Bullying in the Russian Secondary School: Predictive Analysis of Victimization

Abstract

Background: Bullying has been recognized as an important risk factor for personal development in adolescence. Although numerous studies report high prevalence of bullying in Russian schools, limited research was based on the large-scale, nationally representative analysis, which highlights the lack of findings applicable to the national context.Objective: This study aims to address the following research questions: (1) What is the bullying victimization prevalence in Russian secondary schools? (2) What is the socio-demographic profile of the bullying victims? (3) To what extent do learning outcomes in core subject domains predict bullying? (4) How does psychological climate at school affect the occurrence of bullying? (5) Which emotional states do bullying victims typically display? (6) Which psychosocial traits are the most common for bullying victims?Data and Methods: The study adopts the statistical analysis of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data in Russia. The final sample consists of 6,249 children aged 15 years who answered the bullying questions. K-means clustering approach was adopted to identify schoolchildren who should be classified as bullying victims amongst those who have reported bullying. Logistic regression was used to estimate the probability change of bullying under different psychosocial factors and examine the effect of bullying on the emotional states of the victims.Results: The results of the study reveal that 16% of children are victims of bullying in the Russian secondary school. Bullying is strongly associated with learning outcomes in reading, thus outlining that low performers are at risk of severe victimization. Bullying is also contingent on the psychological climate and tends to develop more frequently in a competitive environment. The findings outline that bullying increases negative feelings such as misery, sadness, and life dissatisfaction amongst its victims, making a substantial footprint on their lives. Logically, bullying victims are less likely to feel happy and joyful. Finally, it was revealed that bullying victims do not tend to share negative attitudes to the per se, which identifies directions for future research in this domain.Implications: Instead of dealing with the consequences of bullying, prevention strategies should aim at facilitating a positive environment at school, thus addressing the problem.

Adolescent Victimization during COVID-19 Lockdowns and Its Influence on Mental Health Problems in Seven Countries: The Mediation Effect of Resilience

“…It is noteworthy that the Russian Federation and India presented the highest prevalence. Regarding the Russian Federation, representative data from the literature showed that 16% of children were victims of bullying in Russian high schools and that victims tended to avoid reporting these situations of aggression [83]. An increase in domestic violence as a result of COVID-19 [84], especially in middle-low-income countries due to significant structural violence [35,36], could explain the prevalence values found in this study.…”

School structure, bullying by teachers, moral disengagement, and students’ aggression: A mediation model

“…The present study is based on the large data set collected in Russian secondary schools. According to the results of several representative surveys, the prevalence of bullying in Russian secondary schools is 13–16% ( Inchley et al, 2020 ; Avanesian et al, 2021 ; Ivaniushina et al, 2021 ). The Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC), a WHO cross-national study, reports that in 2018 rates of bullying in European countries varied from 3 to 29%, with all-country average 10% ( Inchley et al, 2020 ).…”

Динамика Установок Формирования Толерантности В Семье У Представителей Различных Социальных Групп

“…Хотелось бы отметить также следующее. Как можно заметить, это не первая попытка российских ученых учитывать результаты международных исследований, проведенных на большой группе людей (Артёмов, Пинкевич, 2020;Донцов и др., 2019;Avanesian et al, 2021), в том числе Всемирного обзора ценностей.…”