Transcript HOW PUPILS COPE WITH BULLYING: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF SUCCESSFUL AND UNSUCCESSFUL

HOW PUPILS COPE WITH
BULLYING:
A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF
SUCCESSFUL AND UNSUCCESSFUL
OUTCOMES
Lorenzo Talamelli1, Peter K Smith1,
Helen Cowie2, Paul Naylor2
and Preeti Chauhan1
1Goldsmiths
College, University of London, and
2University of Surrey Roehampton
Bullying and social exclusion
is widespread during
childhood and adolescence
Some 10-20% of pupils report
being the victims of bullying
at school at some time during
the last 3 to 6 months
Victims of bullying feel socially
anxious, depressed, lonely and
lacking in self-esteem (Hawker
Self-reported victim
& Boulton, 2000)
rates decrease with
age, but there are
some persistent
victims who may be
bullied for years
Coping strategies used by victims vary in
effectiveness
Kochenderfer &
Ladd (1997) longitudinal study
of 5 to 6 year olds
in U.S.
kindergarten
Coping strategies used by victims vary in
effectiveness
Salmivalli,
Karhunen &
Lagerspetz
(1996) - 12-13
year old
Finnish pupils
Coping strategies used by victims vary in
effectiveness
Hodges et al. 1999
Boulton et al. 1999
Victims often do not seek help
Smith and Shu (2000)
found that around 30%
of bullied pupils
remained silent about
their experience
In schools where there was
a formalised system of peer
support, the percentage of
bullied pupils who said that
they did not report the
bullying was only 14%
(Naylor et al., in press)
Sample
•Earlier survey: Naylor & Cowie (51 UK schools with an
established Peer Support System)
•35 school agreed to participate
•264 former victims of bullying (now in Yr 9 and Yr 11)
•264 former non-victims of the same schools were matched
by age and gender (and, where possible, ethnicity)
•Final sample of 413 pupils (204 former V, 209 former NV)
Measures
•Structured interview (face to face, 20-25 minutes)
•Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997)
students’ and teachers’ versions
•Attendance (first 104 sessions)
•Pupil’s liking of school, number and quality of friendships
•Definition of bullying and description of a witnessed incident
•Description of a personal experience of victimization occurred over
the last 2 years
•Knowledge and perceived effectiveness of the Peer Support System in
the school
•General opinions about bullying (reasons, advice to give, possible
actions if witnessed)
Measures
•Structured interview (face to face, 20-25 minutes)
•Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997)
students and teachers versions
•Attendance (first 104 sessions)
•Emotional problems
•Conduct problems
•Hyperactivity
•Peer problems
•Prosocial behaviour
Victim status groups
BOYS
GIRLS
Total
NV-NV
80
95
175
V-NV
64
82
146
V-V
29
29
58
173
206
379
Total
Content Analysis
Types of Bullying
•Direct verbal abuse (128)
•Physical bullying (66)
•General (non-specific) bullying (41)
•Indirect bullying (14)
•Imbalance of power (11)
•Taking belongings (10)
•Social exclusion (8)
•Don’t know/can’t remember (5)
Content Analysis
Coping strategies
•Talk to someone (115)
•Ignore it (73)
•Stick up for yourself (67)
•Avoid, stay away from the bully (42)
•More/different friends (37)
•Fight back (14)
•Different behaviour/attitude (6)
•Conditional (10)
Content Analysis
Reasons for victimisation
•VICTIM-RELATED (81)
–Victim characteristics (43)
–Victim behaviour (26)
–Victim loneliness (12)
•RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BULLY AND VICTIM (37)
•BULLY-RELATED (39)
–Bully emotional gains (19)
–Bully social gains (5)
–Bully physical gains (3)
RESULTS
Comparison of three groups
NV-NV
V-NV
V-V
sign.
Enjoyment of school
2.79
2.79
2.71
X
Liking lessons
1.27
1.29
1.26
X
Liking homework
0.74
0.73
0.69
X
Liking teachers
1.54
1.52
1.64
X
Liking pupils
1.77
1.65
1.47
p<.001
Liking breaktime
1.93
1.88
1.76
p<.006
RESULTS
Significant
interaction:
Comparison of three groups
Female V-Vs
score less
NV-NV
V-NV
V-V
sign.
Friends in school
2.91
2.92
2.72
p<.002
Friends not at school
2.32
2.42
2.38
X
Quality of friendship
13.1
13.0
12.4
X
Attendance (%)
98.6
97.7
94.3
p<.01
Bullying s.o. else (%)
12.0
18.6
34.5
p<.001
Significant
interaction:
RESULTS
Comparison of three groups
V-V Girls differ
from the other two
groups Strengths
NV-NV Boys differ
from the other two
and Difficulties Questionnaire
NV-NV V-NV V-V
sign.
•EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS (self)
2.48
(teacher) 1.30
2.95
1.87
4.40
2.52
p<.0001
p<.001
•CONDUCT PROBLEMS
(self)
1.89
(teacher) 0.90
1.92
1.35
2.24
1.66
X
p<.02
•HYPERACTIVITY
(self)
(teacher)
3.66
2.48
3.86
2.99
4.34
3.80
X
p<.01
•PEER PROBLEMS
(self)
1.41
(teacher) 1.30
1.97
1.78
2.74
2.73
p<.0001
p<.0001
•PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR (self)
7.20
(teacher) 7.12
7.37
6.63
7.66
6.48
X
X
RESULTS
Comparison of two groups
V-NV & V-V
Types of Bullying: No significant differences by victim status
Coping strategies: More V-NV reported talking to someone
about it (p<.01) and getting more/different friends (p<.05)
Reasons for victimisation: Victim-related reasons (especially
characteristics and behaviour) much more frequent than bullyrelated reasons.
NV-NV & V-NV
Hypothetical coping strategies: NV-NV more likely to report that
they would talk to someone (78.9% vs. 68.4%). p<.05
V-NV more likely to report they would ignore it (19.1% vs. 10.5%)
and stick up for themselves (27.2% vs. 17.0%). p<.05
enjoyment of school, attendance, friendship, SDQ
V-V
•Like less other pupils and breaktime
V-NV
•Miss school more often
•Have fewer friends at school
•Have poor quality of friendship
•Score more on Peer Problems and Emotional
Problems (self and teacher rated SDQ)
•Score more on Conduct Problems and
Hyperactivity (teacher rated SDQ)
and one third admit to have bullied others
NV-NV
enjoyment of school, attendance, friendship, SDQ
V-NV •Like less other pupils and breaktime
•Miss school more often
•Have fewer friends at school
•Have poor quality of friendship
•Score more on Peer Problems and Emotional
Problems (self and teacher rated SDQ)
•Score more on Conduct Problems and
Hyperactivity (teacher rated SDQ)
and one third admit to have bullied others
NV-NV
Coping strategies, Reasons
V-V
V-NV
•Less likely to talk to someone
More likely to talk to s.o.
•Don’t try to have
more/different friends
Try to have more/different
friends
•More often try to ignore it
•Often blame themselves for
being bullied
V-NV
•Recommend to talk to s.o.
•Don’t recommend to ignore it
or stick up for themselves
•Often suggest conditional
coping strategies
•Encouragement to tell (with effective
response by the person told)
•Training in assertiveness skills (not
ignoring, or blaming oneself)
•Training in friendship skills
(including peer support schemes)