Introduction
Bullying belongs to serious socio-pathological phenomena. From year to year, cases of bullying, especially in primary schools but also in secondary schools, are increasing. In practice, however, we sometimes encounter cases in which neither teachers nor parents even suspect that some children are being bullied or are bullying others. School fulfills several functions toward society, and one of them is the educational function. In this spirit, increased attention should be paid to the issue of bullying, especially to its consequences. The longer this socio-pathological phenomenon lasts, the more serious its consequences are.
In Slovakia, several studies have already been carried out that focus on bullying. Likewise, the Štátna školská inšpekcia annually monitors this phenomenon in primary and secondary schools. These studies are aimed primarily at the occurrence of bullying, forms of bullying, the places where bullying most frequently occurs, and also at the position in which students encountered bullying. Experts deal with the causes of bullying and with the personalities of the victim and the aggressor more in the theoretical than in the practical sphere. The participants in bullying, however, are not only the victim and the aggressor, but also witnesses of bullying (spectators). Studies focused specifically on spectators and on examining the reasons for their reactions are absent in Slovakia. In foreign literature, many new and interesting studies on bullying with a focus on the role of spectators have been published. Camilla Forsberg, Robert Thornberg and Marcus Samuelsson published a study titled "Bystanders to Bullying: Fourth- to Seventh-Grade Students’ Perspectives on Their Reactions", whose aim was to examine the reactions of "bystanders" in situations where bullying was occurring and also the reasons that led to those reactions. Another interesting article on this topic (Shame, Empathy, Coping and School Safety of the Bystanders in Situations of Bullying) was published by Gildardo Bautista Hernández, José Ángel Vera Noriega, and Jesús Tánori Quintana. The study aimed to explain how shame, empathy, coping style, and school safety differentiate between defensive and reinforcing bystanders in relation to a hypothetical bullying situation at school. Bystanders can assume a full range of participant roles. They may act as: (1) assistants, who join the bully and begin to intimidate; (2) reinforcers, who provide support to bullies; (3) persons who remain passive bystanders or leave the situation; (4) defenders, who help the victim. According to observational studies, unfortunately bystanders rarely assume the defender role (Forsberg et. al, 2014).
The peer group plays a central role in how individuals react to the aggressive behavior of others. According to participant patterns, bullying in schools may be organized according to various participant roles, including roles of indirectly involved persons: (a) aggressor, (b) victim, (c) assistant, (d) "reinforcer" (e) outsider, and (f) defender. "Assistants" are children who help the "bullies" in their bullying, "reinforcers" provide positive feedback to those who bully (e.g., by laughter or by supporting bullying). "Outsiders" are those who remain passive or do not participate in situations. The researchers emphasized that different participant roles tend to be associated with different levels of social standing. For example, some findings suggest that those who intervene as "defenders" tend to be very popular and have higher social status. "Assistants" and "reinforcers" tend to show high social status or at least medium social status (Strindberg et al., 2019).
Research subject and aim
The subject of the research was to study the social contexts of children’s bullying through qualitative research methods.
The aim was therefore the analysis of the socioeconomic status of the families from which victims of bullying come, also the analysis of the students’ popularity in the class in the position of victim, and determining gender differences in the manifestations of relational aggression. In this research the sample was fairly small and therefore the study could not be comparative, but on the other hand, it made it possible in such a smaller peer group to more easily observe other situations related to bullying, even though they were not the direct subject of the dissertation, such as the role of bystanders in the bullying process.
Participants
The participants were divided into two main groups:
- Student group The sample of respondents consisted of 25 children (11 girls and 14 boys). The average age of the students at the start of the study was 13 years. The students forming the research sample were in the ontogenetic period of puberty.
- Parents of the students Almost all parents were employed. In some cases these were single-parent families, or families with a step-parent.
Research methods
The 10-month research was carried out at a specific primary school through qualitative methods—observation, interview, and questionnaire. Analysis of the collected data was performed using statistical methods.
