Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

McKinney, Clifford

Committee Member

Sinclair, H

Committee Member

May, David

Committee Member

Stafford, Emily

Committee Member

Stafford, Ty

Date of Degree

8-7-2025

Original embargo terms

Visible MSU Only 1 year

Document Type

Dissertation - Campus Access Only

Major

Applied Psychology

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Approximately 20% of American children and adolescents report being victims of bullying each year (Irwin et al., 2022). Bullying victimization is linked to serious behavioral and psychological outcomes, like depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide (e.g., Chou et al., 2020; John et al., 2018; Mulder et al., 2017; Schoeler et al., 2018). Despite these sobering data, misconceptions continue to portray bullying as a normal part of growing up, that it is trivial in nature, and that some kids deserve to be bullied (Dawes et al., 2022; Kulig et al., 2008). This study tested the validity and efficacy of the Bullying Myths Scale including five subscales of different types of misconceptions, using participant responses to a bullying scenario. Bullying myth endorsement was associated with reductions in the perceived severity of the scenario, a perceived need to report the incident in the scenario to an authority figure, and a perceived need for someone to intervene in the incident. This minimization was especially evident for relational bullying scenarios as compared to physical bullying scenarios. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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