Literature Review – Factors Leading To Bullying Among School Students

Introduction

The incidents of bullying at the school level are increasing at an alarming rate. (Rivers, 2001)  Bullying has been defined as the act which includes the act of hurting the other person using actions, not words that are done purposely to embrace the victim. (Hymel & Swearer, 2015)The victim of bullying feels terrible as a result and has no control on stopping the occurrence of such acts. It is often a result of an imbalance of power, hostile intent, distress and provocation. (Rivers, 2004)

The following report is based on the topic of Factors leading to bullying among school students. The literature review is conducted based on analyses the concept of bullying; the factors that result in such actions and also to identify the harmful impact bullying have on the psychological development of the students at the school level.

Literature-Map

Theory and Definitions

The Theory of Planned Behavior

We all know how important raising awareness and preventing cyberbullying is. So a theory by the ‘European Journal of developmental psychology’ has come up with a method of planned behaviour to understand the complications of Cyberbullying. The theory proposes that a person’s intention is a reflection of their behaviour. And that intention is determined by three belief-based concepts: Attitude, Subjective norm and perceived behavioural control (PBC). Attitude refers to the person’s general judgment of behaviour. The subjective norm refers to what others think of the behaviour, and the PBC is referred to as the difficulty of executing that action. As a general rule, the more commendatory the attitude and the subjective norm is, the higher the PBC. The main goal of this research it to find out which factor (behavioural, normative and control beliefs) are the best predictors of attitude, subjective norm and PBC considering cyberbullying. (Pabian, 2014).

Bullying

Bullying is referred to as an intentional act or use of words conducted by the person to harm the other person. The victim in the act of bullying is often powerless and has no control over the situation, which results in more psychological harm than the physical harm to the person. (Hines, 2007)  There is no universal definition that is present in the literature concerning school bullying. However, it is agreed in the literature to be an act or behaviour that is aggressive and have the three elements present in it that include, hostile intent, imbalance of power and also the repetition of the act over some time. (Goldsmith& Howie, 2014) The act of bullying results in the distress of the victim and also provocation from the part of the person bullying effects in harming the victim.

International Research

Factors resulting in Bullying

Several reasons can cause bullying in school. The authors and researchers in the literature have agreed to the underlying causes of the violence and bullying act at school being the social norms, the gender and also the issues in the structural and contextual factors. (UNESCO, 2017)

One of the major causes behind the bullying at school level also includes the gender norms which shaped the societal norms where male are considered to be superior to the women. This perception of norms creates violence in many cultures, where male students pre-dominate female students. The male students at school feel they are of control and can dominate and bully the female students at school. (Napolitano, 2008)

At times the attributed of the school also results in bullying activities among the students. As per the research conducted by Thornburg and Knutson (2010), it is the school management and the culture of the school that at times, promote or give rise to bullying. Such type of bullying has been termed as school dependent bullying, where the environment of the school gives rise to bullying. The authors think that the school management and the school staff needs to play a vital role in ensuring that such an incidence of bullying at school level is restricted.

Another similar research was conducted by Rivers, Poteat, Neon & Ashurust (2009) where the research was conducted to identify the mental health issues that are related to the bullying at school. The researcher found out in their research that the mental health issues were not only reported in the students who have experienced bullying or rather are the victims of bullying, but also the students who witnessed bullying at school developed mental health issues. The primary psychological problems identified by the researcher include distress, low performance at school and lack of confidence and motivation towards going to school.

Consequences of Bullying at School

There have been several researches conducted to find out the negative impacts of bullying among the students in school and their physical and psychological development. According to the research conducted by Gruber (2007), there are several negative impacts among the students who are bullied at the school level, especially the mid-school level. The author conducted research to identify the effects of bullying and sexual harassment, particularly among female students at school. The researcher found out that the negative impacts include low self-esteem, physical and mental health issues, symptoms related to trauma, little satisfaction from life and also the substance of abuse. The aftermaths of bullying and sexual harassment at the school level are observed in students throughout their life. (Hemphill et al., 2014)

