Longitudinal Examination of the Bullying-Sexual Violence Pathway across Early to Late Adolescence: Implicating Homophobic Name-Calling

Abstract

The Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway theory has indicated that bullying perpetration predicts sexual violence perpetration among males and females over time in middle school, and that homophobic name-calling perpetration moderates that association among males. In this study, the Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway theory was tested across early to late adolescence. Participants included 3549 students from four Midwestern middle schools and six high schools. Surveys were administered across six time points from Spring 2008 to Spring 2013. At baseline, the sample was 32.2% White, 46.2% African American, 5.4% Hispanic, and 10.2% other. The sample was 50.2% female. The findings reveal that late middle school homophobic name-calling perpetration increased the odds of perpetrating sexual violence in high school among early middle school bullying male and female perpetrators, while homophobic name-calling victimization decreased the odds of high school sexual violence perpetration among females. The prevention of bullying and homophobic name-calling in middle school may prevent later sexual violence perpetration.

Keywords: Adolescents; Bullying; Homophobic name-calling; Middle school; Sexual violence.

Fig. 1

Interaction between bullying perpetration and homophobic name-calling perpetration among males. Low = 1 standard deviation below the mean, High = 1 standard deviation above the mean

Fig. 2

Multi-mediator model for homophobic name-calling perpetration and homophobic name-calling victimization. Note: Bullying perpetration is measured in early middle school (5th, 6th and 7th grade), homophobic name-calling perpetration and victimization are measured in late middle school (7th and 8th grade), and sexual violence perpetration is measured in high school (9th–11th Grade). Model controls for early middle school homophobic name-calling perpetuation, homophobic name-calling victimization, and sexual violence perpetration as well as participant age, sex, race, and maternal education. Solid lines indicate significant path