New Perspectives in the Examination of School Bullying [1 ed.] 9781614700494, 9781613249314

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Copyright © 2012. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. New Perspectives in the Examination of School Bullying, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Copyright © 2012. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. New Perspectives in the Examination of School Bullying, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2012. ProQuest Ebook

PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTIONS, MOTIVATIONS AND ACTIONS

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NEW PERSPECTIVES IN THE EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL BULLYING

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SOCIAL ISSUES, JUSTICE AND STATUS

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PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTIONS, MOTIVATIONS AND ACTIONS

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NEW PERSPECTIVES IN THE EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL BULLYING

FERENC MARGITICS, ERIKA FIGULA, AND

ZSUZSA PAUWLIK

Nova Science Publishers, Inc. New York

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Copyright © 2012 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic, tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the Publisher. For permission to use material from this book please contact us: Telephone 631-231-7269; Fax 631-231-8175 Web Site: http://www.novapublishers.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Margitics, Ferenc. New perspectives in the examination of school bullying / Ferenc Margitics, Erika Figula, and Zsuzsa Pauwlik. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:  (eBook))

1. Bullying in schools. 2. Aggressiveness in children. 3. School violence. 4. School children-Conduct of life. I. Figula, Erika. II. Pauwlik, Zsuzsa. III. Title. LB3013.3.M277 2011 371.5'8--dc23 2011018648

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York

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CONTENTS vii 

Preface Chapter 1

The Concept of School Bullying

1 

Chapter 2

Prevalence of School Bullying

5 

Chapter 3

Theory of School Bullying

7 

Chapter4

New Perspectives in the Examination of School

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Bullying: Demonstration of School Bullying Questionnaire

13 

Chapter 5

Structure of the School Bullying Behavior

25 

Chapter 6

Factors of Family Socialization and the School Bully

49 

Chapter 7

Temperament, Character, and the School Bully

59 

Chapter 8

Emotions and the School Bully

83 

Chapter 9

Attitudes and the School Bully

109 

Chapter 10

Coping Mechanisms and the School Bully

129 

Chapter 11

Characteristics of the Bully

151 

Chapter 12

Characteristics of the Victim

155 

Chapter 13

Characteristics of the Provocative Victim

159 

Chapter 14

Characteristics of the Bystander

161 

Chapter 15

Characteristics of the Intervening Participant

163 

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vi Chapter 16

Contents Characteristics of the Helper Participant

165  167 

Index

175 

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References

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PREFACE Due to the information deriving from the most various of sources, we are confronted with the fact that regarding all walks of life, aggression, terror, violence, harassment, animosity, hostility, and all forms of social deviancy show increasing tendencies. Individual and communal reactions evoked by different events, presumed or actual realizations, wounds, fears, and several versions of tragedies manifest themselves. All these are getting more closely interwoven into the society, setting problems in more and more countries. The anxious searches for solutions are full of helplessness, uncertainty, fear, and anxiety, which leads to the deterioration of social, community morale, and to indisposition. It is particularly true when the indicated, negative behavior patterns infiltrate into human behavior and personality without being understood. Today, in more and more countries, the analysis of the cause and effect background of the phenomenon, the subject-matter knowledge, the expansion of knowledge, encouraging purposeful action against aggression are becoming political and social aim. Taking notice of social solidarity and responsibility better, the need of the development of national programs, which encourages action, have become an urgent task. It seems to be that this subject matter covertly or overtly addresses the whole society. Our research group established by the Department of Psychology at the College of Nyíregyháza investigates the phenomena of school bullying and harassment. The term ‘school bullying’ covers the behavior where the aggressive act has no obvious cause (non-reactive aggression). We set as an objective to elaborate a measuring tool that renders assistance for the experts in identifying the different types of violent behavior

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viii

Ferenc Margitics, Erika Figula and Zsuzsa Pauwlik

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and conduct patterns in school praxis, as well as in differentiating within these types. Our research focuses on the question that among upper school primary school students and high school students what kind of background factors may stand in the background of aggressive attitude and behavior patterns of school bullying (bully, victim, bystander, intervener participant, and helper participant). During our research, we charted those background factors, which help to understand the process of the development of bully, victim, participant and bystander behavior patterns, as well as they allow the development of the options of efficient mental hygiene.

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Chapter 1

THE CONCEPT OF SCHOOL BULLYING

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The researchers are dealing with the phenomenon of school bullying among children and adolescents for over 30 years. According to Espelage and Swearer (2003), the biggest challenge in the research of school bullying is that whether one can agree on the generally accepted definition of bullying. Since there are several definitions of bullying in the literature: 1. A person is being bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons (Olweus, 1993). 2. A child is being bullied or picked on when another child or group of children say nasty or unpleasant things to him or her. It is also bullying when a child is hit, kicked, threatened, locked in a room, sent nasty notes, when no one ever talks to them. A central element of bullying is the systematic abuse of power (Smith and Sharp, 1994). 3. Bullying is longstanding violence, physical or psychological, conducted by an individual or a group, directed against an individual who is not able to defend him/herself in the actual situation (Roland, 1989). The authors came to an arrangement into the three crucial criterion of bullying: they are the repetition, the harm (injury) and the unequal balance of forces (Révész, 2007). Bullying is defined as a repeated behavior in the literature (including both the verbal and the physical manifestations of aggression), which continuously

