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Psychological Correlates of School Bullying Victimization: 

Academic Self-Concept, Learning Motivation and Test Anxiety  

 

Andrea Caputo
1
 

1) Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, University of Rome 

“Sapienza”, Italy.  

 

Date of publication: February 24
th
, 2014 

Edition period: February 2014 - June 2014 

 

 
To cite this article: Caputo, A. (2014). Psychological Correlates of School 
Bullying Victimization: Academic Self-Concept, Learning, Motivation and 
Test Anxiety. International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1), 69-99. 

doi: 10.4471/ijep.2014.04 

To link this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.4471/ijep.2014.04  
 

 
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http://dx.doi.org/10.4471/ijep.2014.03
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IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 3 No. 1 

February 2014 pp. 69-99 

 

 
 
2014 Hipatia Press 

ISSN: 2014-3591 

DOI: 10.4471/ijep.2014.04 

Psychological Correlates of 
School Bullying Victimization: 
Academic Self-Concept, Learning 
Motivation and Test Anxiety 
 

 

Andrea Caputo 

University of Rome “Sapienza” 
 

Abstract 
 

The paper aims at detecting the association between students’ bullying victimization 

at school and some psychological dimensions, referred to academic self-concept (for 

both Mathematics and Reading), learning motivation (intrinsic motivation, extrinsic 

motivation, commitment to study) and test anxiety. A questionnaire including these 

measures was completed by 3372 students (51.1% boys and 48.9% girls, mostly 

aged from 11 to 14 years) at grade 6 (n=1082), 7 (n=1113) and 8 (n=1177), coming 

from 54 middle schools of Southern Italy. T-tests are used for establishing 

differences in psychological dimensions between groups of students that 

experienced bullying and those who did not. In order to check the robustness of our 

findings and evaluate whether bullying victimization could be actually considered a 

determinant of these psychological measures, linear regression is used to predict 

each variable, also controlling for gender and grade level. Results confirm most of 

the research findings on the correlates of bullying victimization: being victim of 

peer bullying strongly reduces academic self-concept (both in Mathematics and 

Reading) and commitment to study, whilst tends to increase both extrinsic 

motivation and test anxiety rates, independently from gender and grade level. No 

impact, indeed, is revealed on both Math and Reading intrinsic motivation.  
 

Keywords: bullying; school victimization; academic self-concept; learning 
motivation; test anxiety. 



IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 3 No. 1 

February 2014 pp. 69-99 

 

 
 
2014 Hipatia Press 

ISSN: 2014-3591 

DOI: 10.4471/ijep.2014.04 

Correlaciones Psicológicas de la 

Victimización del Bullying Escolar: 

Auto-concepción Académica, Motivación 

para el Aprendizaje y Ansiedad en los 

Exámenes
 

 

Andrea Caputo 

University of Rome “Sapienza” 
 

Abstract 
 

Este artículo tiene como objetivo detectar la asociación entre la victimización por 

bullying en la escuela y algunas dimensiones psicológicas referidas al auto-concepto 

académico (en Matemáticas y Lectura), motivación para el aprendizaje (motivación 

intrínseca, extrínseca, compromiso con el estudio) y la ansiedad en los exámenes. 

Unos 3372 estudiantes completaron un cuestionario con esas medidas (51,1% chicos 

y 48,9% chicas, la mayoría entre 11 y 14 años) en 6º (n=1082), 7º (n=1113) y 8º 

grados (n=1177), provenientes de 54 escuelas medias del Sur de Italia. Se utilizaron 

T-Tests para establecer diferencias en las dimensiones psicológicas entre grupos de 

estudiantes que experimentaron victimización por bullying y aquellos que no. Para 

asegurar la robustez de nuestros resultados y evaluar si la victimización por bullying 

podría considerarse un determinante de las medidas psicológicas se utilizó la 

regresión linear para predecir cada variable, controlando género y grado. Los 

resultados confirman muchos hallazgos sobre correlación con la victimización por 

bullying: ser víctima de bullying reduce fuertemente el auto-concepto académico (en 

Matemáticas y Lectura) y el compromiso con el estudio, mientras tiende a 

incrementar la motivación extrínseca y el grado de ansiedad en los exámenes, 

independientemente del género y del nivel de estudios. No existe impacto en la 

motivación intrínseca en Matemáticas y Lectura. 
 

Keywords: bullying; victimización escolar; auto-concepto académico; motivación 
para el aprendizaje; ansiedad en los exámenes. 



 International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1) 

 

 

71 

 

 

 

ullying is a growing and significant problem which affects a 

substantial portion of school children around the world (Smith et 

al., 1999; Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009). Bulling can be defined 

as a deliberate act aimed to inflict physical and psychological harm, that is 

commonly characterized by frequency, intention to hurt, and an asymmetric 

relationship between the bully and the victim (Houbre, Traquinio, & 

Thuillier, 2006). Bullying refers to a wide range of aggressive behaviors, 

such as name calling, extortion, physical violence, slander, damage to 

property, verbal intimidation and peer exclusion too (Crick et al., 2001; 

Salmivalli, Kaukiainen, & Lagerspetz, 2000). 

