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 & Boulton, 2000)

Self-reported victim 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%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%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

Total 173 206 379

Content AnalysisContent Analysis

Types of BullyingTypes of Bullying•Direct verbal abuse (128)Direct verbal abuse (128)

•Physical bullying (66)Physical bullying (66)

•General (non-specific) bullying (41)General (non-specific) bullying (41)

•Indirect bullying (14)Indirect bullying (14)

•Imbalance of power (11)Imbalance of power (11)

•Taking belongings (10)Taking belongings (10)

•Social exclusion (8)Social exclusion (8)

•Don’t know/can’t remember (5)Don’t know/can’t remember (5)

Content AnalysisContent Analysis

Coping strategiesCoping strategies•Talk to someone (115)Talk to someone (115)

•Ignore it (73)Ignore it (73)

•Stick up for yourself (67)Stick up for yourself (67)

•Avoid, stay away from the bully (42)Avoid, stay away from the bully (42)

•More/different friends (37)More/different friends (37)

•Fight back (14)Fight back (14)

•Different behaviour/attitude (6)Different behaviour/attitude (6)

•Conditional (10)Conditional (10)

Content AnalysisContent Analysis

Reasons for victimisationReasons for victimisation•VICTIM-RELATED (81)VICTIM-RELATED (81)

–Victim characteristics (43)Victim characteristics (43)

–Victim behaviour (26)Victim behaviour (26)

–Victim loneliness (12)Victim loneliness (12)

•RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BULLY AND VICTIM (37)RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BULLY AND VICTIM (37)

•BULLY-RELATED (39)BULLY-RELATED (39)

–Bully emotional gains (19)Bully emotional gains (19)

–Bully social gains (5)Bully social gains (5)

–Bully physical gains (3)Bully physical gains (3)

RESULTSRESULTSComparison 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

RESULTSRESULTSComparison of three groups

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:

Female V-Vs score less

Significant interaction:

Female V-Vs score less

RESULTSRESULTSComparison of three groups

Strengths and Difficulties QuestionnaireStrengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

•EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS (self) 2.48 2.95 4.40 p<.0001 (teacher) 1.30 1.87 2.52 p<.001

•CONDUCT PROBLEMS (self) 1.89 1.92 2.24 X (teacher) 0.90 1.35 1.66 p<.02

•HYPERACTIVITY (self) 3.66 3.86 4.34 X

(teacher) 2.48 2.99 3.80 p<.01

•PEER PROBLEMS (self) 1.41 1.97 2.74 p<.0001 (teacher) 1.30 1.78 2.73 p<.0001

•PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR (self) 7.20 7.37 7.66 X

(teacher) 7.12 6.63 6.48 X

NV-NV V-NV V-V sign.

Significant interaction:

V-V Girls differ from the other two groups

NV-NV Boys differ from the other two

Significant interaction:

V-V Girls differ from the other two groups

NV-NV Boys differ from the other two

RESULTSRESULTSComparison of two groups

V-NV & V-VV-NV & V-V

Types of BullyingTypes of Bullying: No significant differences by victim status

Coping strategiesCoping strategies: More V-NV reported talking to someone about it (p<.01) and getting more/different friends (p<.05)

Reasons for victimisationReasons for victimisation: Victim-related reasons (especially characteristics and behaviour) much more frequent than bully-related reasons.

NV-NV & V-NVNV-NV & V-NV

Hypothetical coping strategiesHypothetical 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

V-V V-NV

NV-NV

•Like less other pupils and breaktimeLike less other pupils and breaktime

•Miss school more oftenMiss school more often

•Have fewer friends at schoolHave fewer friends at school

•Have poor quality of friendshipHave poor quality of friendship

•Score more on Peer Problems and Emotional Score more on Peer Problems and Emotional Problems (self and teacher rated SDQ)Problems (self and teacher rated SDQ)

•Score more on Conduct Problems and Score more on Conduct Problems and Hyperactivity (teacher rated SDQ)Hyperactivity (teacher rated SDQ)

and one third admit to have bullied othersand one third admit to have bullied others

enjoyment of school, attendance, friendship, SDQ

V-NV NV-NV

enjoyment of school, attendance, friendship, SDQ

•Like less other pupils Like less other pupils and breaktimeand breaktime

•Miss school more oftenMiss school more often

•Have fewer friends at schoolHave fewer friends at school

•Have poor quality of friendshipHave poor quality of friendship

•Score more on Peer Problems Score more on Peer Problems and Emotional and Emotional ProblemsProblems (self (self and teacherand teacher rated SDQ) rated SDQ)

•Score more on Score more on Conduct Problems andConduct Problems and Hyperactivity (teacher rated SDQ)Hyperactivity (teacher rated SDQ)

and one third admit to have bullied othersand one third admit to have bullied others

V-V V-NV•Less likely to talk to someoneLess likely to talk to someone

•Don’t try to have Don’t try to have more/different friendsmore/different friends

•More often try to ignore itMore often try to ignore it

•Often blame themselves for Often blame themselves for being bulliedbeing bullied

Coping strategies, Reasons

More likely to talk to s.o.More likely to talk to s.o.

Try to have more/different Try to have more/different

friendsfriends

V-NV•Recommend to talk to s.o.Recommend to talk to s.o.

•Don’t recommend to ignore it Don’t recommend to ignore it or stick up for themselvesor stick up for themselves

•Often suggest conditional Often suggest conditional coping strategiescoping 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)

•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)