Members of the Psychometric Lab at the University of Granada, from the research group on Modeling and Measurement of Human Behavior (HUM-624), and from the Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), in collaboration with the University of Oviedo (UNIOVI), carried out a study exploring the experiences of school bullying among girls and boys enrolled in Compulsory Secondary Education.
The aim of the study was to investigate whether the validity of bullying victimization measures could be affected by gender differences between girls and boys resulting from their distinct experiences and perceptions of the phenomenon, which might hinder its detection, treatment, and prevention. To examine whether psychometric techniques can shed light on these differences, the bullying scale used in the PISA study was analyzed. Examining measurement invariance—in this case, between boys and girls— to determine the extent to which scores are comparable is an essential requirement to rule out the presence of any type of bias (systematic error) when interpreting scale scores.
To this end, a Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was conducted, which made it possible to identify different “profiles” based on the response patterns of boys and girls. Four profiles were identified:
1) adolescents who experienced all types of bullying
2) adolescents who did not experience any type of bullying
3) adolescents who experienced only indirect or relational bullying
4) adolescents who experienced some types of bullying at a moderate level but never felt excluded.
The results of the measurement invariance analysis indicate that the scale functions differently for girls and boys, that is, they point to the presence of bias attributable to differences in how bullying is experienced. To further explore possible causes, gender differences across these profiles were examined in depth. It was found that:
- On the one hand, girls are more likely than boys to experience only indirect or relational bullying (e.g., spreading rumors, exclusion...).
- On the other hand, boys are more likely than girls to experience all types of bullying. In addition, they are also more likely than girls to fall into the profile characterized by experiencing some types of bullying but never social exclusion.
One possible interpretation of this latter finding is that it may correspond to a reality of friendly teasing, in which boys predominantly perpetrate and receive forms of violence that are “normalized” among them and perceived as ways of bonding.
In conclusion, differences in bullying experiences between girls and boys may be leading them to respond very differently to the items of bullying assessment instruments, not due to real differences in victimization, but rather due to differences in how violence and bullying experiences themselves are understood. These differences must be taken into account when interpreting the scores of both groups, especially when comparisons are made, in order to ensure that decisions that could disadvantage one of the groups and result in shortcomings in the detection of cases and even in classroom intervention are not taken.
References
Navarro-González, M.C., Padilla, J.L., & Postigo, A. (2025). Testing Comparability of Gender Bullying Victimization Assessments Through a Latent Class Approach. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 00(0) [online first], 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605251325926
Contacts at the CIMCYC
M. Carmen Navarro González (mcnavarro@ugr.es)
José Luis Padilla García (jpadilla@ugr.es)