Most of the scientific literature highlights that students exposed to 

systematic victimization by their peers suffer from adjustment problems, 

such as depression, loneliness, social anxiety, psychosomatic complaints, 

high suicidal ideation, diminishing self-esteem, school avoidance, poor 

academic achievement, low academic self-concept and lack of school 

enjoyment (Kumpulainen et al., 1998; Hawker & Boulton, 2000; Perše, 

Kozina, & Leban, 2011). In addition, bullying victimization shows several 

interpersonal correlates such as rejection, having few friends and low 

friendship quality that can persist into adolescence and beyond (Ladd & 

Troop-Gordon, 2003; Kochenderfer & Ladd, 1996; Rudolph & Clark, 2001; 

Kaltiala-Heino, Rimpelä, Marttunen, Rimpelä, & Rantanen, 1999; Rigby & 

Slee, 1999). However, many of the correlates of victimization seem to be 

both antecedents and consequences of bullying, suggesting a vicious cycle 

by which children who are victims during school often continue to be bullied 

in the workplace (Sharp, 1995; Schafer, Korn, Smith, Hunter, Mora-

Merchan, Singer, & Van der Meulen., 2004; Card, 2003).  

B 



Caputo –School Bullying  

 

 

72 

Recent studies have confirmed the existence of bullying also in the Italian 

schools (Gini, 2004; Genta, Menesini, Fonzi, Costabile, & Smith, 1996), 

considering that about one-half of pupils in primary (from 1st to 5th grade) 

school and one-third in middle (from 6th to 8th grade) school claimed to 

have been victims of peer violence (Fonzi, 1997; Baldry & Farrington, 

1999). Comparative research reports that the incidence of bullying 

victimization in Italy is higher than that which had been found in other 

European and Western countries (Menesini & Modiano, 2003). In this 

regard, although anti-bullying policies and strategies are more and more 

provided to guarantee a safe environment for students, ‘very little is known 

about the issue of bullying and victimization by peers in Italian schools and 

about the problems connected to it’ (Genta et al., 1996, p. 97).  

The purpose of the present study is to test the association between 

students’ bullying victimization at school and some psychological 

dimensions, referred to as academic self-concept (for both Mathematics and 

Reading), learning motivation (intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, 

commitment to study) and test anxiety, in a sample of middle school 

students of Southern Italy. In more detail, we aim at evaluating whether 

these psychological correlates, related to learning process, could be 

predicted on the ground of students’ bullying victimization, also controlling 

for both gender and grade level.  

In this regard, the extant empirical literature has clearly and consistently 

documented an association between bullying victimization and the 

constructs we consider in the present study.  

In relation to academic self-concept, it is demonstrated that being victim 

of bullying leads to a negative self-evaluation in scholastic and social skills 

(Neary & Joseph, 1994; Rigby & Cox, 1996; Stanley & Aurora, 1998; 

Marsh, Parada, Craven, & Finger, 2004; Marsh et al., 2011; Jenkins & 

Demaray, 2012) and to a maladaptive school functioning more in general 

(Nishina, Juvonen, & Witkow, 2005). In fact, the internalization of being 

continually harassed may lead targets to believe they are worthless and 



 International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1) 

 

 

73 

failures and thus to have lower self-esteem. At the same time, certain 

negative levels of self-concept predict long-term bullying as well, suggesting 

that a negative academic self-concept and victimization are interdependent 

and that they reinforce one another (Houbre, Tarquinio, & Lanfranchi, 

2010).  

Bullying experiences can also have both direct and indirect effects on 

school and learning motivation (Nishina et al., 2005; Schwartz, Gorman, 

Nakamoto,  & Toblin, 2005), such as decreases in school liking, developing 

negative attitudes towards school, and increases in school absenteeism 

(Boulton & Underwood, 1992; Kochenderfer-Ladd, 2004). The most 

frequently tested indirect (mediational) model presumes that emotional 

distress caused by negative peer encounters inhibits learning 

and performance (Graham, Bellmore, & Mize, 2006; Juvonen, Nishina, & 

Graham, 2000; Schwartz et al., 2005). In other words, victimization is likely 

to negatively affect cognitive engagement defined as a student’s ability to 

self-regulate his/her investment in the learning process (Harris, 2008), since 

bullied students have difficulties in making friends and progressively tend to 

feel like they do not belong at school and are not involved in classroom 

activities (Houbre et al., 2006). In detail, student external regulation (i.e. 

considerateness to obtain rewards or avoid punishments) positively relates to 

self-reported bullying in class (Roth, Kanat-Maymon, & Bibi, 2011). In this 

sense, internal/external motivation and commitment to study may be 

assumed as valid indicators of behavioral school engagement, as this 

dimension pertains the feeling of being interested, cognitively aware, 

participating, and excited to get the most out of a learning experience 

(Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004).  