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appears in the relationships characterized by unequal dominance and power. In this situation the injured individual is not strong enough to defend himself/herself (Olweus, 1994). Among the experts of this area, Dodge’s theory (1991) of the types of aggression is generally accepted, which includes the categories of proactive and reactive aggression. Proactive or instrumental aggression means that behavior, which trends towards the victim to get the desired effect from him/her (property, power, and social asset). In contrast, reactive aggression is due to an earlier incident, which evoked anger and frustration in the perpetrator. Therefore, the perpetrator looks for a victim, on whom she/he deducts her/his stress. The vast majority of aggressive behavior can be considered to be proactive aggression because the attacker often looks for a victim who can be provoked easily and he/she will do this again and again. Olweus (1993) makes a distinction between direct aggression and indirect aggression, Crick (1995) distinguishes overt aggression from covert aggression. Direct (overt) aggression, which means face-to-face confrontation, includes physical fight (such as pushing, hitting, and kicking) and verbal threatening behavior (such as scoffing and banter). In contrast, indirect (covert or relational) aggression means the involvement of a third person, through which verbal aggression manifests in spreading rumors, mockery. Relational aggression means that aggression type, which intends to destroy the victim’s existing good human relations. In another approach, relations are used of malice prepense through relational aggression. For example, a young, who is characterized by relational aggression, can threaten his/her friend using social exclusion if he/she does not agree with him/her. Students can spread rumors about their close mate as the sign of sanction if the victim does not agree with the majority. At the moment they destroy their companionships with physical aggression or with threatening of it (Crick and Grotpeter, 1996). Berger (cited. Révész, 2007) distinguishes many types of bullying: (1) physical bullying (hitting, punching, and pushing); (2) verbal bullying (mockery, derision, panning); (3) relational or social bullying, which deteriorates the perpetrator and the victim’s social relation (ignoring the classmate, leaving out of the game, spreading rumors, etc…). The latest researches discovered the phenomenon of “cyberbullying”, which means the harassment through the phone and the internet (Smith et al., 2008). In summary, despite the differences the most approaches consist of the idea that school bullying includes both physical and psychological aggression. This can be considered to be a regular, continuous behavior sequence, which is

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The Concept of School Bullying

3

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fanned by an individual or the group of individuals for the acquisition of power, prestige, or other things (Espelage and Swearer, 2003).

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Chapter 2

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PREVALENCE OF SCHOOL BULLYING The prevalence rate of school bullying show large variation depending on what are the influencing factors by the researchers; which period the measurement covers (e.g.: last month, the previous six months, any time in the school years); what is the frequency that can be criterion in connection with bullying (e.g. once / twice in the period, once a month, once a week or more often), which definition is used (e.g. indirect or direct types) (Monks et al., 2009). The research results show (Smith et al., 1999), that the victims of bullying are in minority (approximately 5-20% of the children and the harassers (who injured the others) are usually even less (about 2-20%). Some students are also a harasser and a victim (attacker/victim); their prevalence rate is in connection with school bullying, beyond the above mentioned uncertainty, it changes a lot according to the applied methodology and criteria (Wolke et al., 2000). According to Figula’s (2004) domestic test, in school situations the rate of victims is 26, 1%, the rate of harassers is 12.9°%, the rate of aggressive/victims is 26.5%. In childhood and adolescence, aggression is often described as a stable characteristic. Other researches show that bullying has a different process (Farrington, 1991; Goldstein, 1994; Loeber and Stouthamer-Loeber, 1998). In fact, the increase and peak of bullying can be in the years of adolescence while during the high school years it shows a declining tendency. (Nansel et al., 2001; Pellegrini and Bartini, 2001). With age the incidence tendency of bullying moves from physical aggression toward indirect and covert aggression. There are more boys in the

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Ferenc Margitics, Erika Figula, and Zsuzsa Pauwlik

category of offenders, while among the victims there is balance between the genders. Physical maltreatment is typical of boys, covert and indirect harassment is typical of girls (Olweus, 1993; Smith et al., 1999). According to the researchers of bullying, there is connection between family atmosphere and aggressive behavior. It is likely that those children who find aggressive behavior useful it is typical that conflict is often present in their family, they take part in bullying at home and in aggressive behavior, and they feel that aggression has a functional value to achieve their goals. Surely they learn these behaviors at home and it is likely that the learned things at home are practiced at school by them (Espelage and Swearer, 2003). The role of family in the development of bullying has been examined by several researches. Researchers have found strong links between the aggressive behavior of young people and the lack of family cohesion (Gorman-Smith et al., 1996), inadequate family control (Farrington, 1991), family bullying (Thornberry, 1994), belligerence (Loeber and Dishion, 1983) and poor problem-solving skills (Tolan et al., 1986). Furthermore, the presence of family conflicts and parental problems also show close contact with aggression in childhood (Henggeler et al., 1998). More researchers have revealed connection among parental educational style, family atmosphere and school bullying. For example, according to Olweus’ Scandinavian Youth Research (1980, 1993) he concluded that the violent boys’ families can be often characterized by the lack of coziness, the use of physical bullying within the family and the inability to control extracurricular activities. The above findings in Bowers, Smith, and Binney’s research (1994) were supplemented by that the harassers’ family members have high claim to power. About the families of the victims it turned out that the family is very cohesive and the mother is probably overprotective (Berdondini and Smith, 1996). The researches examining the proactive victim’s family background revealed that the harsh, negative parental behavior is quite common in the proactive victims’ families; the parents are often unable to control their emotions. The proactive boy victims often have close relationship with their mother but their relationship is distant with their father. The proactive girl victims’ mother is rather hostile than overprotective (Révész, 2007).

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Chapter 3

THEORY OF SCHOOL BULLYING Regarding the dynamics of school bullying, several theories have been born over the past few decades. One portion of the theories puts emphasis on personality; the other part puts emphasis on the characteristics of social situation in connection with the explanation of school bullying.

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EVOLUTIONARY THEORY The evolutionary approach of aggressive behavior has only just begun to be investigated by the researches. (Kolbert and Crothers, 2003). The theory recommends that we should consider aggressive behavior at school as any type of aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior in school has advantages and disadvantages too, as in some circumstances the attacker has positive profit (benefit of the assault) (for example, the purchase of material essentials or the protection of subculture), even if it is not beneficial for the victim or the atmosphere. The theory does not protect aggression in any sense because according to the theory, correlation and correctness have evolutionary roots.

ATTACHMENT THEORY Attachment theory assumes that the development of the internal working model of relations influences the quality of the attachment to parents or

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Ferenc Margitics, Erika Figula, and Zsuzsa Pauwlik

careers, and this has an effect on the attachment of the person in his/her subsequent relationships. (Main et al, 1985). Attachment theory assumes that the development of internal working model is relatively continuous. Uncertain attachment can lead to the individual showing more hostile and more aggressive reactions than the expected towards others, so this can easily become bully-like behavior in the course of school bullying.