Questionnaire method
Even before the start of the research and before long-term involvement in the class, I had the students fill in two questionnaires in cooperation with the classroom teacher. The first one focused on determining what children consider bullying, in what form, and where it occurs most often. The students most often considered fights and taking things as bullying, but on the other hand they most frequently encountered verbal attacks. According to the students, bullying occurred most often in class and outside school, and I then adapted my observations accordingly. When asked to whom they would tell them about bullying, parents were the most common answer, while they had the least trust in the classroom teacher. Paradoxically, however, when asked who should handle bullying, the most common response was precisely the option of the classroom teacher. The second and more substantial questionnaire was Thornberg’s questionnaire, which was focused on the personality of the victim and the personality of the aggressor. The aim of this questionnaire was to find out the students’ attitudes as to why, in their opinion, the aggressor bullies and why the victim is bullied. From the results of this questionnaire, it is clear that according to the students in the given class, the victim was most often a student who behaves oddly or strangely, and most often the aggressor bullies because he had an unhappy childhood or comes from a pathological family environment. These findings needed to be verified through long-term observation.
Participant observation
The primary method during field research was long-term participant observation of a group of students, primarily in the school setting. When observing bullying, it is important to realize that it is agonistic behavior, that is, most often dyadic interactions between children, often with dominant, sometimes even aggressive, behavior. It can, however, also occur between two coalitions or between a coalition and an individual.
Most observation took place in a specific class, because students spent most of their time there, including during breaks. Observation also took place in places where they stayed after school. Most often this was the schoolyard and the bus stop. Thanks to long-term observation, it was also possible to capture situations or areas that were not directly the subject of research. This also concerns the role of bystanders and their reactions.
Semi-structured interviews
Another method in the implementation of the field research was the semi-structured interview method. In a situation where sufficient trust allows the respondent to give us the opportunity for more than one interview, the best option is a semi-structured interview. The aim was, through interviews with informants, to obtain information on the socioeconomic status of families and their background. Through interviews, the popularity of individual children in the selected class and their position in the group in the context of popularity was also examined. These were individual interviews with each student separately with the aim of finding out which children are more popular and which are less.
Research findings
Through semi-structured interviews it was found that almost all students came from a medium socioeconomic status background. The exceptions were five students who came from families with a high socioeconomic status and four who came from families with a low socioeconomic status. Two students were bullied and they came from families with a medium socioeconomic status. As far as the influence of socioeconomic status is concerned in the selection of the victim, socioeconomic status (referred to as SES) had no direct impact on victim selection. It did have an impact on popularity. Students with high SES are indeed significantly more popular and are neither victims of bullying nor aggressors. As for students with low SES, it is possible to state that low socioeconomic status does not correlate with the emergence of bullying or the selection of the victim. During the research it was clearly observable that bullying occurred regardless of socioeconomic status because, as already mentioned, the victims came from families with a medium SES. Decisive was popularity. Regarding gender differences in the context of relational aggression, no pronounced differences between genders were observed with respect to the number of manifestations. The difference was only that girls had more intensive manifestations. This means that, unlike boys, they attacked the victim until it reached a state of anxiety or crying. Boys’ manifestations were milder. These were the primary research findings. During observation, however, it was also possible to see several other situations. Since the article focuses on the role of bystanders, I will present findings related to this area. A noteworthy finding was that students with higher SES defended the victim, were more self-confident, and were not afraid to tell the aggressor to stop the act of bullying. This occurred in situations where interaction happened between individuals (victim-aggressor). In the school class in question, however, there were several peer groups. Each group had a certain hierarchy. The aggressors were students who were among the highest positions in the hierarchy. There were cases when such an individual attacked the victim and members of the group took on the role of "reinforcers" (the majority of members). These were manifestations where they responded with laughter or inappropriate comments. There were also "outsiders" in the group, who did not react at all. This fact was observed in the group of boys and in the group of girls. Almost all group members came from a medium SES environment. Students with higher SES reacted differently in conflict situations than those with low SES. These were the cases of the individuals mentioned above. The "defenders" were two girls who were popular in the collective, had excellent grades, and represented the school in various competitions. They also had a higher level of empathy; they dealt with conflict situations calmly and non-violently. There is therefore reason to assume that they had a higher level of social competencies. By contrast, students from (mostly single-parent) families with lower socioeconomic status resolved conflicts impulsively, defended themselves through attacks, and had low levels of empathy. From the data obtained, it can be stated that the majority of all students in the class (not the groups) were in the position of "outsiders." As I said, these students mainly came from families with a medium level of socioeconomic status and medium popularity scores. As a final note, one interesting finding: during the school year, a new student joined the class. Some already knew him, but he was a stranger to some. It was therefore possible to observe the inclusion process. In the context of bystanders, this student took on the role of an "outsider." He tried to join a boys’ group. As its members bullied (actively and passively) one boy, during the inclusion process the new student took the role of a "reinforcer," and on several occasions, relational aggression toward the mentioned victim was also observed in him. The members accepted him into the group. After this "change," his popularity also began to rise, and in the final assessment he belonged to the students with the highest popularity score. In essence, the new student engaged in the bullying process as a "reinforcer" in order to be included in the group and to increase his popularity in the group.