Then, bullied student also have reduced emotional engagement in school 

activities and show some negative emotions such as boredom, anxiety, 

sadness, and fear while at school (Fredricks et al., 2004). Personally 

experiencing victimization is associated with daily increases in feelings of 

humiliation, anxiety, and anger (Nishina & Juvonen, 2005) that are not 



Caputo –School Bullying  

 

 

74 

compatible with school liking or academic competence. In more detail, many 

researchers associate suffering violence at school to anxiety in its different 

forms (Ezpeleta, 2005; Hawker & Boulton, 2000), including also anxiety 

about school failure and evaluation (Martínez-Monteagudo, Ingles, Trianses, 

& Garcia-Fernandez, 2012). Bullying thus increases victims’ school anxiety 

and lack of confidence through their internalization of the negative opinion 

of their tormentors (Houbre et al., 2010). In this regard, we specifically 

consider the relationship between bullying victimization and test anxiety - on 

which literature is mostly scarce - because this negative response is related 

to school activities and performances and is not conceived as a global 

measure or as a personality trait. Indeed, the general aim of this paper is not 

to provide a clinical viewpoint on bullying correlates from an individualistic 

perspective, but to explore the potential association between victimization 

and some psychological measures regarding student learning and 

achievement in the school context. As stated by Smith and colleagues (2004) 

“from an evaluation standpoint, it is incumbent upon us to measure 

outcomes that are relevant to the educational system as it now exists. 

Principals and teachers are pressed to ensure that their students meet 

academic standards. Those of us who work in the bullying field have no 

doubt that these negative interactions impact on academic performance” (p. 

322). 

 

Method 

 

Participants 

 

Our sample was composed of 3372 Italian students attending middle school 

cycle, corresponding to 6th 
 
(n=1082), 7th (n=1113) and 8th (n=1177) grade. 

In detail, boys were 51.1% while girls were 48.9%, mostly aged from 11 to 

14 years. They came from 172 classes belonging to 54 different schools of 

four Regions of Southern Italy (Campania, Calabria, Apulia and Sicily).  



 International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1) 

 

 

75 

This representative sample was built in the school year 2009/2010 as 

control group in occasion of the project Valutazione M@t.abel+
1
 carried out 

by INVALSI (Italian acronym for National Institute for the Educational 

Evaluation of Instruction and Training). This ongoing 3-years study aims at 

evaluating the effectiveness of a training program in mathematics, addressed 

to middle school teachers of Southern Italy, on students’ math competences 

and attitudes through a randomized control trial
2
.   

 

Material 

 

Student data. Data are derived from the Student Questionnaire, validated by 

INVALSI and used for the annual national assessment of student 

achievement in the Italian context
3
. The questionnaire aimed to collect 

students’ demographic and background characteristics, previous school 

experience and learning attitudes. The following variables were assessed and 

analyzed in the course of this study. 

 

Measures 

 

Bullying victimization. To determine the degree of bullying victimization at 

school, a question of the Student Questionnaire was used. Students were 

asked: ‘In school, did any of these things happen during the last month?’ in 

reference to four specific items, adapted from the Student Questionnaire 

used in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 

2007:  

 

 ‘Something of mine was stolen’ (item 1);  

 ‘I was hit or hurt by other students’ (item 2);  

 ‘I was made to do things I didn’t want to do by other students’ (item 

3); 

 ‘I was made to feel excluded by other students’ (item 4).  



Caputo –School Bullying  

 

 

76 

 

Students could answer by yes or no. A binary variable was built which 

takes the value of one if at least one of the four aggressive episodes occurred 

and zero otherwise. The time of one month should be long enough to include 

all students who are affected by violence regularly and short enough that 

students can remember the situation and that it may still have an impact on 

their behavior.  

 

Academic self-concept. The academic self-concept is defined as the 

student’s perception of competencies at school in relation to specific 

subjects. This perception can be seen as a cognitive evaluation of the 

abilities to accomplish certain tasks. According to the hierarchical self-

concept model of Marsh and Shavelson (1985), students’ academic self-

concept is a subcomponent in a model in which general self-concept is at the 

top of the hierarchy.  

     In this study, both Math and Reading academic self-concept were 

measured on two different 4-point Likert scales, ranging from ‘strongly 

agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’. Each scale assessed three aspects referred to 

students’ beliefs (performance, learning process and peer comparison), 

which are expressed with the following statements: 

 

 ‘I am good at Math/Reading’ (item 1); 

 ‘I am able to learn Math/Reading quickly’ (item 2); 

 ‘I perform Math/Reading tasks better than my other classmates’ 

(item 3). 

 

Learning motivation. Student motivation deals with students' desire to 

participate in the learning process. But it also concerns the reasons or goals 

that underlie their involvement or non-involvement in academic activities. 

Although students may be equally motivated to perform a task, the sources 

of their motivation may differ.  



 International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1) 

 

 

77 

      Intrinsic motivation. It refers to motivation that is driven by an interest or 

enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than 

relying on any external pressure (Lepper, 1988). It is based on taking 

pleasure in an activity rather working towards an external reward. In the 

present study, intrinsic motivation was measured for both Mathematics and 

Reading on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly 

disagree’, by means the two following statements: 

 

 ‘I enjoy doing Math/Reading’ (item 1); 

 ‘I would like to take more Math/Reading in school’ (item 2). 