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SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY Researches on bullying show that there is a connection between family atmosphere and aggressive behavior. It is likely that those children who find aggressive behavior useful, it is typical of them that in their family conflict is/was often present, they take part in bully at home and in aggressive behavior and they assume that aggression has a functional value to achieve the goals. Surely they learn these behaviors at home and it is likely that they play the learnt things in the school. (Espelage and Swearer, 2003). Beyond attachment theory, the effect of family factors, social learning (through observations, imitation of roles, reinforcement) contribute to the development of aggressive behavior (Baldry, 2003).

SOCIO-CULTURAL THEORY Socio-cultural theory concentrates rather on the role of social factors in behavior than to understand individual differences. According to the theory, one should observe aggressive behavior in the systematic environment where it appears. Researches show that aggression is not typical of democratic, authoritarian schools with rigid hierarchy (Roland and Galloway, 2002). It is important to examine that in these schools whether rules against overt aggression or covert rewards are present. Community members can support (directly or indirectly) bully behavior pattern through its approaches (Ireland 1999; Salmivalli et al, 1996). In order to reduce the frequency of the appearance of school bullying, it is important to pay attention to changes in the system (school as organization),

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Theory of School Bullying

9

not to the characteristics of the people living in the given environment (students and teachers). This approach can be used in those schools, where interventions extending the entire school are attained and all members of the organization take part in the fight against school bullying.

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SOCIAL-COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY This theory focuses on the differences of individual development. According to Crick and Dodge’s (1994) social information processing model, aggression is caused by the distorted and different form of the norm processing of information. They believe that in this way aggression is not an appropriate (maladaptive) response of aggression. According to the model, the lack of social abilities within this, primarily the impairment of social problem solving is associated with the development of aggression. Aggressive students during social information processing are more likely to show code problems such as the attribution error of belligerency and the representation level error (for example the interpretation weakness of others’ state of mind). Today, researchers question that whether this model can be applicable to all types of aggression within this, to school bullying. It is well-known that school bullying is the indirect form of aggression such as lie or spreading rumors, which leads to the victim’s exclusion from the group and physical aggression is carefully designed in most cases. It is likely that at least some of the attackers are aware of the social perception of their behavior (Espelage and Swearer, 2003).

CONSCIOUSNESS THEORY Sutton et all. (1999) discuss the approach of lack of social abilities model in connection with school bullying. They emphasize that some attackers understand other people’s behavior well and they use this knowledge in their own interest.

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Ferenc Margitics, Erika Figula, and Zsuzsa Pauwlik

Their arguments are drawn up in connection with consciousness theory. This idea suggests that the individual is able to „identify” others’ and his/her state of mind (Leslie, 1987). Using consciousness theory, Sutton et all. (1999) express their view that some attackers can have/possess consciousness theory because they aim at vulnerable children who tolerate harassment and it is likely that their peers do not stand by them.

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SIMILARITY THEORY Peers play an important role in the children and adolescents’ social behavior. The peer group tends to be important in the child’s personality development in late childhood and early adolescence. During this developmental period, the base of the formation of peer groups is similarity of souls and gender and racial similarity (Cairns and Cairns, 1994; Leung, 1994). Peer groups are liable to show similarity in the different dimensions of behavior. This similarity within the group is called as homophily by the researchers (Berndt, 1982). So far, Espelage and Swearer (2003) have examined the homophily hypothesis in connection with school bullying. They examined high school students in the research, one hand applying the analysis method of social network for the charting of peer social network, on the other hand with hierarchical linear modeling they determined of its extent, how peers influence each other in school bullying. The results support homophily hypothesis in connection with bullying and fighting in the test of sixth and eighth grade students in the one year period. The effect of homophily was stronger in point of verbal aggression than physical aggression. This shows that peers’ influence play more important role in the lower level aggression than in fighting. Simply, peers like to „hang out” with peers who attack as frequent as they do. In addition, the effect of homophily was also strong in case of those students, who make friends with attackers. In the sample the boys seemed to be a little more harmful than the girls. Homophily theory has been confirmed in both groups. These results suggest that prevention efforts should include conversations with students in reference to that how to handle their peers’ pressure, which

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Theory of School Bullying

11

forces them to take part in aggressive events. And it should be discussed how to restrict powerful peer influence. (Espelage and Swearer, 2003).

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DOMINANCE THEORY Early adolescence is the period of the growth of school bullying. Dominance theory gives a possible explanation of this growth. Dominance can be considered to be a relationship, by means of which the individuals on the basis of available material essentials are arranged in hierarchy (Pellegrini and Bartini, 2001). Pellegrini (2002) argues that in the period of transition to high school , students have to reform their dominance relations and they should consider bullying as a conscious strategy by which they have chance to win in the reformed peer group. In an empirical study, which examined the dominance theory of proactive aggression and school bullying, Pellegrini and Long (2002) found that school bullying is more typical of those boys, who use aggression for the transition. This research supports the idea that the boys in the period of high school transition took part more in school bullying than the girls (Pellegrini and Long, 2002).

ATTRACTION THEORY According to attraction theory, the young adolescents need to be detached from the parents and they have to create relationships with their peers, who have similar characteristics. They do so in order to express their independence ( for example this is the cause of delinquency, aggression and disobedience) and they attract less to those, who have characteristics of childhood (such as obedience) (Bukowski et al, 2000). Bukowski et al. (2000) argue that the young adolescents treat the period of transition from primary school to high school that they attract to aggressive peers. In their research they examined 217 transitional age boys and girls and they found that the girls and the boys’ attraction to aggressive peers are increasing in the period of transition to high school.

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Ferenc Margitics, Erika Figula, and Zsuzsa Pauwlik

This increase is greater in case of the girls, which parallel to Pellegrini and Bartini’s research (2001). They found that senior high school girls would gladly be on date with ’dominant boys’, if there was a party. This theory shows together with homophily hypothesis and dominance theory the complex nature of school bullying in adolescence and it highlights that it needs to move beyond descriptive approaches on the boys’ and girls’ school bullying research.

