Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Bullying in Middle School Youth

ABSTRACT

We examined middle school students' attitudes and perceptions of bullying during their middle school years. Participants were categorized along the bully/victim continuum as bullies, victims, bully-victims, and no-status students based on their self-nomination from a survey that queries students about their experiences with bullying (either as a bully, victim, or both), their observations of bullying, and their attitudes toward bullying. The majority of participants were classified as bullies, victims, and bully-victims as 70% of the participants reported involvement with bullying and/or victimization during their middle school years. Participants' perceptions about bullying and attitudes toward bullying were examined at three points in time. Participants' attitudes toward bullying became more supportive of bullying as students progressed through middle school. Additionally, external attributes for bullying were cited across all four status groups as reasons for involvement in bullying. Implications for prevention and intervention programs that address bullying are discussed.     

Cross-national comparison of children's attitudes towards bully/victim problems in school

Using large-scale survey data from Italy, and England, findings are reported for attitudes to school bullying; specifically the extent to which children expect their teachers, or other children, to intervene in bullying; and the extent to which children either empathise with victims of bullying, or state that they themselves would do something about it. Findings were broadly similar in most respects, in the two countries. Teachers were thought to intervene fairly often, other children more rarely. Most children had sympathetic attitudes and behaviour toward victims of bullying, but a significant minority, including many self-reported bullies, did not. Girls were more empathic to victims than boys, but were not more likely to intervene. The main cultural difference was that older Italian children were more empathic than younger children, with the reverse difference in England. However in both countries, the likelihood of reported intervention was less with older children. The results are discussed in relation to theoretical viewpoints, and practical implications for schools. Aggr. Behav. 23:245–257, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Bullying among Australian school children: reported behavior and attitudes toward victims.

The extent of bullying among Australian school children and attitudes toward victims of bullying were investigated in a survey of Australian school children between the ages of 6 and 16 years (n = 685) and their teachers (n = 32). Approximately 1 child in 10 was subjected to peer group bullying. Boys reported being bullied more often than girls, who tended to be more supportive of victims. With increasing age, there was a slight but significant decline in reported bullying; notably, however, attitudes toward victims became less supportive. Attitudes toward victims were examined in detail by using a reliable and validated 20-item Likert scale. Factor analyses of the children's responses yielded three interpretable factors: a tendency to despise the victims of bullies; general admiration for school bullies; and avowed support for intervention to assist the victim. An understanding of such attitudes is desirable for designing effective intervention programs.     

‘What about bullying?’ An experimental field study to understand students' attitudes towards bullying and victimisation in Italian middle schools

Background: Attitudes towards bullying at school are influential in understanding and preventing bullying behaviour but they should be measured with reference to the particular conditions under which bullying takes place. Aims: To establish how far positive and negative judgments of bullying and victims and blaming of the victim vary according to the gender of observers, gender of bullies and of victims and whether the bullying took place alone or in group. Sample: Participants were 117 students (49 boys and 68 girls), aged 11–12, recruited from a middle school in Italy randomly allocated to one of four independent groups according to experimental condition: bullying alone among girls, bullying alone among boys, bullying in groups among girls, bullying in groups among boys. Method: Participants watched one of four versions of a video according to experimental condition showing a brief standardized bullying episode taking place at a school; they then had to fill in a self‐report questionnaire measuring the dependent variables: respondents' positive or negative judgments towards the bully and the victim shown in the video and how far the victim was blamed for what had happened. Results: Overall, results indicate students have positive attitudes towards the victims of bullying and tend not to blame them for what has happened. However, same gender identification lead girls to blame male victims more than female victims and the reverse applies in case of boys providing their judgments. A bully acting alone is considered stronger and braver than when acting in a group. Conclusions: The limits and potential of the study are presented with special attention to implications for intervention strategies in school by focusing on the role observers could play in supporting the victims and discouraging the bullies.     