 

     Extrinsic motivation. It pertains whenever an activity is done in order to 

attain some separable outcome, such as obtaining rewards or avoiding some 

punishment. Extrinsic motivation thus contrasts with intrinsic motivation, 

which refers to doing an activity simply for the enjoyment of the activity 

itself, rather than its instrumental value. For middle-school students, 

extrinsic motivation is often linked to get parents’ or teachers’ approval and 

to look good in front of classmates (Lepper, 1988). It was measured on a 4-

point Likert scale, ranging from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’, by 

means the following four items: 

 

 ‘I study to please my parents’ (item 1); 

 ‘I study to please my teachers’ (item 2); 

 ‘I study to be given some presents at home’ (item 3); 

 ‘I study not to make a bad impression with my classmates’ (item 4). 

 

     Commitment to study. It concerns long-term, quality involvement and 

effort in learning more in general (Ames, 1990), regardless of whether (or 

not) academic tasks are considered interesting. Commitment to study affects 

students’ success at school and is often linked to intrinsic motivation 

because, according to the Self-Regulated Learning Theory, it represents the 



Caputo –School Bullying  

 

 

78 

observable behavior through which motivation can be effectively realized. It 

was measured on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from ‘strongly agree’ to 

‘strongly disagree’, by means the following three items: 

 

 ‘When a subject is difficult I quit it’ (item 1); 

 ‘When I study a lot I get good results’ (item 2); 

 ‘I commit myself to study even when the subject is boring’ (item 3). 

 

Test anxiety. This hypothetical construct consists of the components worry 

and emotionality (Liebert & Morris, 1967), respectively related to cognitive 

concerns about one’s own performance and physiological reactions to the 

test situation. The students were given four statements concerning the level 

of test anxiety they experienced during the standardized assessment tests. 

They were requested to express their level of agreement with these 

statements on a 4-point Likert scale, adapted from the Motivated Strategies 

for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) by Pintrich and De Groot (1990) and 

then specifically validated in the Italian context (Poliandri, Cardone, 

Muzzioli, & Romiti, 2011). The four statements regarding students’ 

emotional reaction during the test are:  

 

 ‘Even before we started I was worried about having to take a test’ 

(item 1);  

 ‘I was so nervous that I couldn’t find the right answers’ (item 2); 

 ‘While I was answering I felt I was doing poorly’ (item 3); 

 ‘While I was answering I felt calm’ (item 4). 

  

Procedure 

To verify the construct validity of each psychological measure considered, 

we computed Cronbach's alpha to assess the internal consistency reliability 

across the items of each scale. In addition, exploratory factor analysis 

(Principal Component Analysis for Likert scales and Multiple 



 International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1) 

 

 

79 

Correspondence Analysis for Bullying victimization scale with dichotomous 

items) was used to provide evidence that the scales in question were 

unidimensional.  

 In accordance with our research questions several statistical methods are 

used. A first insight into data is presented with descriptive statistics on 

bullying victimization and Chi-Square test is used to examine differences by 

gender and grade level. T-tests are used for establishing differences in 

psychological dimensions between groups of students that experienced 

bullying and those who did not. Since these dimensions are measured on a 4-

point Likert scale, mean scores are calculated that range from 0 (‘strongly 

disagree’) to 3 (‘strongly agree’). In order to check the robustness of our 

findings and evaluate whether bullying victimization could be actually 

considered a determinant of these psychological measures, we used a linear 

regression model to predict each variable, also controlling for gender and 

grade level by selecting enter method.  

 

Results 

 

The psychometric properties of the scales used in the present study confirm 

the construct validity of each psychological measure as each of them has an 

acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha>0.60). Besides, the scales 

are unidimensional with a one-factor solution explaining a good percentage 

of the overall variance.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Caputo –School Bullying  

 

 

80 

Table 1  

Psychometric properties of the scales for the psychological measures used in the 

analysis  

Scale 
Number 

of items 

Reliability 

(Cronbach's 

alpha) 

Unidimensionality 

Variance 

explained 

by one-

factor 

solution 

(%) 

Bullying victimization     

Bullying victimization 4  0.92 Yes 91.67 

Academic Self-Concept     

Math Self-Concept 3 0.69 Yes 62.08 

Reading Self-Concept 3 0.73 Yes 64.89 

Learning motivation     

Math Intrinsic motivation  2 0.78 - - 

Reading Intrinsic motivation  2 0.80 - - 

Extrinsic motivation 4 0.72 Yes 54.05 

Commitment to study 3 0.63 Yes 57.37 

Test Anxiety     

Test Anxiety 4 0.86 Yes 70.05 

Note. In reference to Math and Reading intrinsic motivation no factor analysis was 

carried out to assess unidimensionality because the scales were composed of only 

two items. 

 

 In Table 2 descriptive statistics are shown which refer to the differences 

by gender and grade level between students who experienced (at least once 

in the prior month) school bullying episodes and students who did not.  



