Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

, Volume 48, Issue 1, pp 225–238 | Cite as

Autism Spectrum Disorder and School Bullying: Who is the Victim? Who is the Perpetrator?

  • Soonjo Hwang
  • Young Shin Kim
  • Yun-Joo Koh
  • Bennett L. Leventhal
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

While a growing number of studies indicate associations between experiences of bullying and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it is not clear what roles comorbid behavioral problems may play. We investigated the experiences of children with ASD as victims and/or perpetrators of bullying. Children with ASD epidemiologically ascertained participated in a cross-sectional study. Although children with ASD showed significantly increased risk for bullying involvement compared to community children, after controlling for comorbid psychopathology and other demographic factors, increased risks for being perpetrators or victim-perpetrators disappeared while risk for being bullied/teased continued to be significantly elevated. This finding will help guide medical, educational and community personnel to effectively identify children with ASD at risk for school bullying and develop interventions.

Keywords

School bullying Autism spectrum disorder DSM-5 Comorbid psychopathology Autism diagnostic observation scale and autism diagnostic interview Behavior assessment system for children 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

Dr. Young Shin Kim had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Funding

Supported by NIMH K01MH079317; NIEHS R01 ES021462; Autism Speaks Pilot Grant; SFARI Pilot Grant; Children’s Brain Research Foundation Research Grant; the Jean Young and Walden W. Shaw Foundation; the Daniel X. and Mary Freedman Foundation; and the Dukyoung Foundation.

Author Contributions

All of the authors participated in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data, and preparation of manuscript.

Supplementary material

10803_2017_3285_MOESM1_ESM.docx (31 kb)
Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 30 KB)

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Soonjo Hwang
    • 1
  • Young Shin Kim
    • 2
    • 3
  • Yun-Joo Koh
    • 4
  • Bennett L. Leventhal
    • 2
    • 3
  1. 1.Department of PsychiatryUniversity of NebraskaOmahaUSA
  2. 2.Department of PsychiatryUniversity of CaliforniaSan FranciscoUSA
  3. 3.Department of PsychiatryYonsei University College of MedicineSeoulSouth Korea
  4. 4.Korea Institute for Children’s Social DevelopmentSeoulSouth Korea

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