Bullies and Victims in Primary Schools

Abstract

This study examines the associations between four types of peerreported bullying and peer-reported victimization (mocking, physical bullying, negative gossip, cyberbullying), and students' ethnicity and academic achievement among sixth-grade Hungarian primary school students. For data analysis, multilevel regression models are used. Based on the analysis of 27 classes, it was found that students' selfdeclared ethnicity is not significantly related to bullying and victimization among students with higher socio-economic status. In some models, however, a significant interaction term between ethnicity and low socio-economic status has been found, showing that among low status students, Roma ethnicity is more strongly associated with bullying and victimization than among high status students. Furthermore, there is no sign of the acting white phenomenon among the students in the study in general and among the Roma students in particular. In contrast, students having higher grades are less likely to be nominated as victims of any form of bullying except for mocking.

Differences in Roma and non-Roma students’ ratings of their peers’ popularity: an inquiry into the oppositional culture in Hungarian schools with the use of a survey experiment

“…Furthermore, our specific results for classrooms with high ethnic diversity speak for a non-linear relationship between the share of Roma in classrooms and the prevalence of an oppositional culture. Thus our results explain why linear approximation between the share of Roma and oppositional culture (Kisfalusi 2018) did not produce significant results.…”

“…Prior empirical research has not verified the existence of an oppositional culture in Hungarian schools. More specifically, Kisfalusi (2018) showed that high academic achievement does not lead to more frequent victimization among Roma students in Hungary. Furthermore, Hajdu et al (2019) found that high-achieving Roma students have more friends and fewer adversaries than their low-achieving Roma peers.…”

“…However, some prior work has investigated different ethnic minorities(Hajdu et al 2019;Kisfalusi 2018;van Tubergen and van Gaans 2016;Çelik 2015). 2 OCT uses the term 'Black' when it refers to the African American population, the latter which is a politically more correct expression than the former.…”

Status Dynamics

“…measures (Kisfalusi, 2018). However, none of these studies found support for the presence of an 'oppositional culture.…”

“…Sijtsema et al, 2009). In the Hungarian school context, Kisfalusi (2018) found that low-SES Roma students were more likely to be the perpetrators of cyberbullying and verbal bullying, and the victims of physical and cyberbullying than low-SES non-Roma students, while there were no ethnic differences in the case of higher SES students. She found an inverted U-shaped relationship between physical and verbal bullying and popularity; up to a certain level of popularity, students were more likely to be nominated as perpetrators.…”