Children’s Bullying Experiences Expressed Through Drawings and Self-Reports

Abstract

Traditionally, studies assessing children’s experiences of bullying and victimization have focused on the use of questionnaires and peer-nominations. The present study aimed to investigate this phenomenon by using two complementary assessment tools, namely self-reported questionnaires and children’s drawings. The sample consisted of 448 boys and girls drawn from the 4th to 6th grade classrooms of ten primary schools in Central Greece. Children were asked to: (a) draw a scene of peer victimization taking place in their school and (b) complete self-reported questionnaires regarding bullying behaviour, victimization and participant roles in bully/victim incidences. Although the results showed that the relation between drawing and self-report measures is not a straightforward one, they do reveal some interesting associations primarily related to gender differences. In other words, it was found that boys outnumbered girls in both bullying behaviour and victimization. Regarding the employed forms of victimization, boys tended to depict themselves in more physical aggression scenes than girls, while girls tended to draw themselves in more verbal victimization scenes than boys.

Thinking patterns, victimisation and bullying among adolescents in a South Australian metropolitan secondary school

“…In general, these results fit a pattern in which boys are seen as more directly overt and extreme in their behaviours. This is consistent with recent research (Andreou & Bonoti, 2010;Kim, Kamphaus, Orpinas, & Kelder, 2010;Von Marees & Petermann, 2010). Again this is an important result because it serves to dispel the anecdotal media reports that girls are becoming increasingly extreme in their violent behaviours (e.g., the lads and ladettes television phenomenon).…”

Being mean: children’s gendered perceptions of peer teasing

“…Similarly, the gender-related results from the present study focus on girls' drawings about teasing regarding relationships and emotions and boys' regarding non-verbal behaviour and ability support. Andreou and Bonoti's (2010) findings of 8-10-year-old girls depict more verbal aggression scenarios, whereas the boys represented more physical bullying. Future research needs to continue this line of inquiry and examine the developmental trajectories in gender-related differences in young children's teasing experiences.…”

Full Issue

“…The development of this scale mirrored work done by other researchers who used drawings to examine constructs such as teasing (Bosacki et al, 2012), school violence (Yurtal & Artut, 2010), and bullying (Andreou & Bonoti, 2009 …”

“…Current research using drawings to capture students' perspectives and understandings of social and psychological constructs appears to favour a focus on negative constructs such as teasing (Bosacki et al, 2012), violence in school (Yurtal & Artut, 2010), and bullying (Andreou & Bonoti, 2009). There is both a lack of empirical investigation of positive constructs such as kindness, certainly from students' perspectives, and an absence of research using drawing as a means of accessing students' views of kindness.…”