中国与英国儿童对待欺负问题态度的比较研究

采用修订的Olweus欺负问卷,对中国和英国近万名(中国8937名,英国1035名)中小学儿童对待欺负的态度进行调查。结果发现:(1)中国儿童对待欺负的态度比英国儿童积极。(2)儿童对待欺负问题的态度存在性别和年龄差异。女孩比男孩对待欺负的态度较积极;小学儿童对待欺负的态度比初中儿童积极。(3)儿童在欺负/受欺负关系中的角色与其对待欺负问题的态度有联系。未参与者对欺负的态度最积极,其次是受欺负者、欺负/受欺负者,而欺负者对待欺负的态度最消极;(4)儿童对受欺负者的同情多,而去帮助受欺负者的行为倾向少。     

Supportive school climate and student willingness to seek help for bullying and threats of violence

This study investigated the relations between student perceptions of support and student willingness to seek help for bullying and threats of violence in a sample of 7318 ninth-grade students from 291 high schools who participated in the Virginia High School Safety Study. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that students who perceived their teachers and other school staff to be supportive were more likely to endorse positive attitudes toward seeking help for bullying and threats of violence. In schools with more perceived support, there was less of a discrepancy in help-seeking attitudes between girls and boys. Findings suggest that efforts by school staff to provide a supportive climate are a potentially valuable strategy for engaging students in the prevention of bullying and threats of violence.     

Teachers Matter: An Examination of Student-Teacher Relationships,Attitudes Toward Bullying,and Bullying Behavior

This study investigated the influence of student-teacher relationships and attitudes toward bullying on middle school students' bullying behaviors. Gender and grade differences were also examined. Data were collected from 435 middle school students. Results indicated that students' attitudes toward bullying mediated the relationship between student-teacher relationships and physical and verbal/relational bullying. There was a significant group difference on student-teacher relationships and attitudes toward bullying between bully, bully-victim, victim, and bystander groups and students not involved in bullying. In addition, sixth graders reported significantly more positive student-teacher relationships than seventh and eighth graders. Implications for the role of both cognitive and behavioral bullying intervention and prevention efforts are discussed.     

Bullying and its association with altruism toward victims,blaming the victims,and classroom prevalence of bystander behaviors: a multilevel analysis

With reference to social-ecological, self-determination, attributional, and social cognitive theories, the current study examined whether gender, age, altruistic motivation to defend victims, and tendency to blame the victims, at the individual level, and the prevalence of reinforcing and defending, at the classroom level, were associated with bullying. A sample of 901 Swedish students (9–13 years old, M?=?11.00, SD?=?.83) from 43 classrooms filled out a questionnaire. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that the perpetration of bullying was positively associated with the prevalence of reinforcing at the classroom level and blaming the victims at the individual level, whereas it was negatively associated with altruistic motivation to defend victims of bullying at the individual level. Furthermore, students with high altruistic motivation to defend victims of bullying were less inclined to bully, independent of the classroom level of reinforcing. The current study suggests that bullying prevention and intervention programs should: explicitly target bystander behaviors, in particular to reduce the prevalence of reinforcing bullying; include efforts to strengthen altruistic self-concept and motivation to defend victims; and prevent, challenge, and counteract tendencies among students to blame the victim.     

A Comparison of Personal Project Motives in Three Age Groups

This study examined the extent to which adolescents systematically perceive a discrepancy between private and group norms about the acceptability of bullying and examined the association between norm estimation and actual bystander behavior. Ninety-one 8th graders (42 male and 49 female) described their personal attitudes about bullies and victims as well as their perceptions of their classmates' attitudes. Teachers rated adolescents' participant roles during bullying episodes at school. Results provided support for the premise that teens systematically perceive their peers to hold less prosocial views (e.g., to be more tolerant of bullies, less empathic toward victims, and less inclined to believe they have a responsibility to protect victims) than they themselves do. This tendency to perceive oneself as “out of step” with the group (i.e., pluralistic ignorance) was particularly salient among girls. In addition, there was a significant association between perceived self–other discrepancy in attitudes toward bullying and adolescents' actual bystander behavior when confronted by peer harassment. The more students viewed themselves as out-of-step with group norms about bullying, the higher their teacher-rated scores on passive bystander behavior. Potential implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.     