 International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1) 

 

 

81 

 

Table 2  

Cross-Tabulation of bullying victimization by gender and grade level 

  

Grade level 

Total 6 7 8 

Not Bullied 

  Female 349 411 480 1240 

 49.02% 48.41% 51.45% 49.72% 

Male 363 438 453 1254 

  50.98% 51.59% 48.55% 50.28% 

                           

712 849 933 2494   Subtotals 

      70.50% 78.10% 81.34% 76.88% 

Bullied 

  Female 135 121 85 341 

 45.30% 50.84% 39.72% 45.47% 

Male 163 117 129 409 

  54.70% 49.16% 60.28% 54.53% 

                 

298 238 214 750   Subtotals 

     29.50% 21.90% 18.66% 23.12% 

    Total 1010 1087 1147 3244 

 Results show some differences among different grade levels, χ2 (1, N = 

3244) = 36.83, p < .01 which confirm that school bullying victimization is 

significantly present at grade 6 (29.50%) and then tends to decrease to grade 



Caputo –School Bullying  

 

 

82 

8 (18.66%). The significance level is maintained independently from gender 

influences in each grade level. 

 Besides, boys are generally more bullied than girls (54.53% versus 

45.47%), χ2 (2, N = 3244) = 4.17, p < .05. However, controlling for grade 

level, gender differences are evident only at grade 8 where 60.28% of bullied 

students are male, χ2 (1, N = 1147) = 9.58, p < .01. 

 Grouping students on the ground of their bullying victimization status, 

we evaluated differences in mean scores referred to the psychological 

measures we considered in the present study. In this regard, Table 3 shows 

the statistically significant differences in psychological dimensions resulting 

from Independent Sample Test. 
 

Table 3  

Descriptive statistics and T-tests for Independent Samples comparing Bullied and 

Not Bullied students on academic self-concept, learning motivation and test anxiety 

 

Not bullied students             

(N=2505) 
 

Bullied students          

(N=756) 

 
 

  

Measures Mean SD  Mean SD 

Mean 

difference 

(SE) 

t-test 

Academic Self-Concept 
 

   

Math Self-Concept 1.85 0.72 
 

1.75 0.75 
 0.10 

(0.03) 3.17 **  

Reading Self-Concept 2.16 0.61 
 

2.05 0.68 
 0.11 

(0.03) 4.06 ***  

Learning Motivation 
 

   

Math Intrinsic motivation  1.38 0.97 
 

1.40 1.05 
-0.03 

(0.04) -0.65   

Reading Intrinsic 

motivation  
1.64 0.91 

 
1.63 0.95 

 0.00 

(0.04) 0.04   

Extrinsic motivation 0.80 0.66 
 

1.01 0.73 
-0.22 

(0.03) -7.66 ***  

Commitment to study 2.30 0.58 
 

2.21 0.61 
 0.09 

(0.02) 3.80 ***  

Test Anxiety 
 

   



 International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1) 

 

 

83 

Test Anxiety 1.33 0.74 
 

1.49 0.78 
-0.16 

(0.03) -5.14 ***  

Note. **Significant at 0.01 level; ***significant at 0.001 level 

 

 Students who are victims of school bullying have a lower academic self-

concept, both in Mathematics and Reading, than their peers who are not 

bullied. In relation to learning motivation, they also show a higher extrinsic 

orientation and a poorer commitment to study. However, both Math and 

Reading intrinsic motivation are not significantly different in the two groups. 

Then, bullied students experience higher test anxiety, thus indicating greater 

concerns about their own performance and affective response to test 

situations. 

 Linear regression analyses are also carried out to test the predictive 

relationship between bullying victimization and the psychological 

dimensions, controlling for both student’s gender and grade level (Table 4). 

 

Table 4 

Linear regression analyses of academic self-concept, learning motivation and test 

anxiety based on school bullying victimization 

Dependent variables   B SE β R R² (Adjusted) 

 

Academic Self-Concept 

 

Math Self-Concept 
 

-0.10 0.03 -0.06 ** 0.057 0.003 

Math Self-Concept 
(with controls) 

 
-0.13 0.03 -0.08 *** 0.187 0.034 

Gender  Male 0.15 0.02 0.10 *** − − 

Grade (ref: grade 6)                         Grade 7 -0.16 0.03 -0.11 *** − − 

  Grade 8 -0.25 0.03 -0.17 *** − − 

Reading Self-Concept  -0.10 0.03 -0.07 *** 0.070 0.005 

Reading Self-Concept 

(with controls) 

 -0.11 0.03 -0.07 *** 0.194 0.037 

Gender  Male -0.21 0.02 -0.17 *** − − 



Caputo –School Bullying  

 

 

84 

Grade (ref: grade 6)                         Grade 7 -0.10 0.03 -0.08 *** − − 

  

Grade 8 -0.10 0.03 -0.07 *** − − 

 

Learning motivation 

Math Intrinsic 

motivation 

 0.02 0.04 0.01 0.010 0.000 

Math Intrinsic 

motivation (with 

controls) 

