Multiple perspectives on the targets and causes of school bullying

Abstract

Clarification of how individuals in different roles perceive the victims and causes of bullying is of great importance to educational research and practice. The present study aimed to investigate the opinions of individuals in different roles (bullies, victims, bystanders, educators) regarding the targets and causes of bullying and to identify differences among various perspectives. A total of 1558 participants from 77 secondary schools in Taiwan responded to the questionnaire, including 537 bystanders, 217 bullies, 213 victims, and 591 educators. Grounded-theory method was employed to analyse the qualitative data. A theoretical model addressing commonalities among the perspectives held by individuals in different roles suggested that at-risk targets, including provocative, vulnerable, and atypical students, had poor interpersonal relationships. The bullies selected their targets based on different motivations, which included having fun, releasing emotions, and achieving status or benefits. The research found differences between the perspectives of educators and those of student participants regarding the causes of school bullying with respect to blaming victims, the intentions of bullies, intolerance of diversity in peer cultures, and the influence of contextual factors. Increasing awareness and minimizing these differences may help efforts to prevent and intervene in bullying.

‘Because I am me': school bullying and the presentation of self in everyday school life

“…Our study reveals that students often tend to explain the bullying they have experienced in terms of themselves as individuals (Tenenbaum et al 2011;Thornberg et al 2013;Wong, Cheng, and Chen 2013;Side and Johnson 2014). This was succinctly put by one student who stated that they were bullied, 'Because I am me.'…”

“…While there have been relatively few studies focussing on students' understandings of their own bullying experiences, these have also suggested that victims of bullying might view themselves as a reason for the bullying (e.g. Wong, Cheng, and Chen 2013;Side and Johnson 2014;Gardella et al 2020), that they sometimes internalise the expressions and views of those doing the bullying and position themselves in similarly negative ways (Thornberg et al 2013), and that they articulate selfblame (Tenenbaum et al 2011;Chen and Chen 2019;Tholander, Lindberg, and Svensson 2020). A recent study of students' perceptions of why they were bullied pointed to the importance of relational dynamics, physical characteristics and non-physical personal characeristics (Gardella et al 2020).…”

School Bullying Behavior among Adolescents in Palestinian Public Schools from their Teachers’ Perspective

“…The study of Wong, Cheng, et al, (2013) investigated the opinions of individuals in different roles (bullies, victims, bystanders, educators) regarding the targets and causes of bullying and to identify differences among various perspectives in Taiwan. A total of 1558 participants responded to the questionnaire.…”

‘Um, I was getting bullied at school because I didn’t believe in god’: one family’s experience of autism, school and home education

“…A major feature of the dynamic of bullying is the power imbalance between the person being bullied and the bully. Often bullies are socially, psychologically or physically more powerful, and the bullying behaviour is motivated by numerous factors that include: establishing their dominance or status; to conform to the norms of the community; pressure to bully from their peers; as an act of revenge; to punish deviants or non-conforming individuals; or, as an emotional release (Wong et al 2013;Thornberg 2010). Bullying itself can manifest in many ways including: physical and verbal bullying; gesture bullying; extortion bullying; exclusion bullying; and cyber bullying (Collins et al 2004).…”

“…Being subjected to bullying has been associated with poorer mental and physical health with victims experiencing a myriad of negative outcomes ranging from stomach aches to low self-esteem and high risk of suicide (Collins et al 2004). The pupils who are more likely to be bullied are those who display differences such as physical differences in appearance, height or weight; a physical or learning disability; speech and language difficulties; sexual orientation; social and emotional differences; displays of behaviour that are considered odd; and, being autistic (Wong et al 2013).…”