Bullying behaviors in female and male adolescent offenders: prevalence,types, and association with psychosocial adjustment

Despite the surge of research on bullying, few studies have examined bullying in young offenders, particularly female young offenders. This study investigated the prevalence, types, and correlates of bullying behaviors in 193 male and 50 female incarcerated adolescents from nine young offender facilities. Overall, 37% of participants identified themselves as bully‐victims, 32% as pure bullies, 23% as not involved, and 8% as pure victims. In comparison to males, females were more likely to report being involved with bullying in some capacity, particularly as pure victims, and being bullied by sexual touching and comments. Pure victims reported higher rates of psychological distress and suicidal behaviors than those youth not involved in bullying, and pure bullies were more likely to have been previously incarcerated and affiliated with a gang. Bully‐victims reported the highest rates of previous abuse, peer victimization in the community, drug use, and suicide attempts while in custody. All groups, including pure victims, reported high rates of bullying others in the community. Treatment providers should recognize that offenders who are victims are often bullies as well, and be alert to broad mental health needs among victims and bully‐victims. Given the prevalence and potential serious consequences of bullying, the development of anti‐bullying policies appears to be an important step in recognizing and reducing bullying. Aggr. Behav. 00:1–16, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Descriptive analysis of the nature and extent of bullying behavior in a maximum‐security prison

This aim of this study was to investigate the nature and extent of direct and indirect bullying in a maximum‐security prison and to assess prisoners' attitudes toward victims of bullying. A total of 194 adult male prisoners completed the Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behavior Checklist (DIPC) [Ireland (1998): University of Central Lancashire; Ireland (1999a): Aggressive Behavior] and a modified version of the Rigby and Slee [1991: J Social Psychol 131:615–627] provictim scale. The results showed that more than half of the prisoners sampled had been bullied in the past week. Only a small number of prisoners could be classified as either a pure bully or a pure victim, with almost half classified as both a bully and a victim. The most frequent types of bullying used were psychological/verbal and indirect forms. No significant differences were found between pure bullies, bully/victims, pure victims, and the not involved groups' attitudes toward the victims of bullying. These findings hold implications for anti‐bullying programs that fail to fully consider the prevalence of indirect forms of bullying and that an individual can be both a bully and a victim. Aggr. Behav. 26:213–223, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Justifications for bullying among Japanese schoolchildren

The present research investigated the justifications for bullying as a function of the various roles that children assume in bullying. Contrary to expectations, most children judged bullying to be right or at least permitted regardless of their role in the episode. However, children with different types of involvement in bullying showed different justification strategies. In particular, bullies were more likely to blame the victims than were children assuming other roles. Gender differences were found in the justifications provided. Boys were more likely to blame the victims, whereas girls were more likely to engage in denial of injury. These results support the notion that justifications for bullying function to sustain bullying.     

Peer and teacher bullying/victimization of South Australian secondary school students: Prevalence and psychosocial profiles

This study examined the nature and prevalence of bullying/victimization by peers and teachers reported by 1,284 students (mean age = 15.2 years) drawn from a representative sample of 25 South Australian government and private schools. Students completed a self‐report survey containing questions relating to teacher and peer‐related bullying, measures of psychosocial adjustment, and personality. The results showed that students could be clearly differentiated according to the type of victimization they had experienced. Students reporting peer victimization typically showed high levels of social alienation, poorer psychological functioning, and poorer self‐esteem and self‐image. By contrast, victims of teacher victimization were more likely to be rated as less able academically, had less intention to complete school and were more likely to be engaged in high‐risk behaviours such as gambling, drug use and under‐age drinking. Most bullying was found to occur at school rather than outside school and involved verbal aggression rather than physical harm. Boys were significantly more likely to be bullied than girls, with the highest rates being observed amongst boys attending single‐sex government schools. Girls were more likely to be subject to bullying if they attended coeducational private schools. The implications of this work for enhancing school‐retention rates and addressing psychological distress amongst adolescent students are discussed.     

Attitudes toward women and their work roles: Effects of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations

This study examined the effects of personal religious orientation, religious denomination, and gender on attitudes toward women and their work roles using a sample of 263 single undergraduate university students. Subjects with a high intrinsic religious orientation put significantly more emphasis on family than career in their anticipated general lifestyle relative to those with a low intrinsic religious orientation. Subjects with a high intrinsic religious orientation were also more likely to anticipate the female spouse spending less time in a profession during the children's early years. Males showed more traditional attitudes toward women than females, but there were no gender effects on measures of preferred general lifestyle, preferred child-care distribution, or preferred career involvement for the wife. Subjects belonging to mainline and conservative denomination did not differ significantly in their attitudes toward women or their work roles.     