Discussion and conclusion
The research findings did show that students with higher SES, as well as higher popularity, defend victims, but this concerned only two students because the sample was small. Since the role of bystanders is important and studies on bystander effect in the context of bullying are absent in Slovakia, it would be appropriate, in my opinion, to carry out such research with a larger sample. I believe that bystander reactions are also influenced by the level of social competencies, such as resolving conflicts correctly and non-violently, mutually tolerating and accepting different opinions, attitudes, beliefs, races, and social groups, and level of empathy. Therefore, for the future, I would propose conducting studies in this area where the interconnection of social competencies and bystander reactions in the process of bullying would be examined. It would also be worth examining the links with SES, popularity, and similar factors. In such cases, long-term observation combined with interviews would be most suitable. I realize that these methods over a long duration are demanding to implement. In collaboration, for example, with universities, however, I can imagine this as feasible. For example, through thesis topics and subsequent implementation of long-term field research. This proposal also relates to the accessibility of primary and secondary schools in research. Some schools allow students to conduct research; some do not. Such collaboration should be anchored in some way through guidance or recommendations.
As for recommendations for teachers, it would be appropriate during class-teaching hours to discuss this topic and guide students to understand that by remaining passive in the role of bystanders they are also supporting bullying. In practice, I have encountered statements such as "it doesn’t affect me directly, so I won’t handle it," or "I know about it, but it is none of my business." If research were to confirm that students’ level of social competencies has a strong influence on bystander reactions, then during class-teaching hours I would also recommend working on the development of social competencies in interactive ways (various activities, model situations, and so on). It might also be useful to incorporate non-violent communication and peer mediation into these activities.
In legislation, an important document is the Methodical Instruction No. 7/2006-R on prevention and addressing bullying of students in schools and school institutions. In my opinion, it would also be appropriate to further develop the role of bystanders there. As I have mentioned many times, students often do not realize that they are participants in bullying in this position and are often precisely those who can help stop bullying.
In the area of bullying prevention, various preventive programs and preventive activities are also carried out by PZ. It might be interesting, however, to include talks with people who have gone through bullying among such activities. For students, it is one thing to hear theory and another to see a real case and the real emotions of former victims or aggressors.
Bullying among students and, generally, children existed, is present, and will continue to exist. When it lasts a long time, it has negative effects, especially on victims' mental health. Therefore, it is appropriate to prevent it, including by examining a wider scope of possible influences and causes, because new knowledge will bring new possibilities for intervention.
Autorka: Mgr. Veronika Poláková, PhD.
References
Forsberg, C., Samuelsson, M., Thornberg, R., 2014. Bystanders to bullying: Fourth- to seventhgrade students' perspectives on their reactions, 2014, Research Papers in Education, (29), 5, 557-576. Research Papers in Education is available online at informaworld TM: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2013.878375 Strindberg, J., Horton, P., Thornberg, R., 2019. Coolness and social vulnerability: Swedish pupils’ reflections on participant roles in school bullying, Research Papers in Education, 2019 DOI: 10.1080/02671522.2019.1615114