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THE COMBINATION OF INDIVIDUAL AND SITUATIONAL FACTORS The latest theories attempt to bring close to each other the individual differences and situational factors, which can expose antisocial behavior in different environmental conditions. One can only understand harassing behavior from the different research traditions through the combined approaches. These models are originated from the theories of criminology (Farrington, 2006) and from the areas of organization psychology (Einarsen et al, 2003) and they can applicable to school, children’s hospice and fraternal relations. The presence of situational (such as the lack of parental control or the cultures passing by hierarchical, authoritarian democracy) and individual factors (attachment, social learning model, attribution style, the difference of individual characteristics) makes aggression possible and the reinforcements are continuously maintaining it. Reinforcement factors include the victim’s response to harm or the reaction of the organization or the positive output, which is observed by the attacker during harassment (for example, status or material needs).

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Chapter4

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NEW PERSPECTIVES IN THE EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL BULLYING: DEMONSTRATION OF SCHOOL BULLYING QUESTIONNAIRE Our research group established by the Department of Psychology at the College of Nyíregyháza investigates the phenomena of school bullying and harassment. The term ‘school bullying’ covers the behavior where the aggressive act has no obvious cause (non-reactive aggression). We set as an objective to elaborate a measuring tool that renders assistance for the experts in identifying the different types of violent behavior and conduct patterns in school praxis, as well as in differentiating within these types.

DESCRIPTION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE The Questionnaire on School Bullying, with its 70 ‘Hardly ever, Sometimes, Often, Almost always’ options, reveals the phenomena of violence and harassment between pupils in everyday school life in terms of five dimensions. These dimensions are as follows: ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾

Victim Bully Bystander Intervener participant

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Ferenc Margitics, Erika Figula, and Zsuzsa Pauwlik ¾ Helper participant

Except for the scale of Intervener participant, each dimension comprises further subscales. (Chart 1.) Chart 1. Dimensions of the Questionnaire on School Bullying and the subscales of the dimensions Number of items 33 15

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Scales and Subscales of the Questionnaire on School Bullying Victim Scale Cognitive Subscale (apperception and assimilation of the insult) Affective Subscale (emotional effect of the insult) Physical reaction Subscale (bodily reaction to the insult) Shortage of social support Subscale (refusal in the class community) Intervener participant Scale Helper participant Scale Reconciling interposition Subscale Interposition appealing for help Subscale Affective Subscale (inner tension in view of the violence) Bystander Scale Keeping one’s distance Subscale Fear Subscale Bully Scale Physical aggression Subscale Verbal aggression Subscale Exclusion Subscale Positive profit Subscale (benefit of the assault)

12 3 3 3 8 3 2 3 9 6 3 17 4 5 5 3

PSYCHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE ON SCHOOL BULLYING As for the design of the questionnaire, the first –according to research of Olweus- step was to define the three constituents (victim, bully, and bystander) that are measured by the scales.

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For the operational definition of the constituents we conceived statements (68 statements referring to the victim, 53 to the bully and 40 to the bystander). This primary questionnaire comprising 161 statements was tested on a post-primary educational sample of 160 people (80 girls and 80 boys). We checked the distribution of the answers belonging to each statement and the item-remainder correlation of the scales. During the item analysis we only kept the most reliable statements (44 statements referring to the victim, 23 to the bully and 23 to the bystander). The reliability indicators of the final version (scale homogeneity) were tested on a sample of 1365 people (731 girls and 634 boys). The distribution of the sample in terms of school types is as follows: ¾ Post-primary education at elementary schools: 905 people (423 girls and 482 boys) ¾ Secondary schools: 460 people (308 girls and 152 boys)

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The distribution of the sample in terms of places of residence is as follows: ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾

Nyíregyháza: 401 people Budapest: 231 people Small town (population below 20000): 600 people Village (population below 5000): 133 people

During the data processing of the Questionnaire on School Bullying, first we implemented the analysis of the principal constituents in the case of each group of questions. The objective was to identify the principal and the sub-dimensions where the structures of the answers entail the least loss of information, those that can be characterized the most adequately in accordance with the real contents structure, as well as the questions that are of crucial importance in the characterization of each dimension. During this phase, we endeavored to have the greatest total variance (at least 40% should be covered by the model) and to eliminate the questions that: ¾ Depreciate the Cronbach-alpha of the subscale they belong to ¾ Are of lesser importance in the model (communality < 0.25)

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Ferenc Margitics, Erika Figula, and Zsuzsa Pauwlik ¾ Do not favor adequately the distinction of the subscales (We attempted to preserve the questions that exercise at least twice as much influence in one subscale as in any other.).

We only find the subscales applicable to further investigation whose Cronbach-alpha reached 0.7-0,9. The temporal validity of the scales and subscales was examined for a two weeks’ period on a post-primary educational sample of 140 people (70 girls and 70 boys) (Chart 2.).

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Chart 2. Reliability Indices of the Questionnaire on School Bullying Scales and Subscales of the Questionnaire on School Bullying Victim Scale Cognitive Subscale (apperception and assimilation of the insult) Affective Subscale (emotional effect of the insult) Physical reaction Subscale (bodily reaction to the insult) Shortage of social support Subscale (refusal in the class community) Intervener participant Scale Helper participant Scale Reconciling interposition Subscale Interposition appealing for help Subscale Affective Subscale (inner tension in view of the violence) Bystander Scale Keeping one’s distance Subscale Fear Subscale Bully Scale Physical aggression Subscale Verbal aggression Subscale Exclusion Subscale Positive profit Subscale (benefit of the assault)

Cronbach-alfa (n=1365) 0,886 0,879

Test-retest (n=140) 0,83 0,83

0,898

0,84

0,747

0,81

0,823

0,88

0,769 0,743 0,703 0,772

0,79 0,82 0,80 0,81

0,723

0,84

0,722 0,732 0,716 0.796 0,819 0,841 0,765 0,754

0,80 0,81 0,79 0,84 0,86 0,87 0,81 0,80

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Chart 3. Structuring of the Victim Subscales of the Questionnaire on School Bullying on the basis of the Factor Analysis

