Bullying as a Social Process: The Role of Group Membership in Students Perception of Bullying and Sense of Safety (original) (raw)
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Using social identity theory (SIT; and social identity development theory (SIDT; Nesdale, 1999) as a framework, this study investigated attitudes towards inter-group bullying at school. Preadolescent boys and girls (n = 314) participated in a study, utilizing the short story technique, in which they were induced to identify with their own school-class, whose social status was manipulated to be high or low. A story was told in which the group engaged in an episode of physical bullying as either the bully group or the victim group. The designed out-group was another class of the same school. Attribution of blame to both the in-group and the outgroup was assessed. Results showed a higher preference for the ingroup when it was the victimized group. Moreover, participants blamed the high status out-group more than any other group. The results are discussed in relation to the literature about bullying and the application of SIT and SIDT to this domain.
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Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2015
In order to enhance efforts to address bullying in schools, and in response to the limited success of school-based anti-bullying programs to date, this paper considers bullying as a group phenomenon and explores theories of group processing that can inform future prevention and intervention efforts. Moving beyond efforts to reduce bullying by enhancing bystander responses, we consider research and theory addressing peer group socialization processes, the role of teachers as an "invisible hand" in structuring peer groups, social interdependence as applied to the design of cooperative learning environments, and collective efficacy. Although these theories are not in themselves developmental, and address group processes that operate across ages, they can inform both future prevention and intervention efforts and applied developmental research that explores the age-related contextual and individual factors that contribute to school bullying.
Bullying as a Group Process: Investigation of Participant Roles in Terms of Social Status and Gender
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The first scientific studies on bullying which is the most common form of aggression among children and adolescents in schools, were started at the beginning of 1970’s by the Norwegian researcher Olweus (Olweus, 1993; 1994). Olweus (1993, p. 9), defined bullying as: “A student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students”. In the literature, researchers generally see bullying as a dyadic relationship between the bully and the victim. However, in recent studies it can be observed that there has been a shift from the approach that focuses on the characteristics of the bully and the victim toward a group process approach (Goossens, Olthof, & Dekker, 2006; Salmivalli, 1999; Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Björkqvist, Österman, & Kaukiainen, 1996; Salmivalli, Lappalainen, & Lagerspetz, 1998; Salmivalli & Voeten, 2004; Smith, 2004; Sutton & Smith, 1999). The first systematic approach addressing bu...
Connections between attitudes, group norms, and behavior in bullying situations
Int J Behav Dev, 2004
We examined the connections between attitudes, group norms, and students' behaviour in bullying situations (bullying others, assisting the bully, reinforcing the bully, defending the victim, or staying outside bullying situations). The participants were 1220 elementary school children (600 girls and 620 boys) from 48 school classes from Grades four, five, and six, i.e., 9-10, 10-11, and 11-12 years of age. Whereas attitudes did predict behaviour at the student level in most cases (although the effects were moderate after controlling for gender), the group norms could be used in explaining variance at the classroom level, especially in the upper grades. The class context (even if not classroom norms specifically) had more effect on girls' than on boys' bullying-related behaviours.
Connections between attitudes, group norms, and behaviour in bullying situations
International Journal of Behavioral Development, 2004
We examined the connections between attitudes, group norms, and students' behaviour in bullying situations (bullying others, assisting the bully, reinforcing the bully, defending the victim, or staying outside bullying situations). The participants were 1220 elementary school children (600 girls and 620 boys) from 48 school classes from Grades four, five, and six, i.e., 9-10, 10-11, and 11-12 years of age. Whereas attitudes did predict behaviour at the student level in most cases (although the effects were moderate after controlling for gender), the group norms could be used in explaining variance at the classroom level, especially in the upper grades. The class context (even if not classroom norms specifically) had more effect on girls' than on boys' bullying-related behaviours.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 1999
The occurrence of bullying, victimization, and aggressive victimization was documented in a sample of 5th graders. Bullies comprised about 14% of the sample, whereas aggressive victims and victims comprised, respectively, 5% and 18%. Bullying and aggressive victimization was positively related to youngsters' emotionality and activity and negatively related to peer popularity. Although proactive and reactive aggression was related to bullying scores within the group of bullies, only proactive aggression was related to within-group popularity for bullies. Having friends and being liked by one's peers were protective factors against victimization, although the latter was more powerful than the former. Suggestions for future research, school policy, and intervention are made. Violence and aggression in schools are problems in many countries around the world (e.g.
The assessment of bullying must include both actors, the doer of the acts of aggression or bully, and the recipient of such acts, or victim, with all personal, social and environmental elements of the subjects involved being taken into account, but also, we must include socioemotional aspects of the group of peers (Sutton and Smith, 1999). This paper is focused on the assessment of aspects regarding the perception of these situations by members of school groups, especially by the participants involved, as well as on the analysis of the socioemotional differences between these behaviours, establishing comparisons between those who are not involved and each of the subgroups affected: bully, victim and bully-victim, through the Bull-S test (Cerezo, 2000). The sample consists of five Primary Education classroom groups, aged between 7 and 13 years; 52.3% of the subjects are boys and 47.7% girls. The results revealed that 34.6% of students were directly involved in bullying situations (43...