school bullying scenarios using a mixed-methods approach that combines frequentist and Bayesian methods. A probabilistic sample of secondary school students was utilized to identify gender differences in each category. Through parametric and non-parametric techniques, the frequentist analysis revealed significant differences in the Victim and Bystander roles, supported by p-values and modest effect sizes, while no significant differences were found in the Perpetrator role. Levene’s test confirmed heterogeneity in variances for the Victim and Bystander categories. From a Bayesian perspective, the Mann-Whitney U test, combined with the Bayes Factor (BF₁₀), provided a more robust evaluation. Bayesian results evidenced strong significant differences in the Victim and Bystander roles, while confirming the null hypothesis in the Perpetrator role, suggesting homogeneity in direct aggression across genders. This approach proved more effective in handling non-normal data and variability, offering consistent conclusions under heterogeneous conditions. The findings highlight a higher frequency of bullying acts targeting females in the Victim role and a more active Bystander role among males, underlining the impact of gender on school bullying dynamics.