Determining the Cause of Bullying by Using Three Main Criminological Theories

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A number of studies that have been conducted concluded with the fact that school bullying has become a global concern regardless of cultural differences. In light of this fact, there have been few studies that have examined individual factors that affect bullying. The current study that will be discussed attempts to determine the cause of bullying by using three main criminological theories, which are general theory of crime, differential association theory, and general strain theory. Concentration will be placed on the conclusive data found from the use of general strain theory. Moon, Hwang, and McCluskey (2011) conducted a longitudinal study that consisted of analyzing data from two waves of questionnaires given out to three separate schools throughout South Korea. The three schools were chosen based on population size surrounding the schools. Two of the schools were located in cities with a population of over 2.5 million, whereas the third school represented the more rural parts of South Kaorea with a modest population of 600,000. The eighth graders from each school were asked to participate in the study. The first waves of 900 questionnaires were distributed, and out of those 787 were completed. After a year had passed the second wave of questionnaires were distributed and a total of 655 questionnaires were collected from students of the original study. Through these questionnaires, there were six types of strain that were measured. These types of strain were family conflict, emotional and physical punishment by parents and teachers, financial stress, examination-related stress, and criminal victimization (Moon, Hwang, and McCluskey, 2011). Agnew (2001) believed that these forms of strain were vital in showing chances o... ... middle of paper ... ...he student may want to represent themselves as nicer than what they really are, or that they do not remember the numbers of specific events like some of the questions are asking for. These are all reasons why the data from this test Works Cited Moon, B., Hwang, H., & McCluskey, J. D. (2011). Causes of School Bullying: Empirical Test of a General Theory of Crime, Differential Association Theory, and General Strain Theory. Crime & Delinquency, 57(6), 849-877. doi:10.1177/0011128708315740 Agnew, R. (2001). Building on the foundation of general strain theory: Specifying thetypes of strain most likely to lead to crime and delinquency.Journal of Researchin Crime and Delinquency,38, 319-361. Kim, E. J., Kim, I., & Jung, T. (2001). Psychological vulnerabilities victimization at school bullying. Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology,20, 245-257

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