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Subscales of Victim Scale Cognitive (apperception and assimilation of the insult) Affective (emotional effect of the insult) Physical reaction (bodily reaction to the insult) Shortage of social support (refusal in the class community)

Factor ,866 ,807 ,446 ,496

In the subsequent part of the research in the group of questions – victim, bystander, and bully- factor analyses (varimax rotation) was carried out. In case of victim – question group during the carried out factor analysis, subscales were arranged into one factor (eigenvalue: 2,714), explaining 69% of the variance (Chart 3). In the case of bystander – question group during the carried out factor analysis, subscales were arranged into three factors, explaining 75,4 % of the variance (Chart 4). The first factor (eigenvalue: 2,106), which explained 35, 6 % of the variance, contained the subscales of the intervening participant. Chart 4. Structuring of the Bystander Subscales of the Questionnaire on School Bullying on the basis of the Factor Analysis Subscales of Bystander Scale Intervener participant Reconciling interposition Interposition appealing for help Affective (inner tension in view of the violence) Keeping one’s distance Fear

Factors Factor 1 ,842

Factor 2

Factor 3

,713 ,786 ,548 ,771 ,726

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The second factor (eigenvalue: 1,824), which explained 26, 4 % of the variance, contained the reconciling interposition, the interposition appealing for help and the subscales of affective. The third factor (eigenvalue: 1,153), which explained 13, 4 % of the variance, contained the subscales of fear and keeping one’s distance. The bystander question group was arranged into three main scales: ¾ Intervener Participant Scale equals Intervener Participant Subscale ¾ Reconciling interposition, Interposition appealing for help and affective (inner tension in view of the violence) subscales constitute Helper Participant Scale. ¾ Keeping one’s distance and fear constitute Bystander Scale In case of bully–question group during the carried out factor analysis, subscales were arranged into one factor (eigenvalue: 2,468), explaining 62, 3 % of the variance (Chart 5).

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Chart 5. Structuring of the Bully Subscales of the Questionnaire on School Bullying on the basis of the Factor Analysis Subscales of Bully Scale Physical aggression Verbal aggression Exclusion Positive profit (benefit of the assault)

Factor ,802 ,878 ,643 ,664

So, the appeared factor was called as Bully Scale in the questionnaire. In this way, we got the final numbers of the statements applied in the different groups of questions (33 statements referring to the victim, 17 referring to the bully, 3 referring to the associative interposition, 8 referring to the adjuvant interposition, and 9 referring to the bystander).

STANDARDIZATION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE ON SCHOOL BULLYING The standardization of the questionnaire was implemented in accordance with the different age groups. During the standardization, we examined the following age groups:

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19

11-12 years: 410 individuals (205 girls and 205 boys) 13-14 years: 446 individuals (205 girls and 241 boys) 15-16 years: 259 individuals (153 girls and 106 boys) 17-19 years: 250 individuals (165 girls and 85 boys)

In the 11-12 year old age group, chart 6 shows the standards of the scales and subscales of Questionnaire on School Bullying. Chart 6. The age grade of 11 to 12: Standards Relevant to the individual Scale and Sub-scale of the Questionnaire on School Bullying

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Scales and Subscales of the Questionnaire on School Bullying

Victim Scale Cognitive Subscale (apperception and assimilation of the insult) Affective Subscale (emotional effect of the insult) Physical reaction Subscale (bodily reaction to the insult) Shortage of social support Subscale (refusal in the class community) Intervener participant Scale Helper participant Scale Reconciling interposition Subscale Interposition appealing for help Subscale Affective Subscale (inner tension in view of the violence) Bystander Scale Keeping one’s distance Subscale Fear Subscale Bully Scale Physical aggression Subscale Verbal aggression Subscale Exclusion Subscale Positive profit Subscale (benefit of the assault)

Girls (N=205) Mean Value 16,47 7,24

Standard Deviation 13,72 7,11

Boys (N=205) Mean Value 16,93 7,97

Standard Deviation 13,92 7,17

6,86

6,98

5,60

6,87

0,64

1,59

1,10

1,94

1,82

2,16

2,20

2,43

0,85 9,69 4,24 2,34

1,88 5,12 2,58 1,92

2,52 7,85 3,63 1,71

2,89 5,09 2,58 1,86

3,13

2,29

2,51

2,30

6,41 5,04 1,41 7,72 1,11 2,14 3,72 0,83

5,81 4,69 1,96 7,16 2,09 2,87 3,14 1,69

6,65 5,49 1,20 12,11 1,75 3,84 4,62 1,94

5,36 4,26 2,07 9,36 2,19 3,88 3,73 2,38

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In the 13-14 year old age group, chart 7 shows the standards of the scales and subscales of Questionnaire on School Bullying. Chart 7. The age grade of 13 to 14: Standards Relevant to the individual Scale and Sub-scale of the Questionnaire on School Bullying

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Scales and Subscales of the Questionnaire on School Bullying Victim Scale Cognitive Subscale (apperception and assimilation of the insult) Affective Subscale (emotional effect of the insult) Physical reaction Subscale (bodily reaction to the insult) Shortage of social support Subscale (refusal in the class community) Intervener participant Scale Helper participant Scale Reconciling interposition Subscale Interposition appealing for help Subscale Affective Subscale (inner tension in view of the violence) Bystander Scale Keeping one’s distance Subscale Fear Subscale Bully Scale Physical aggression Subscale Verbal aggression Subscale Exclusion Subscale Positive profit Subscale (benefit of the assault)