The researcher Wolke, Copeland, Angold & Costello (2013) also conducted their research to identify the psychological impacts of bullying at school on the adult health, their wealth and the social and criminal outcomes. The researcher considered bullying as one of the severe issues prevailing globally where the students, parents and the policymakers need to pay serious attention. The researchers in their research found out that bullying in childhood results in severe mental issues on the adults. The incidence of bullying at school level impacted worse the social life of the adults. (Bradshaw, 2015) The victims of bullying at school were subject to the risk of developing poor health, psychiatric disorders and wealth. Whereas the person who is the bullied may be at higher risk of developing criminal activities and involves in increasing danger of destroying the social norms. (Wang & Iannoti, 2012)The authors Beran & Li (2007) also linked school bullying as a result of increased use of social media. The researchers related to the incidence of school bullying being closely associated with the incidents of cyberbullying by the same person.

Bullying in the UAE

The cases of suicide among young kids due to bullying are also increasing with time. There have been several incidences in UAE, where students made suicidal attempts as a result of being bullied by the others at school. (Cahoj, 2009) the following part provides details of the factors contributing to the increased bullying among the school children in the UAE.

Factors behind School bullying in the UAE region

According to the research conducted by Rigby (2018), there are several causes of bullying in the UAE based school, mainly because of the multi-cultural environment and society in the UAE. Most of the students in the school belong to different regions, religions and traditional backgrounds which create differences. The differences in the culture and some of the stereotyping based on the culture often leads to a high rate of bullying among the students belonging to different cultural backgrounds. The results of the research showed that this leads to insecurity and hatred among the students.

Similar research findings were provided by Alshareef, et al (2015) who identified that the significant reason that provokes students to bully others in the UAE schools is the difference of socio-demographic backgrounds that results in violent behaviour of the students in the UAE schools. According to a survey conducted by the “Cartoon Network Middle East”, more than 85% of the students in the UAE region are bullied, and the parents are completely unaware of it. The factors identified for the increasing rate of bullying among the school children include, “Peer pressure is the leading reason (22 to 23 per cent) for bullying, with one in five boys targeted because of their weight and an equal proportion of girls victimized because of an unstable home. A further 17 to 19 per cent of children are singled out because of their nationality”.

The teachers, school management and the parents need to play a vigilant role in identifying any psychological issues in their children. According to the author, Al Shami (2019), the schools in UAE must have a well-defend and efficient reporting system, where the student can launch their report against another student who is bullying them. The school management needs to have a no-tolerance policy with regards to bullying. The students involved in bullying should be suspended or even terminated if they continue to bully other students at school.

Conclusion

The review of the literature highlight the factors and negative impact of bullying at a young age is very significant and is observed throughout the life of the students. Most of the research identified that the factors the results in student bullying others include the differences in the socio-demographic backgrounds, the physiological stress at home and peer pressure due to the physical appearance of disability. Bullying destroys the young child’s personality and confidence level. Such children lack self-confidence and develop psychological issues like stress, hatred, aggression and depression.

Another significant negative impact of bullying is with regards to low academic performance. Students who are bullied at school tend to avoid coming to school or attend their classes. As a result, their academic performance and development are badly affected. Such incidence also leads to students dropping out of schools and discontinuing their education. The impact does such incidence leads to not only destroying the young life but the entire life and psychological and physical development of students. The review of the literature provided significant findings for the research as it helped identify the independent variables in form of the factors leading to bullying at school.

References

Al Shamsi (2019) Effectiveness of Cyber Security Awareness Program for young children: A Case Study in UAE International Journal of Information Technology and Language Studies http://journals.sfu.ca/ijitls/index.php/ijitls/article/viewFile/81/pdf

Alshareef N., Hussein H., Al Faisal W., El Sawaf E., Wasfy A., , Altheeb A. A.  & AlBehandy N. S.(2015) , Family and Socio-Demographic Background of Violence Among Adolescent Population in Dubai, UAE Advance Applied Psychology file:///C:/Users/asghar.abbas/Downloads/70340015.pdf

Beran, Tanya & Li, Qing (2007) The relationship between Cyberbullying and School Bullying. Journal of Student Wellbeing. 1(12) 15-33 https://www.ojs.unisa.edu.au/index.php/JSW/article/viewFile/172../139

Bradshaw, Catherine (2015) Translating Research to Practice in Bullying Prevention. American Psychologist. Vol 70(4) 322-332 https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-a0039114.pdf

Cahoj, Joan Burk (2009) Reducing the effects of bullying in adolescence: The roles of schools and families. Kansas State University https://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2097/11714/JoanCahoj2011.pdf?sequence=1

Goldsmith, S. & Howie, P. (2014). “Bullying by definition: An examination of definitional components of bullying”. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. 19 (2): 210–225.

