A S A P

 Applying Science. 

Advancing Practice.

The Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway 

in Early Adolescence

The focus of this ASAP is to highlight the early 

findings from a three-year study aimed to examine 

the overlap between bullying and sexual violence 

victimization and perpetration in five middle 

schools in a Midwest state. The first two waves of 

the study have shown that bullying perpetration 

and homophobic teasing were significant 

predictors of sexual harassment perpetration 

over time. While these findings are preliminary, 

they do suggest that homophobic teasing may 

be a component of bullying that may increase 

the potential for sexual harassment later. In 

other words, a bully perpetrator who also used 

homophobic teasing may later turn to sexual 

harassment.

TM

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

Division of Violence Prevention

Key Term

This ASAP is reporting preliminary findings 

of the first two waves in a five wave study. A 

wave simply refers to a point in time where 

the same groups of students were asked the 

same questions to track behaviors and/or 

changes over time. 

Applying Science.

Advancing Practice.

What is ASAP? 

Applying Science. Advancing Practice. (ASAP) 

is a series of informational briefs created 

by CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention 

to help apply scientific knowledge to the 

practice of primary prevention of violence. 

Who is it for? 

This series of ASAPs are written for 

professionals, particularly in youth-serving 

or educational settings who are engaged in 

violence prevention activities. Sharing with 

other community partners is encouraged. 

How will it help? 

ASAP offers specialized, topic-specific 

information necessary for successful, 

sustainable violence prevention efforts. 
Applying Science. Advancing Practice.

Key Terms

Words to describe negative behaviors (bullying, homophobic teasing, and sexual harassment) have often 

been used interchangeably, as if they mean the same 

things. Though these three behaviors overlap conceptually in many ways, in order to respond appropriately it 

is important to understand how each of these behaviors is unique. For the purposes of this study, the behaviors were defined as follows:

Bullying: An act of intentionally inflicting injury or 

discomfort upon another person (through physical 

contact, through words or in other ways) repeatedly 

and over time for the purpose of intimidation and/or 

control.

Homophobic Teasing: Negative attitudes and behaviors directed toward individuals who identify as or are 

perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered.

Sexual Harassment: Includes comments, sexual rumor 

spreading, or groping.

Homophobic teasing in the 

Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway

The Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway is an emerging theory in which bullying perpetration and 

homophobic teasing are thought to be predictive 

of sexual violence perpetration over time. The 

study described in this ASAP is the first step in 

answering the question of whether bullying in 

early adolescence might be a precursor to sexual 

violence perpetration in that the need for control 

and dominance that underlies bullying is transferred to increasingly escalating forms of aggression. This aggression shapes the relationships of 

the developing adolescent. Bullying in the form 

of name-calling and rumor spreading has been 

associated with homophobic teasing, which can 

lead to a climate where adolescent peer groups 

make fun of students who express behaviors that 

are not consistent with their gender. For example, 

boys are expected to be masculine and girls are 

expected to be feminine. When students engage 

in homophobic teasing, sexual violence perpetration may develop. In other words, a bully perpetrator who also uses homophobic teasing may 

turn to sexual violence perpetration as oppositesex attractions develop and when masculine or 

feminine behavior considered socially acceptable 

for their gender is promoted. 

This research is focused on one kind of sexual violence, 

sexual harassment, that does not include forcible acts 

like rape. The findings of this study do not imply that 

bullying leads to rape. It suggests that bullying and 

homophobic teasing are associated with later sexual 

harassment. This association suggests the potential 

for bullying prevention strategies to address sexual 

harassment and homophobic teasing more explicitly.

The Study

Over 1300 diverse, Midwestern middle-school students were given a paper-and-pencil survey in the 

Spring and Fall of 2008. The surveys were given 

in the classroom. Students were asked questions 

in developmentally appropriate ways about their 

own behaviors related to bullying, homophobic 

teasing, and sexual harassment directed toward 

other students. (For example – to capture homophobic teasing students read the following 

sentence: Some kids call each other names like 

homo, gay, lesbo, fag or dyke. How many times in 

the last 30 days did YOU say these words to...” and 

then were asked how often they said these words 

to“...a friend, someone you did not like, someone 

you did not know well, someone you thought was 

gay, and someone you did not think was gay”.) 

The students’ well-being was given the highest 

level of attention. Students were assured that 

participation in the survey was voluntary and they 

were given the option of skipping any questions 

that made them feel uncomfortable. A speciallytrained doctoral-level psychology student was 

present during every survey administration to 

provide immediate support if students needed it. 