Girls (N=205) Mean Value 16,08 6,59

Standard Deviation 13,00 6,77

Boys (N=241) Mean Standard Value Deviation 13,88 12,51 6,64 6,87

7,24

6,96

4,32

5,37

0,64

1,31

0,99

1,75

1,61

2,13

1,92

2,44

0,63 9,76 4,47

1,57 5,06 2,55

2,64 7,53 3,42

2,90 5,01 2,57

1,95

1,94

1,34

1,68

3,34

2,36

2,74

2,34

6,17 4,91 1,30 6,90 0,59 2,28 3,33 0,70

4,38 3,67 1,84 6,14 1,13 2,58 3,35 1,46

5,98 5,12 0,87 9,77 1,61 3,39 3,36 1,50

4,62 3,971,30 1,76 7,98 2,30 3,26 3,34 1,99

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Chart 8. The age grade of 15 to 16: Standards Relevant to the individual Scale and Sub-scale of the Questionnaire on School Bullying

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Scales and Subscales of the Questionnaire on School Bullying

Victim Scale Cognitive Subscale (apperception and assimilation of the insult) Affective Subscale (emotional effect of the insult) Physical reaction Subscale (bodily reaction to the insult) Shortage of social support Subscale (refusal in the class community) Intervener participant Scale Helper participant Scale Reconciling interposition Subscale Interposition appealing for help Subscale Affective Subscale (inner tension in view of the violence) Bystander Scale Keeping one’s distance Subscale Fear Subscale Bully Scale Physical aggression Subscale Verbal aggression Subscale Exclusion Subscale Positive profit Subscale (benefit of the assault)

Girls (N=153) Mean Standard Value Deviation 14,58 11,92 4,85 5,54

Boys (N=106) Mean Standard Value Deviation 11,81 13,02 4,97 6,00

7,52

7,07

3,56

5,83

0,84

1,36

1,17

1,91

1,38

1,87

2,11

2,65

1,16 8,81 3,95 0,93

2,15 5,27 2,78 1,46

3,08 5,88 3,00 0,49

2,95 4,01 2,55 0,92

3,92

2,52

2,37

2,22

5,22 4,32 0,89 7,81 0,79 2,68 3,46 0,91

4,61 3,79 1,62 7,79 2,26 3,48 2,78 1,65

4,79 3,93 0,85 10,87 1,75 3,89 3,53 1,88

4,47 3,65 1,71 8,96 2,53 3,92 3,55 2,29

In the 15-16 year old age group, chart 8 shows the standards of the scales and subscales of Questionnaire on School Bullying. In the 17-19 year old age group, chart 9 shows the standards of the scales and subscales of Questionnaire on School Bullying.

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Chart 9. The age grade of 17 to 19: Standards Relevant to the individual Scale and Sub-scale of the Questionnaire on School Bullying

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Scales and Subscales of the Questionnaire on School Bullying Victim Scale Cognitive Subscale (apperception and assimilation of the insult) Affective Subscale (emotional effect of the insult) Physical reaction Subscale (bodily reaction to the insult) Shortage of social support Subscale (refusal in the class community) Intervener participant Scale Helper participant Scale Reconciling interposition Subscale Interposition appealing for help Subscale Affective Subscale (inner tension in view of the violence) Bystander Scale Keeping one’s distance Subscale Fear Subscale Bully Scale Physical aggression Subscale Verbal aggression Subscale Exclusion Subscale Positive profit Subscale (benefit of the assault)

Girls (N=165) Mean Standard Value Deviation 15,09 15,51 5,04 7,31

Boys (N=85) Mean Value 13,09 6,12

Standard Deviation 15,08 7,93

7,88

7,83

4,16

5,75

1,00

1,94

1,04

2,10

2,01

2,23

1,74

2,31

1,07 8,50 3,60

2,04 4,65 2,59

3,01 6,97 3,67

2,91 4,66 2,76

1,04

1,55

0,66

1,47

3,85

2,54

2,76

2,06

5,37 4,22

4,88 3,73

4,75 4,00

4,83 3,95

1,14 7,36 0,65 2,41 3,50 0,84

1,91 6,92 1,73 2,79 3,51 1,75

0,75 10,41 1,74 4,16 3,16 1,38

1,41 10,29 2,79 3,86 3,47 2,24

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New Perspectives in the Examination of School Bullying

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FIELDS OF APPLICATION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE

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Primarily, the questionnaire can be applied effectively within the frame of school psychological and educational advisory work. Scientific research can be assigned as the other important field of application.

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Chapter 5

STRUCTURE OF THE SCHOOL BULLYING BEHAVIOR

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The aim of this present study is to reveal the structure of the aggressive attitude – and behavior patterns in school practice, the occurrence rate of the bully, the victim, the intervener participant, the helper participant and the bystander behavior patterns among primary and high school students, in particular view of age and gender differences.

METHODOLOGY Participants In the study 1365 (731 girls, 634 boys) primary and high school students took part. The distribution of the sample in terms of school types is as follows: ¾ Post-primary education at elementary schools: 905 people (423 girls and 482 boys) ¾ Secondary schools: 460 people (308 girls and 152 boys)

Measures The Examination of School Bullying

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Ferenc Margitics, Erika Figula, and Zsuzsa Pauwlik The Questionnaire on School Bullying (Figula et al., 2008).

RESULTS The Structure of Behavior Patterns on School Bullying Comparing the scales and subscales of Questionnaire on School Bullying with each other, we calculated the average of values to a given statement within the tested scales and subscales. In school practice we examined the structural characteristics of attitude and behavior patterns in connection with school bullying according to age groups (11-12 year olds, 13-14 year olds, 15-16 year olds, and 17-19 year olds). Within age groups, we examined separately the structural characteristics of the behavior patterns of genders.

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11-12 Year Old Age Group Figure 1 shows the structure of behavior patterns in connection with school bullying in the 11-12 year old age group.

Figure 1. The structure of behavior patterns in connection with school bullying in the 11-12 year old age group.

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The figure shows that there are differences between the girls and the boys in the structure of behavior patterns in connection with school bullying. In this age group helper participant was typical of boys then intervener participant was the next. It was followed by bystander and bully behavior patterns. Victim behavior pattern was the least typical of boys. In case of the girls, from the behavior patterns of school bullying helper participant was the most dominant and it was followed by bystander behavior pattern. Next time there were victim and bully behavior patterns. Intervener participant was the least typical of girls. We also examined the components (subscales) of the behavior patterns (scales) in connection with school bullying in this age group. Figure 2 shows the structure of the components of bully behavior pattern. In this age group there was a difference between the boys and the girls in the structure of bully behavior pattern. The aggressive behavior patterns of the boys were characterized by verbal aggression and willingness for the exclusion of others; it was followed by positive profit (benefit of the assault). Physical aggression was the least typical of them. In case of the girls, the most dominant component of bully behavior pattern was exclusion, which was followed by verbal aggression. Positive profit (benefit of the assault) and physical aggression were not very typical of girls.