Cyber Bullying Among Teenagers in Israel: An Examination of Cyber Bullying,Traditional Bullying,and Socioemotional Functioning

In this study, the relationships between cyber bullying and involvement in traditional bullying, with reference to social support and gender differences, was examined. Social support plays an important role in empowering victims of cyber bullying and has a significant influence on children and teenagers’ well-being. A sample made up of 458 Israeli junior high students (242 female, 216 male) in the age range of 11 to 13 completed 4 questionnaires. Results indicated that there is an overlap between involvement in cyber bullying and involvement in traditional bullying. The findings indicate that girls were more likely to be cyber victims than boys and that boys were more likely to be cyber bullies than girls. Examination of the relationships between gender and social support variables such as friends, family, and others, shows that girls who were cyber victims reported having more support in all 3 types than cyber bullied boys. These findings can serve as a basis for prevention and intervention programs to cope with cyber bullying.     

The Effect of Victims' Social Support on Attributions of Blame in Female and Male Rape

The effects of perceived social support of the victim, victim gender, and participant gender on attributions of blame in rape were examined. The impact of attitudes toward gender roles was also investigated for their mediational role between participant gender and blame. Participants ( N= 121) read a report of an incident of rape and evaluated the victim and the perpetrator. Two ANOVAs showed that social support and participant gender influenced blame attributed to the victim, while victim gender influenced blame attributed to the perpetrator. Socially supported victims were blamed less than were unsupported victims. Men were more blaming of rape victims than were women, but further analyses showed this was mediated by attitudes toward gender roles. Men held significantly more traditional attitudes toward gender roles than did women, and this accounted for the effect of participant gender on victim perceptions. The perpetrator of male rape was blamed less than the perpetrator of female rape. Findings are discussed in terms of the differential attributional mechanisms that may underpin men's and women's reasoning about different types of rape.     

PSYCHOTHERAPISTS'KNOWLEDGE ABOUT AND ATTITUDES TOWARD SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIM CLIENTS

The present research investigated the question of how therapists'attitudes toward sexual assault victims predict their inferences about and treatment of clients. In addition, this study asked the following questions: (a) What percentage of female psychotherapy clients have been victims of sexual assault? (b) What treatment approaches are therapists using with victims and what attitudes toward victims do these therapists hold? (c) On the average, which demographic groups of therapists hold the most positive views of victims and are the most knowledgeable about working with victims? The results of the study indicated that therapists who held negative attitudes toward victims were more likely to endorse victim-blaming themes and therapeutic treatments which blame victims for sexual assault. Of therapists'current female clients, 18.5% ( n = 257) had been sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. On the average, therapists were knowledgeable about working with victims and showed positive attitudes toward victims.     

Conflict escalation and coping with workplace bullying: A replication and extension

Bullying or mobbing is used for systematically harassing a person for a long time. In the context of stress theory, bullying is a severe form of social stressors at work, whereas in terms of conflict theory, bullying signifies an unsolved social conflict having reached a high level of escalation and an increased imbalance of power. Based on a qualitative study with 20 semi-structured interviews with victims of bullying and a quantitative questionnaire study with a total of 149 victims of bullying and a control group (N = 81), it was investigated whether bullying victims use specific conflict management strategies more often compared with individuals who are not bullied, and whether coping strategies used by successful copers with bullying differ from those of the unsuccessful copers. Successful copers were those victims who believe that their situation at work has improved again as a result of their coping efforts. The qualitative data showed that most victims started with constructive conflict-solving strategies, changed their strategies several times, and finally tried to leave the organization. In the interviews, the victims of bullying most often recommended others in the same situation to leave the organization and to seek social support. They more often showed conflict avoidance in the quantitative study. Successful victims fought back with similar means less often, and less often used negative behaviour such as frequent absenteeism. Moreover, they obviously were better at recognizing and avoiding escalating behaviour, whereas in their fight for justice, the unsuccessful victims often contributed to the escalation of the bullying conflict.