Bullied to Death

Perceptions of Peer Abuse and Suicidal Behaviour during

Adolescence

JOLYNN V. CARNEY
Youngstown State University

ABSTRACT This study investigated the perceptions of adolescents con-

cerning the relationship between chronic peer abuse and suicidal
behaviour. The major thesis is that chronic peer abuse is an additional
risk for adolescent suicidal behaviour. The results of the study upheld
this contention and added a surprising component in that bystander
perceptions supported victims’ views.

Introduction
It takes only a moment while considering the international headlines to
draw the conclusion that violence is a worldwide social issue. The United
States provides only one example of how violence has infiltrated commu-
nities, homes and schools. Unfortunately, adolescents are not immune to
this violence either as perpetrators or victims. Juvenile gang activity is
emerging in almost every US community (McKenzie, 1996). The five
years between 1990 and 1994 saw more than 5700 adolescent males,
aged 15–17 years, murdered. Approximately 44 percent were killed by
acquaintances, with most using firearms (Snyder et al., 1996). Violent
crime among youths rose at alarming rates during the last decade
(Bastian and Taylor, 1991). Juvenile arrests for Violent Crime Index
offenses, such as murder, forcible rape, robbery or aggravated assault
rose to over 150,000 in 1994 (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1995).
Families are supposed to be the ultimate safe havens for young people
(Hazler, 1996a), yet reports of child neglect, physical and sexual abuse
in the United States have tripled since 1980 (Edelman, 1994).
Schools which were once believed to be secure environments where
students gained knowledge now report over a quarter of a million

Address correspondence to: JoLynn V. Carney, Youngstown State University,

One University Plaza, Counseling Department, Youngstown, OH 44555, USA.
School Psychology International Copyright © 2000 SAGE Publications (London,
Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), Vol. 21(2): 213–223. [0143-0343 (200005)
21:2; 213–223; 013223]

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students per month being physically attacked in the US (Learning
Publications Inc., 1988). Nearly three-quarters of a million students,
sampled in a national survey, were aware of incidents of physical attack,
robbery or bullying in their schools (National Center for Education
Statistics, 1995).
The situation in the United States regarding adolescent violence in the
form of peer abuse appears to have many similarities with that world-
wide. International research confirms that the situation of children
abusing other children in school is global in scope. For example, it is
estimated, on the basis of research, that one Norwegian student out of
seven is involved as either a bully or victim in school (Olweus, 1995).
Other countries find similar data which confirm that peers abusing
other peers at school is an international phenomenon: Australia (Rigby
et al., 1997), Canada (Charach et al., 1995), UK (Smith, 1989; Sharp,
1995; Arora, 1996), Finland (Salmivalli et al., 1996), Germany (Schuster,
1996), Ireland (O’Moore and Hillery, 1989), Italy (Menesini et al., 1997)
and Japan (Hiruta, 1996; Matsui et al., 1996). These international
reports indicate that violence concerns far more than the occasional
headline stories of students killing themselves or other students. Per-
haps our schools are microcosms of the violent societies of our world.
Many adolescents face being potential victims of violence in their
communities, schools and homes on a daily basis. As if those external
threats were not enough, some young people also face victimization by
their own hand. Suicide rates among adolescents have continued to rise
(O’Carroll et al., 1992). The rate of suicide, in the United States, for 15–
19-year-olds in 1950 was 2.7 per 100,000. Two generations later, in 1990,
the rate had increased to 11.1; a jump of more than 300 percent (Berman
and Jobes, 1995).
In the face of all this potential internalized and external societal
violence, consider the following scenario. Now that Steve was ‘only
teased’ by Tom at school seems almost a relief to his parents. After all,
Tom is not a bad kid, he is not a member of the gang, nor has he ever
threatened Steve with a gun. Steve has a secure and loving home
environment. He likes to make people laugh, he is very creative and he
is a joy to his family.
Yet for Steve, Tom’s tormenting makes him constantly anxious. Afraid
to go to school, Steve often plays truant. He begins to withdraw from his
family, and becomes depressed with no hope of getting Tom to stop this
torture. Steve, a 13-year-old, shoots himself to avoid Tom’s ‘teasing’.
Steve is a composite student, who represents the thousands of stu-
dents who are abused daily at the hands of their more powerful peers
(Hazler et al., 1991). These students are increasingly being found in the
headline news every school year (Head, 1996; Napsha, 1996a,b; Mandak,
1997). According to Hoover et al. (1992), approximately 80 percent of