 -0.03 0.04 -0.01 0.212 0.044 

Gender     Male 0.23 0.03 0.11 *** − − 

Grade (ref: grade 6)                         Grade 7 -0.25 0.04 -0.12 *** − − 

  Grade 8 -0.43 0.04 -0.21 *** − − 

Reading Intrinsic 

motivation 

 0.00 0.04 0.00 0.001 0.000 

Reading Intrinsic 
motivation (with 

controls) 

 -0.01 0.04 -0.01 0.211 0.044 

Gender                                    Male -0.31 0.04 -0.17 *** − − 

Grade (ref: grade 6)                         Grade 7 -0.22 0.04 -0.11 *** − − 

  Grade 8 -0.27 0.04 -0.14 *** − − 

Extrinsic motivation  0.22 0.03 0.13 *** 0.133 0.017 

Extrinsic motivation 

(with controls) 

 

0.19 0.03 0.11 *** 0.269 0.071 

Gender                                       Male 0.28 0.02 0.20 *** − − 

Grade (ref: grade 6)                         Grade 7 -0.11 0.03 -0.07 *** − − 

  Grade 8 -0.19 0.03 -0.13 *** − − 

Commitment to study  -0.09 0.02 -0.07 *** 0.066 0.040 

Commitment to study 

(with controls) 

 

-0.10 0.02 -0.08 *** 0.197 0.038 

Gender    Male -0.15 0.02 -0.12 *** − − 

Grade (ref: grade 6)                         Grade 7 -0.10 0.02 -0.08 *** − − 

  Grade 8 -0.20 0.02 -0.16 *** − − 



 International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1) 

 

 

85 

 

Test Anxiety 

Test Anxiety  0.16 0.03 0.09 *** 0.093 0.008 

Test Anxiety (with 

controls) 

 

0.19 0.03 0.11 *** 0.244 0.058 

Gender     Male -0.31 0.03 -0.21 *** − − 

Grade (ref: grade 6)                         Grade 7 0.04 0.03 0.03 − − 

  Grade 8 0.15 0.03 0.10 *** − − 

** Significant at 0.01 level;  *** Significant at 0.001 level 

 Regression analyses results show that students’ psychological variables 

are predicted by bullying victimization at school, with the exception of Math 

and Reading intrinsic motivation, thus confirming our previous findings. 

Bullying victimization determines a higher extrinsic learning motivation and 

test anxiety and is also likely to reduce academic self-concept and 

commitment to study. Besides, the causal relationships between bullying and 

academic self-concept (in both Mathematics and Reading), extrinsic 

motivation, commitment to study and test anxiety are valid also controlling 

for students’ gender and grade level, without any relevant change in the 

magnitude of the coefficient on bullying victimization. In more detail, 

looking at the standardized regression coefficients, the strongest predictive 

relationships are detected for extrinsic motivation and test anxiety. 

 The effects of control variables can be summarized as follows: males 

show higher Math self-concept, Math intrinsic motivation and also extrinsic 

motivation; on the contrary, females are characterized by greater Reading 

self-concept, Reading intrinsic motivation, commitment to study and test 

anxiety. In reference to grade level, Math self-concept, Math intrinsic 

motivation, Reading intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and 

commitment to study progressively tend to decrease from grade 6 to 8. 

Reading self-concept is equally lower in both grade 7 and 8 than in grade 6. 



Caputo –School Bullying  

 

 

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Instead, test anxiety is significantly higher in grade 8 compared to other 

grade levels. 

 

Discussion 

 

Bullying victimization seems to be a phenomenon which mostly affects male 

students, consistently with already indicated in previous research (Houbre et 

al, 2006), and is present at the beginning of middle school cycle (Menesini 

& Fonzi, 1997). In this regard, Nishina and Juvonen (2005) found that half 

of students encounter at least one incident of bullying during their first year 

in middle school. It may depend on the difficult transition from elementary 

to middle school, because students loose a bond to their single classroom 

teacher; their class sizes balloon, such that establishing individual 

relationships with subject matter teachers grow more difficult. Besides, the 

pedagogy become more lecture and test-based and less interactive, and more 

time is spent in hallways and other unsupervised places. Thus, the 

opportunities for isolation, alienation, and disengagement increase mightily, 

and any school-based havens from being bullied seem to fall away (Seeley, 

Tombari, Bennett, & Dunkle, 2009). 

 In relation to academic self-concept, results confirm the consistent 

negative correlation with being bullied that has been found in other several 

studies (Houbre et al., 2006; Lodge & Feldman, 2007; Yang et al., 2006; 

Houbre et al., 2010). Bullying victimization seems thus leading to a negative 

self-view regarding the extent that students see themselves as being 

competent in school tasks, probably not depending on specific learning 

subjects since it is detected for both Mathematics and Reading. In this sense, 

it might be linked to other negative psychological effects of bullying that are 

more general, such as low self-esteem, depression and dysfunctional coping 

strategies, which reduce students’ personal sense of power in learning 

process because of the lack of peer reinforcement. However, we do not 



 International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1) 

 

 

87 

exclude that also a low academic self-concept may contribute to being 

victims of bullying behaviors by peers over time.  

