The contribution of bullying at school and low self-esteem to acts of delinquency among Australian teenagers

In an examination of factors associated with delinquent behaviour of adolescent school children, questionnaires were administered to students (N = 763) between the ages of 13 and 17 years attending a large coeducational high school in Australia. They answered questions anonymously to provide measures of (i) the extent to which they bullied their peers at school, (ii) their self-esteem and (iii) the frequency with which they engaged in delinquent activities. In general, girls reported less delinquent behaviour than boys. Among girls, but not boys, low levels of self-esteem were associated with reported bullying behaviour. However, results of multiple regression analyses, controlling for age, showed that for both sexes comparatively high levels of reported engagement in peer bullying and relatively low self-esteem were each independently and significantly associated with the measure of delinquent behaviour.