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high school students and 90 percent of middle school students indicated
through self-report that they had been bullied during their school
careers, with 20 percent feeling that they were severely traumatized by
this peer abuse.
Adolescents committing suicide because of peer abuse may represent a
scenario that is played out all too often by our youth (Hazler, 1994, 1996a).
Newspaper headlines tell the story (Smith, 1994), psychological autop-
sies provide additional insights (Hazler et al., 1997), parents’ heartache
illustrates the unimaginable horror of finding your son dead by his own
hand rather than continue to face the chronic bullying (Head, 1996).
Researchers have pointed to tragic cases of peer abuse that have been
reported in the press over the years. Statements appear in the current
research literature that make reference to students being driven to
suicide by peer abuse (Lane, 1989; Batsche and Knoff, 1994; Hazler,
1994; Smith and Sharp, 1994). Olweus (1994) states that victimization
may be an important causal factor in adolescent suicidal behaviour.
Research on bullied adolescents has identified typical characteristics
(e.g. negative self-evaluation, poor social skills and ineffective verbal
skills) (Besag, 1989; Skinner, 1992; Farrington, 1993; Olweus, 1993;
Hazler, 1996a). These characteristics can be used to help recognize those
students at high risk and to guide intervention strategies. An even
greater abundance of theoretical and empirical literature exists defining
adolescent risk factors for suicide (e.g. hopelessness and poor peer
relations) (Pfeffer, 1989; Stillion et al., 1989; Kral and Sakinofsky, 1994;
McDowell and Stillion, 1994; Stillion, 1994). Characteristics identified
from peer abuse and suicide literatures seem to be significant factors for
both adolescent victims of peer abuse and suicidal adolescents.
A thorough search of the literature, however, did not identify any
research that empirically investigated the similarities in these areas.
The purpose of this study was to explore the potential connections
between being an adolescent victim of peer abuse and suicidal feelings
and behaviours by examining the perceptions of adolescent victims and
bystanders. Bystanders, although an important component in the over-
all situation, are often overlooked in discussions of peer abuse (Olweus,
1993; Hazler, 1996a,b). Gathering data on the perceptions of bystanders
in this study provides a greater understanding of the reactions of this
group to a bullying situation.

Methods

Participants
Two hundred and one Midwestern middle and high school students (135
females and 65 males) agreed to participate in this study. This target

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population provided a sample for the investigation into the prevalence
and degree of victimization and suicidal behaviours and feelings in
normal adolescents. The mean age of participants was 14 years with the
racial makeup being 78 percent Caucasian, 10 percent African-
American, and 12 percent other (e.g. American Indian, Arabic, Asian and
Hispanic). All 201 students reported either being a victim or observing
peer abuse during the past 2 years. Forty-eight percent of the partici-
pants identified themselves as being victims of peer abuse and 52 per-
cent reported being bystanders.

Instrumentation
School Bullying Survey. The School Bullying Survey was used to collect
general demographic information (e.g. age, sex, grade and race), and
specific items related to being: (1) a bully; (2) a victim; and/or (3) an
observer of peer abuse in the past 2 years. This questionnaire had been
used in previous research on peer abuse (Hazler et al., 1991, 1992) The
questionnaire provided the following standardized definition of bully-
ing for subjects: (1) it is repeated (more than once) harm to others by
hurting others’ feelings through words or by attacking and physically
hurting others; (2) it may be done by one person or by a group; (3) it
takes place on the school grounds or on the way to and from school; and
(4) it is an unfair match (i.e. the person doing the bullying is physically
stronger or better with words or making friends than the person being
bullied.

Fictional scenario. A hypothetical scenario was designed for this study

to represent an actual case of direct bullying. A small pilot study (n = 28)
was conducted to evaluate the extent to which the content of the scenario
represented a standardized definition. One hundred percent of the pilot
subjects identified the scenario as being a clear case of direct bullying.
Gender-free fictional characters were created (victim, Ricki; bully,
Jessie). Ricki was designed as a chronic victim of verbal and physical
peer abuse who exhibited signs of hopelessness, helplessness, isolation,
poor interpersonal skills and low self-esteem. The fictional scenario is
presented in the Appendix.