If a student needed additional support, referrals 

were given and students were reminded of the 

available school-based resources. 
A S A P

In the study sample, boys and girls admit to bullying behavior at a similar rate; however more boys 

reported making sexual comments and homophobic teasing than girls. Girls in the study did show 

slightly higher rates of spreading sexual rumors.

As seen in Figure 1, bullying at Wave 1 significantly 

predicted sexual harassment at Wave 2 (even after 

controlling for sexual harassment at Wave 1, which 

means that bullying is predictive of sexual harassment over and above a student’s tendency to 

sexually harass and is depicted by a dotted line.). 

Homophobic teasing at Wave 1 was also associated 

with sexual harassment at Wave 2. These findings 

suggest that a pathway may exist starting in early 

middle school where traditional bullying perpetration transforms into more gendered harassment 

and aggressive behavior, in the form of homophobic teasing and sexual harassment. According to 

the Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway, as adolescents 

who perpetrate traditional bullying mature, they 

increase their use of homophobic teasing. It is suggested that as these youth engage in more interactions with opposite sex peers, they are more likely 

to perpetrate sexual violence. The current waves 

of this study confirm a strong association between 

bullying perpetration and subsequent sexual harassment perpetration for both boys and girls. It also 

confirms that homophobic teasing is associated with 

co-occurring bullying perpetration and later sexual 

harassment perpetration. 

The Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway Theory does 

not suggest that all youth who engage in bullying 

behaviors will engage in sexually harassing behaviors. What it does suggest, as demonstrated in 

Figure 2, is that bullying behavior and homophobic 

teasing, if not resolved or redirected, may escalate 

in nature. This escalation may increase the potential 

for sexually harassing behavior. Modifying existing 

or planned bullying prevention strategies to address 

homophobic teasing and sexual harassment may be 

an opportunity for prevention of this form of sexual 

violence. With continued analysis of future waves of 

the study data, we hope to confirm and expand on 

this Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway.

While it is too soon to offer specific recommendations for practice, it is clear that the early findings point toward a closer look at how bullying 

prevention programs can – and should – include 

the issues of sexual harassment and homophobic 

teasing as part of the strategy. 

Figure 1 Figure 2

Sexual 

Harassment

Perpetration

Wave 2

Bullying 

Perpetration 

Wave 1

Homophobic

Teasing 

Perpetration

Wave 1

Sexual 

Harassment

Perpetration

Wave 1

Controlling for:

Bullying 

Behavior

Homophobic

Teasing

Potential for 

Sexual Harassment
A S A P Applying Science. Advancing Practice.

Changing the Dialogue

Although homophobic teasing and bullying are 

not the same thing, addressing homophobic teasing explicitly within a bullying prevention curriculum may be a way to build roadblocks in the 

Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway. 

Building prohibition of homophobic teasing into 

the standard “rules for behavior” between youth 

will provide a foundation for addressing these 

negative behaviors as they come up. Calling 

youths’ attention to the behavior guidelines whenever someone fails to abide by them, including 

homophobic teasing, begins to build accountability 

and empathy. It is up to the adults in the youthserving organizations to create and model a climate 

of respect for all students in the classroom so that 

everyone can learn and enjoy school activities. 

When adults do not intervene to prevent namecalling, bullying or taunting, young people assume 

this behavior is acceptable.

 When working directly with youth...

 If you hear this... You can say this...

 That’s so 

gay!

• What does that mean?

• You think that means “stupid” but it actually refers to a person’s sexual orientation.

• You might be surprised to know that what you said may hurt someone’s feelings.

• How can something have a sexual orientation?

 You throw 

like a girl.

• Are you saying I am a girl?

• Are you implying girls can’t throw?

• People do have different abilities, but that doesn’t mean you need to be so mean.

 You’re such 

a dyke/fag!

• That type of language is not appropriate.

• We don’t use those words here.

For more information about preventing bullying, homophobic teasing, and sexual harassment:

Division of Violence Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/sexualviolence/resources.html

Other related CDC resources:

http://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/youth.htm; 

http://www.cdc.gov/msmhealth/suicide-violence-prevention.htm; 

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/SexualMinorityYouth/ 

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/disparities/pdf/smybackgrounder.pdf 

Non-CDC Related resources:

Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets – http://www.search-institute.org/developmental-assets/lists 

http://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(11)00274-6/abstract

For more information, please contact:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1-800-CDC-INFO • www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention • cdcinfo@cdc.gov