Figure 2. The structure of the components of bully behavior pattern in the 11-12 year old age group.

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Figure 3. The structure of the components of victim behavior pattern in the 11-12 year old age group.

Figure 3 shows the structure of the components of victim behavior pattern. In the structure of victim behavior pattern, we do not find significant gender differences. In case of both genders, social support (refusal in the class community) was the main component of becoming a victim, in the case of girls, it was followed by affective behavior pattern (emotional effect of the insult), and in case of the boys it was followed by cognitive behavior pattern (apperception and assimilation of the insult).

Figure 4. The structure of the components of helper participant behavior pattern in the 11-12 year old age group. New Perspectives in the Examination of School Bullying, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2012. ProQuest Ebook

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In the third place we found cognitive behavior pattern (apperception and assimilation of the insult) in case of the girls and affective behavior pattern (emotional effect of the insult) in case of the boys. Physical reaction (bodily reaction to the insult) was the least typical of both genders. Figure 4 shows the structure of the components of helper participant behavior pattern. In this age group, helper participant behavior pattern showed similar structure in case of both genders. In the case of both genders, reconciling interposition was the most typical and it was followed by interposition appealing for help. In this age group, affective behavior pattern (inner tension in view of the violence) was the least typical. Figure 5 shows the structure of the components of bystander behavior pattern.

Figure 5. The structure of the components of bystander behavior pattern in the 11-12 year old age group.

We did not find significant gender differences in the structure of bystander behavior pattern. In case of both genders, bystander behavior pattern was characterized by the effort of keeping one’s distance; it was followed by fear.

13-14 Year Old Age Group Figure 6 shows the structure of behavior patterns in connection with school bullying in the 13-14 year old age group.

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Figure 6. The structure of behavior patterns in connection with school bullying in the 13-14 year old age group.

The figure shows that in the 13-14 year old age group there was not significant change in the structure of the behavior patterns in connection with school bullying compared to the other age group. In this age group, helper participant was also the most typical of boys and it was followed by intervener participant. Finally it was followed by bystander and bully behavior patterns. Victim behavior pattern was the least typical of boys. In case of the girls, from the behavior patterns of school bullying helper participant was also the most dominant in this age group and it was followed by bystander behavior pattern. Next time there were victim and bully behavior patterns. Intervener participant was the least typical of girls. We also examined the components (subscales) of the behavior patterns (scales) in connection with school bullying in this age group. Figure 7 shows the structure of the components of bully behavior pattern. In the 13-14 year old age group there were not significant changes compared to the previous age group in the structure of bully behavior pattern.

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Figure 7. The structure of the components of bully behavior pattern at 13-14 year old age group.

In this age group, similarl to the previous age group, there was a difference between the boys and the girls in the structure of bully behavior pattern. The aggressive behavior patterns of the boys were characterized by verbal aggression and willingness for the exclusion of others; it was followed by positive profit (benefit of the assault).

Figure 8. The structure of the components of victim behavior pattern in the 13-14 year old age group. New Perspectives in the Examination of School Bullying, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2012. ProQuest Ebook

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Physical aggression was the least typical of them. In case of the girls, the most dominant component of bully behavior pattern was exclusion, which was followed by verbal aggression. Positive profit (benefit of the assault) and physical aggression were not very typical of girls. Figure 8 shows the structure of the components of victim behavior pattern. In the 13-14 year old age group, we do not find significant changes in the structure of victim behavior pattern compared to the previous group. In the case of both genders, social support (refusal in the class community) was also the main component of becoming a victim, in case of the girls, it was followed by affective behavior pattern (emotional effect of the insult), and in case of the boys it was followed by cognitive behavior pattern (apperception and assimilation of the insult). In the third place, we found cognitive behavior pattern (apperception and assimilation of the insult) in case of the girls and affective behavior pattern (emotional effect of the insult) in case of the boys. Physical reaction (bodily reaction to the insult) was the least typical of both genders. Figure 9 shows the structure of the components of helper participant behavior pattern.

Figure 9. The structure of the components of helper participant behavior pattern in the 13-14 year old age group.

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In this age group helper participant behavior pattern also showed similar structure in case of both genders. From the components of helper participant in the 13-14 old age group – compared to the previous age group- reconciling interposition was also the most frequent behavior pattern. Contrary to the previous age group, it was followed by affective behavior pattern (inner tension in view of the violence) and finally helper participant came after it (in case of the previous age group, helper participant was the second most typical behavior pattern. Figure 10 shows the structure of the components of bystander behavior pattern.

Figure 10. The structure of the components of bystander behavior pattern in the 13-14 year old age group.

In this age group we did not find significant gender differences in the structure of bystander behavior pattern either. In case of both genderssimilarly to the previous age group- bystander behavior pattern was characterized by the effort of keeping one’s distance; it was followed by fear.

15-16 Year Old Age Group Figure 11 shows the structure of behavior patterns in connection with school bullying in the 15-16 year old age group.

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Figure 11. The structure of behavior patterns in connection with school bullying in the 15-16 year old age group.

In the 15-16 year old age group, the structure of the behavior patterns in connection with school bullying do not show significant changes compared to the previous age group in case of the girls. In this age group we found helper participant the most dominant reaction; it was followed by bystander behavior pattern. Then victim and bully behavior patterns approximately at the same level came after it. In case of the girls, here also intervener participant was the least typical.

Figure 12. The structure of the components of bully behavior pattern in the 15-16 year old age group.