Suicide Probability Scale (SPS). (Cull and Gill, 1988) The SPS is a 36-
item, self-report screening measure of suicide risk appropriate for
persons aged 13 years and above. The scale takes approximately 10 min-
utes to complete. Subjects rate the frequency of selected feelings and
behaviours on a four-point Likert scale ranging from none or little of the
time to most or all of the time (Cull and Gill, 1988). Responses for this
study were made regarding how often each statement applied to the
fictional scenario victim. Permission for adaptation of the SPS from a

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focus on the individual to a focus on the fictional victim was supported
by the publishers (Western Psychological Services).
The responses were hand tabulated to provide three summary scores:
a total weighted score, a normalized T score and a suicide probability
score. These scores are used in interpreting degree of suicide probability
(severe, moderate or mild risk). In addition to the total score, the SPS
also provides four subscale scores: Hopelessness (HP, 12 items), Nega-
tive Self-Evaluation (NSE, nine items), Hostility (HS, seven items) and
Suicidal Ideation (SI, eight items). Adequate reliability and validity are
reported (Cull and Gill, 1988). A few authors, however, (e.g. Golding,
1985; Cimbolic and Jobes, 1990) state that the four subscales are not
pure factors. Factor analysis indicated that the scale items were scat-
tered among the factors. This information indicates that the results
should be interpreted with some caution.

Data collection procedures

Written agreement for students to participate was gained from school
district administrators. One week prior to the administration of the
survey, a visit was made to the schools participating in this study.
Students and teachers were informed about the purpose of the study and
encouraged to participate. At that time, parental permission forms were
sent home. Only the students who returned the forms with parent/
guardian signature were allowed to participate.

Results
Participants designated as victims versus bystanders on the suicidal
characteristic variables of hopelessness, negative self-evaluation, sui-
cidal ideation and hostility were compared by performing a multivariate
analysis of variance (MANOVA). The MANOVA indicated no significant
differences between victims and bystanders, Hotelling’s test statistic
[F(4,97) = .005, p = .90]. Follow-up univariate tests also showed no
significant differences. The original hypotheses, that victims would rate
Ricki as a higher suicide risk by exhibiting more hopelessness, negative
self-evaluation and hostility than bystanders, seemed well-founded
based on the literature review (Carney, 1997) (Table 1).

Discussion
Regularly, newspaper headlines tell stories of chronically bullied adoles-
cents who commit suicide (Smith, 1994) and their parents who relate the
heartache over such a loss (Head, 1996). Experts in the area of peer abuse
also make reference to students committing suicide after experiencing
chronic bullying (Lane, 1989; Batsche and Knoff, 1994; Hazler, 1994;

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Table 1 Multivariate and univariate tests for HP, SI, NSE, HS
subscales of the Suicide Probability Scale comparing victims and
bystanders
Multivariate tests of significance (s = 1, m = 1, n = 97)
Test name Value Exact F Hypothesis d.f. Error d.f. Significance of F

Hotellings .00536 .262242 4.00 196.00 .902

Univariate F-tests with (1.199) d.f.

Variable Hypothesis Error Hypothesis Error F Significance
SS SS MS MS of F

HP 3.98 16815.58 3.98 84.50 .047 .828

SI 18.76 14419.63 18.76 72.46 .259 .611
NSE .10 4496.90 .10 22.60 .004 .948
HS 14.97 5565.90 14.97 27.97 .535 .465

HP, Hopelessness; SI, suicidal ideation; NSE, negative self-evaluation; HS, hostility.

Olweus, 1994; Smith and Sharp, 1994). But what do adolescents them-
selves think? How do students who are current victims view these
issues? Do bystanders differ in their perceptions of this link between
peer abuse and suicide?
The fact that no significant differences were found between the ratings
given to the fictional victim, Ricki, by victims and bystanders provided
interesting insight into the perceptions of adolescents on peer abuse and
suicide. The original hypotheses, that victims would rate Ricki as a
higher suicide risk by exhibiting more hopelessness, negative self-
evaluation and hostility than bystanders, seemed well-founded based on
the literature review.
In this entire sample of adolescents, however, victims and bystanders
uniformly rated Ricki as a high suicide risk and as exhibiting moderately
high levels of hopelessness, negative self-evaluation, suicide ideation
and hostility. These adolescents seemed to clearly indicate that Ricki
was psychologically in trouble and physically in danger by his/her own
hand.
Cull and Gill’s (1988) suggested level of intervention, with total SPS
scores similar to the ones given to Ricki by the subjects in this sample,
is either ‘hospitalization or maintenance on an outpatient basis with
increased [counsellor] availability and environmental supports’ (p. 15).
In addition, the authors indicate that ‘psychotropic medications’ (p. 15)
may be necessary for those scoring in this range. If Ricki were an actual
adolescent, then an immediate mental health intervention would seem
warranted based upon the SPS ratings.
If the adolescents in this study identified with Ricki as requested, then

