Date of Award

10-19-2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Criminal Justice

First Advisor

Tusty ten Bensel

Abstract

Bullying victimization has been found to lead to several detrimental effects including depression, anxiety, poor academic achievement, and, in extreme cases, suicidal tendencies. One consequence that has not been studied as extensively is school avoidance. School avoidance can lead to further emotional problems and school dropout, therefore, addressing ways to deter this problem is imperative for future research. The purpose of this dissertation was to identify correlates of school avoidance in addition to understanding the moderating relationship of bullying victimization and social capital on school avoidance. It was expected that social capital would serve as a buffer to bullying victimization, which in turn would reduce school avoidance. The results revealed that a number of factors were significantly associated with school avoidance which included perceived motives of bullying, negative effects of bullying, bullying victimization, fear of victimization, future achievement, neighborhood/school attendance, Hispanic origin, and age. However, a null relationship was found between the interaction term and school avoidance, therefore implying that social capital was not found to be safeguard against school avoidance. The results of this dissertation highlighted a number of theoretical and practical implications for future research. Given that bullying victimization and school avoidance can lead to deleterious consequences, there is a strong need for bullying intervention programs and alternative coping mechanisms to school avoidance to be established within the school and home environment.

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