Coping with bullying at school: children's recommended strategies and attitudes to school‐based interventions in England and Japan

Abstract

School bullying in England and ijime in Japan have long but separate research traditions. We focus on a cross-national comparison of secondary school pupils' opinions about coping strategies, bystander intervention, and attitudes towards school-based interventions. One-to-one structured interviews were conducted with 61 Japanese and 60 English pupils aged 12-15 years, in six secondary schools. Coping strategy recommended was found to vary by type of bullying. Seeking help was the most recommended, with significant national differences notably for social exclusion. Victims were thought not to seek help for several reasons, again varying by nationality. There was consensus that bystanders should help victims, but more pupils in England had positive views on school-based interventions than pupils in Japan. Gender differences were small. Findings are discussed in the light of differing peer group structures and actions taken against bullying/ijime in the two countries. Aggr. Behav. 32:570-580, 2006.

Bullying and Cyberbullying in Thailand: A Review

“…Another would be to use the same instrument in two or more countries (preferably after initial qualitative work, to ensure that the instrument is suitable in both cultures) and to compare findings, especially on some categories found to be useful previously, such as ratio of bullies to victims, whether bullies are in the same class as victims, relative importance of social exclusion as a type of bullying. Previous comparisons between Japan and England, and in South Korea, suggest these are important constructs to look at (Kanetsuna & Smith, 2002;Kanetsuna, Smith, & Morita, 2006;Koo et al, 2008;Lee, Smith & Monks, 2011). The one study that compares findings in Thailand and Japan (Musikaphan, 2009) gives insufficient methodological detail, and has a very small Japanese sample.…”

Bullying in South-East Asian Countries: A review

“…In Japan, Kanetsuna and Smith (2002); Kanetsuna, Smith, and Morita (2006) compared ijime (the term closest to bullying in Japanese) and bullying in England. They found some significant differences.…”

Bullying and victimisation in school children: the role of social identity, problem-solving style, and family and school context

“…Clearly this is likely to vary from school to school and probably from region to region with some communities experiencing even higher rates. It is also an international phenomenon (Kanetsuna and Smith 2006). Depression and anxiety have been consistently demonstrated in victims of bullying (Espelage and Swearer 2003;Austin and Joseph 1996;Olweus 1994) and victimisation has been linked to suicide in a number of cases.…”