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In the 15-16 year old age group the structure of behavior patterns in connection with school bullying shows changes in case of the boys compared to the previous age group. In case of the boys, the most dominant behavior pattern was intervener participant and it was followed by helper participant. Then bully and bystander behavior patterns came after them. In this age group, victim behavior pattern was also the least typical of boys. Figure 12 shows the structure of the components of bully behavior pattern. In the 15-16 year old age group, there were not significant changes compared to the previous age group in the structure of bully behavior pattern. In this age group similarly to the previous age group there was a difference between the boys and the girls in the structure of bully behavior pattern. The aggressive behavior patterns of the boys were characterized by verbal aggression and willingness for the exclusion of others; it was followed by positive profit (benefit of the assault). Physical aggression was the least typical of them. In case of the girls, the most dominant component of bully behavior pattern was also exclusion, which was followed by verbal aggression. Positive profit (benefit of the assault) and physical aggression were not very typical of girls. Figure 13 shows the structure of the components of victim behavior pattern.

Figure 13. The structure of the components of victim behavior pattern in the 15-16 year old age group.

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In the 15-16 year old age group, changes occurred in the structure of victim behavior pattern compared to the previous age group. From this age, we find significant gender differences in the structure of victim behavior pattern. In case of the girls, affective (emotional effect of the insult) came into the first place, which was followed by social support (refusal in the class community) and cognitive (apperception and assimilation of the insult). Physical reaction (bodily reaction to the insult) was the least typical of girls. In case of the boys, social support (refusal in the class community) was the most dominant component of victim behavior pattern, which was followed by physical reaction (bodily reaction to the insult) and cognitive (apperception and assimilation of the insult). Affective reaction (emotional effect of the insult) was the least typical of boys. Figure 14 shows the structure of the components of helper participant behavior pattern. In this age group, helper participant behavior pattern showed similar structure in case of both genders. In the 15-16 year old age group from the components of helper participant– similarly to the previous age groupreconciling interposition was the most typical behavior pattern. It was followed by affective (inner tension in view of the violence) (in case of the girls it was at the same level with reconciling interposition. Finally, helper participant came after them.

Figure 14. The structure of the components of helper participant behavior pattern in the 15-16 year old age group.

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Figure 15. The structure of the components of bystander behavior pattern in the 15-16 year old age group.

Figure 15 shows the structure of the components of bystander behavior pattern. In this age group, we did not find significant gender differences in the structure of bystander behavior pattern either. In case of both genderssimilarly to the previous age group- bystander behavior pattern was characterized by the effort of keeping one’s distance, it was followed by fear.

17-19 Year Old Age Group Figure 16 shows the structure of behavior patterns in connection with school bullying in the 17-19 year old age group. The figure shows that in the 17-19 year old age group there were not significant changes in the structure of the behavior patterns in connection with school bullying compared to the other age group. In this age group, helper participant was also the most typical of girls and it was followed by bystander behavior pattern. It was followed by victim and bully behavior patterns. Intervener participant was the least typical of the girls. In the case of the boys, intervener participant was also the most dominant in this age group and it was followed by helper participant. Next time there were bystander and bully behavior patterns. Victim behavior pattern was the least typical of boys.

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Figure 16. The structure of behavior patterns in connection with school bullying in the 17-19 year old age group.

Figure 17. The structure of the components of bully behavior pattern in the 17-19 year old age group.

Figure 17 shows the structure of the components of bully behavior pattern. In the 17-19 year old age group, there were not significant changes compared to the previous age group in the structure of bully behavior pattern.

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In this age group -similarl to the previous age group- there was a difference between the boys and the girls in the structure of bully behavior pattern. The aggressive behavior patterns of the boys were characterized by verbal aggression and willingness for the exclusion of others; it was followed by positive profit (benefit of the assault). Physical aggression was the least typical of them. In the case of the girls, the most dominant component of bully behavior pattern was also exclusion, which was followed by verbal aggression. Positive profit (benefit of the assault) and physical aggression were not very typical of girls. Figure 18 shows the structure of the components of victim behavior pattern. In the 17-19 year old age group, changes did not occur in the structure of victim behavior pattern compared to the previous age group. In case of the girls, affective (emotional effect of the insult) stayed at the first place, which was followed approximately equally by social support (refusal in the class community), cognitive reaction (apperception and assimilation of the insult) and physical reaction (bodily reaction to the insult).

Figure 18. The structure of the components of victim behavior pattern in the 17-19 year old age group.

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Figure 19. The structure of the components of helper participant behavior pattern in the 17-19 year old age group.

In the case of the boys, social support (refusal in the class community) was also the most dominant component of victim behavior pattern, which was followed by cognitive reaction (apperception and assimilation of the insult). Physical reaction (bodily reaction to the insult) and affective reaction (emotional effect of the insult) were the least typical of the boys. Figure 19 shows the structure of the components of helper participant behavior pattern. In this age group, helper participant behavior pattern showed similar structure in case of both genders. In the 17-19 year old age group from the components of helper participant – similarly to the previous age groupreconciling interposition was also the most typical behavior pattern of the boys. It was followed by affective reaction (inner tension in view of the violence) behavior pattern in case of the boys. In the case of girls the order was reverse, affective reaction (inner tension in view of the violence) came into the first place, reconciling interposition came after it. In case of both genders, helper participant was the next. Figure 20 shows the structure of the components of bystander behavior pattern. In this age group, we did not find significant gender differences in the structure of bystander behavior pattern either. In case of both genderssimilarly to the previous age group- bystander behavior pattern was characterized by the effort of keeping one’s distance, it was followed by fear.

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Figure 20. The structure of the components of bystander behavior pattern in the 17-19 year old age group.

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Analysis of Gender Differences We also examined in reference to the scales and subscales of the Questionnaire on School Bullying – according to the individual age groupswhether there are significant differences between the genders.

Figure 21. Gender differences in point of bully behavior pattern according to the individual age groups. New Perspectives in the Examination of School Bullying, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2012. ProQuest Ebook

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Ferenc Margitics, Erika Figula, and Zsuzsa Pauwlik

Figure 21 shows gender differences in point of bully behavior pattern according to the individual age groups. Bully behavior pattern in all age groups was significantly more typical of boys than girls. (11-12 year olds: t=5,675, p