 Besides, results show that learning motivation is also affected by bullying 

which determines poorer involvement in school activities and commitment 

to study. In fact, bullied students tend to be more extrinsically-oriented, 

although their intrinsic motivation in Mathematics and Reading is not 

significantly reduced. This probably suggests a relational dynamics 

according to which, independently from their interest or enjoyment in 

specific learning subjects or tasks, bullied students perceive a greater 

external pressure in accomplishing certain school results or outcomes. In this 

sense, they might behave so to get approval and be well accepted by their 

peers (Callaghan & Stephen, 1995; Hawker & Boulton, 2000), because they 

are likely to be more exposed to intimidation and social exclusion. 

 Then, although the relationship between bullying victimization and test 

anxiety is poorly investigated, findings on this theoretical construct seem to 

be consistent with wider scientific literature, according to which bullied 

students are more likely than their peers to report anxiety (Fekkes, Pijpers, & 

Verloove-Vanhorick, 2004; Hawker & Boulton, 2000; Juvonem, Graham, & 

Schuster, 2003). Since test anxiety is triggered by an imbalance between 

perceived capabilities and academic demands, we can hypothesize that for 

bullied students feeling anxious in front of test situation may be mostly 

caused also by lower academic self-concept and commitment to study, thus 

perceiving poorer abilities to accomplish certain tasks. 

 Although the negative impact of bullying victimization persists 

independently on gender and grade level, the effects of these control 

variables show some minor differences. Boys tend to have a worse academic 

self-concept and intrinsic motivation in Reading than girls, for whom these 

dimensions are lower in Mathematics instead. These data reflect the gender 

gap in school achievement suggested by international comparative research 

(OECD, 2010) (according to which girls outperform boys in Reading, whilst 

boys outperform girls in Mathematics), thus remarking the negative impact 



Caputo –School Bullying  

 

 

88 

of bullying on students’ previous learning difficulties. Besides, whilst boys 

are characterized by higher extrinsic motivation and lower commitment to 

study, girls are mostly affected by test anxiety.  It seems to indicate different 

effects of victimization on learning regulation and strategies: boys tend to be 

more external-oriented in order to get approval and look good, differently 

from girls who are likely to internalize negative consequences of bullying 

and to have higher concern about their abilities and performances. Then, 

students coming from grade 8 are the ones which show lower measures 

compared to other grades (poorer academic self-concept and learning 

motivation, and higher test anxiety) thus highlighting worst consequences of 

bullying victimization when it is present (and probably lasts) up to the end of 

middle school cycle. 

 

Conclusions 

 

In sum, the present study confirms most of the research findings on the 

correlates of bullying victimization also in the Italian context, where 

scientific literature on the issue seems to be almost scarce. Being victim of 

peer bullying strongly reduces academic self-concept (both in Mathematics 

and Reading) and commitment to study, whilst tends to increase both 

extrinsic motivation and test anxiety rates, independently from gender and 

grade level. No impact, indeed, is revealed on both Math and Reading 

intrinsic motivation.  

In regard with the implications of this research for anti-bullying 

intervention in the Italian context, we underline the importance of 

recognizing and intervening in school bullying in the early grades of middle 

school cycle, when (as shown by results) bullying episodes seem to occur 

more frequently, also because of higher negative impact that bullying has on 

students at a later time.  

Besides, since it is often difficult to distinguish between bullying and just 

horsing around at this early stage, teacher and administrator training is 



 International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1) 

 

 

89 

needed in how to recognize the difference and how to handle incidents when 

they occur. In relation to this issue, the strong incidence of self-reported 

bullying at 6th grade also suggests the development of transition programs 

so as better to acclimate students to the abrupt and unhelpful shift from 

elementary to middle school in their educational environments and thus to 

prevent peer violence.  

Looking at the specific psychological correlates of bullying in the school 

context, we recommend that schools adopt intentional student engagement 

strategies to create positive learning environments that produce academic 

achievement, in order to overcome the power of victimization to distance 

students from learning. For this purpose, some studies with young adults and 

teachers indicated that challenging academics, school-based extra-curricular 

activities, involved and understanding teachers and coaches, and a focus on 

the future possibilities ensuing from staying in school combined to keep 

victimized children engaged in their education (Seeley, Tombari, Bennett, & 

Dunkle, 2009).  

 Then, since extrinsic motivation and test anxiety are likely to be the main 

dimensions affected by bullying (whilst intrinsic motivation is not), we 

should pay a careful attention to student relationships inside the classroom 

and emotional distress (more than the cognitive one). The key-element 

highlighted by analyses we carried out is, in fact, the tendency of bullied 

students to avoid punishments, deriving from the internalization of the 

negative opinion of classmates and (probably as a consequence) also of 

teachers in evaluative situations. For this reason, we also recommend the use 

of cooperative learning programs, based on a mentoring approach, so that 

students are given opportunities to mentor and lead other students. Bullies 

could thus learn using their power in caring, productive and enriching ways, 

while victim could be allowed to be in a position of strength and feel more 

competent. 