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approximately 99 percent of them would be classified as high suicide
risk. Given the characteristics incorporated into the peer abuse scenario,
these subjects supported the link between peer abuse and suicide risk.
Ratings by these participants, victims and bystanders alike, seemed to
support the hypothesis that the characteristics that put a student at risk
for being bullied also increase the student’s risk of suicide potential. The
subjects appeared to identify the characteristics incorporated into the
fictional peer abuse story (hopelessness, helplessness, isolation and low
self-esteem) and to endorse them as risk factors for Ricki on the SPS.
Their responses support the theoretical literature that provides a basis
for the consideration that similar characteristics may be risk factors for
peer abuse and suicide. Practically then, their endorsement of this link
is valuable information for mental health professionals who interact
daily with bullied and suicidal adolescents. The responses of these
subjects also provide some insight into the often overlooked group of
bystanders.
Several authors, most notably Hazler (1996b) and Olweus (1993),
place an emphasis on the role of bystanders in peer abuse. These authors
encourage a more productive involvement of bystanders in stopping peer
abuse as well as an examination of the problems bystanders experience
as a consequence of witnessing bullying.
The interesting finding of this study that bystanders also rated Ricki
as a high suicide risk points to the impact of peer abuse not only on
victims, but also on bystanders. It is possible that individuals who
witness the abuse of their peers without becoming actively involved are
not as immune to the suffering of the victims as their inaction would
indicate.
The adolescent bystanders in this study seemed to empathize with
Ricki, identifying his/her feelings of hopelessness, low self-esteem,
hostility and even suicidal ideation. If these participants identified with
the fictional victim, then it seems quite probable that bystanders in real
life bullying situations may be substantially impacted by the plight of
their peers’ abuse. This suggests that prevention and intervention
efforts that are almost exclusively targeted toward victims and bullies
should be expanded in scope to include bystanders who might very well
experience problematic consequences from the observed abuse of their
peers. This aspect of the study lends support to the work of Hazler
(1996b) and Olweus (1993) who have advocated for such actions for
bystanders. The victim–bully–bystander triangle creates a complex
pattern of interactions (Twemlow et al., 1996) that is worthy of further
investigation.
Another suggestion for future research is an evaluation of the
commonalities and disparities between bullying in schools and harass-
ment at work that might increase our understanding of intergenerational

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transmission of bullying and victimization in several ways, namely
characteristic similarities of bullies, victims and bystanders in both
environments and an actual evaluation of the environments themselves.
In addition to characteristics of adolescent bully–victim–bystanders and
adult bully–victim–bystanders, this proposed study might investigate
the similarities in the environments, school and work, that might
promote or prohibit peer/colleague abuse. An identification and under-
standing of the mechanisms in the environment that may act as medi-
ating agents could very well enhance prevention and intervention
strategies both in schools and on the job.

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Appendix
Jess confronts Ricki on the sidewalk when they come to school in the
morning. ‘Hey, fat stuff how much money did mommy give you today? I
think you need to be on a diet’.
The kids hanging around with Jess laugh, make noises and call Ricki
names. Ricki tries to walk past the gang of kids as quickly as possible.
‘I’ll just keep my head down and hope no one pays attention to me’. For
Ricki, the embarrassment is as bad as the actual confrontation.
Jess leaves the gang of friends to catch up with Ricki. Jess gets in
Ricki’s face grabbing both arms and pushing hard. ‘Let’s go over here
where we can be alone and talk about sharing that money’.
Around the corner Jess hits Ricki hard in the stomach. Ricki is doubled

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over and gasping for breath. So Ricki does not resist when Jess takes the
money from his pants pocket. This has happened to Ricki many times
before. Jess embarrasses Ricki like this or takes Ricki’s money often.
Ricki worries about it every day.

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