 There are some limitations that need to be acknowledged regarding the 

present study, that may represent interesting recommendations for further 



Caputo –School Bullying  

 

 

90 

investigation. A limitation, that is common to many other studies, concerns 

the specific instrument used to assess bullying victimization. In fact, self-

report measures might underestimate the actual incidence and also variety of 

bullying episodes occurring at school, since students who are bullied might 

deny their status as victims so to avoid stigma and might be afraid to report 

aggressive acts by their peers. Besides, the lack of measures on teacher and 

school support in providing a comfortable environment in which students 

feel free to denounce being bullied, does not allow to differentiate further 

among victims.  

 Another limitation concerns the causal relationship between school 

bullying victimization and the psychological dimensions analyzed. In this 

regard, academic self-concept, learning motivation and test anxiety might 

also be considered as moderating factors that can protect (or not) students 

from becoming victims. In this sense, they might in turn contribute over time 

to being bullied (or not) by peers, supporting a downward spiral which may 

perpetuate victimization. However, longitudinal data would be required to 

disentangle the pattern of these causal effects.   

 Despite these limitations, the specific contribution of the paper is 

manifold. At first, the analysis of psychological correlates of school bullying 

may allow teachers to detect some warning signals (i.e. lower math and 

reading self concept, poorer commitment to study, higher extrinsic 

motivation and test anxiety) which could suggest potential situations of 

victimization among students. This is particularly important when 

considering the underestimation of the phenomenon, mainly due to the 

tendency of bullied students to deny their status as victims because they are 

generally afraid to report peer aggression. In addition, this study highlights 

some interesting information with regard to the potential impact of school 

bullying on students’ characteristics which could contribute to the future 

research. Indeed, our findings provide two relevant key-points which need to 

be further investigated: the lack of correlation between student victimization 

and intrinsic motivation, on the one side; and the different gender patterns 



 International Journal of Educational Psychology, 3(1) 

 

 

91 

with regard to the potential psychological effects of school victimization, on 

the other side. 

 In relation to the first key-point, we found that bullied students tend to be 

scarcely committed in school activities and show poor efforts in learning, 

despite they can be interested in school tasks. This seems to suggest that 

victimization might mostly affect students’ ability to effectively express and 

guide their learning motivation to pursue particular activities, rather than 

students’ motivation in itself. This clue could thus help to differentiate low 

performing or disengaged students from bullied ones. Indeed, as stated by 

Wright and colleagues (2012), some students may get mislabeled as low 

achievers because they do not want to speak up in class for fear of getting 

bullied, while teachers can misinterpret their silence and scarce participation, 

thinking that these students are not motivated to learn.  

 With regard to the second key-point, we found that bullying affects male 

and female students to varying degrees: boys mainly show higher extrinsic 

motivation and lower commitment to study, whilst girls report a greater 

extent of test anxiety. As discussed above, this could relate to different 

regulation strategies in terms of externalization or internalization of 

victimization consequences, according to which boys are more concerned 

about their exposure to the judgment of others while girls are more anxious 

to perform well. In this sense, the two-faceted focus on the learning 

environment or task could suggest different attitudinal and motivational 

dynamics of bullied students, respectively based on affiliation (for boys) or 

achievement (for girls). Anti-bullying interventions should thus take into 

account also these different gender patterns in order to handle the 

maladaptive school functioning resulting from student victimization. 

 

 

 

 



Caputo –School Bullying  

 

 

92 

Notes 
 This project is carried out with EU funding - PON Istruzione 2007-2013 (Valutazione 

Matabel Plus I-3-FSE-2009-2). Besides the author, the M@t.abel evaluation team comprises 

Daniele Vidoni (INVALSI), Gianluca Argentin (Università Milano-Bicocca), Aline Pennisi 

(Ministry of Finance), Giovanni Abbiati (Università degli Studi di Milano). The views 

expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the 

National Institute for the Educational Evaluation of Instruction and Training. 
2
 The basic evaluation design sees schools and teachers within schools enrolling at a math 

training program (called M@t.abel) for the 2009/10 school year. The schools are randomised 

into two groups: one group receives the specialised training beginning in year 2009-10, the 

other group is delayed admission for one year, then released into treatment.  
3
 For the official validation of the questionnaire, see INVALSI (2010). Rapporto tecnico: 

Validazione del Questionario Studente per il Servizio Nazionale di Valutazione [Technical 

Report: Validation of the Student Questionnaire for the National Evaluation Service]. Rome: 

INVALSI. 
 

 

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10.1097/01.chi.0000186401.05465.2c 

 

 

 

Andrea Caputo is Psy D. Candidate at the department of Dynamic and 

Clinical Psychology, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Italy. 

 

Contact Address: Direct correspondence to Andrea Caputo at the 

Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, University of Rome 

“Sapienza”, Via degli Apuli 1, 00185 Roma, Italy.  

E-mail address: caputo.and@libero.it   

  

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mailto:cliang@ntu.edu.tw