Gruber, J. & Fineran, S. (2007), The Impact of Bullying and Sexual Harassment on Health Outcomes of Middle School and High School Girls. Violence Against Women, 13(2), 627 – 643 https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=swo

Hemphill, Sheryl, Tolit, Michelle & Herrenkohl, Todd (2014) Protective Factors Against the Impact of School Bullying Perpetration and Victimization on Young Adult Externalizing and Internalizing Problems.  Journal of School Violence 13(1) 125-145 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4235769/

Hines, Heather Nicole (2007) TRADITIONAL BULLYING AND CYBER-BULLYING: ARE THE IMPACTS ON SELF-CONCEPT THE SAME?.[Online] https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/wcu/f/hines2011.pdf

Hymel, Shelley and Swearer, Susan M., “Four Decades of Research on School Bullying: An Introduction” (2015). Educational Psychology Papers and Publications. 174. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1173&context=edpsychpapers

Merriam-Webster (2018) Methodology [Online] Accessed from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/methodology

Olweus, Dan (1994) Annotation: Bullying at School: Basic Facts and Effects of a School-Based Intervention program. Journal of Child Psychology Vol 35 No 7 pp 1171-1190 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dan_Olweus/publication/15391812_Bullying_at_School_Basic_Facts_and_Effects_of_a_School_Based_Intervention_Program/links/59ddf4a3aca272204c2bca5d/Bullying-at-School-Basic-Facts-and-Effects-of-a-School-Based-Intervention-Program.pdf

Pabian, S. (2014). Using the theory of planned behaviour to understand cyberbullying: The importance of beliefs for developing interventions . European journal of developmental psychology , 463-477

Rigby, Ken & Haroun, Dalia & Ali, Essam. (2018). Bullying in Schools in the United Arab Emirates and the Personal Safety of Students. Child Indicators Research. 12. 10.1007/s12187-018-9603-y.

Rivers, I., Poteat, V.P., Noret, N., & Ashurst, N. (2009). Observing bullying at school: The mental health implications of witness status. School Psychology Quarterly, 24(4), 211-223. https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/3990/1/irivers.pdf

Rivers, Ian (2001) The bullying of sexual minorities at school: Its nature and long-term correlates. Educational and Child Psychology. 18(1) http://www.lgbt.org.ar/blog/Matrimonio/archivos/educational_and_child_%202001.pdf#page=34

Rivers, Ian (2004) Recollections of Bullying at School and Their Long-Term Implications for Lesbians, Gay Men, and Bisexuals. Crises 25(4) http://www.pinktherapy.com/portals/0/downloadables/Family/Recollecting_Bullying_At_Schools.pdf

Thornberg, Robert, & Sven Knutsen, (2010). Teenagers’ Explanations of Bullying. Child & Youth Care Forum. 40 (3): 177. doi:10.1007/s10566-010-9129-zhttp://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A418136&dswid=354

UNES, O (2017). School Violence and Bullying: Global Status Report (PDF). Paris, UNESCO. pp. 17, 29, 31. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000246970

Wang, Jing & Iamnnotti, Ronald (2012) Bullying Among U.S Adolescents. The prevention research 19(3) https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jing_Wang307/publication/282030661_Bullying_among_U_S_adolescents/links/5601b5c908aecb0ce881ae35.pdf

Wolke, Dieter, Copeland, William E, Angold, Adrian & Costello, Jane (2013) Impact oBullyingng in Childhood on Adult Health, Wealth, Crime and Social Outcomes. Journal oPsychologygy 24(10) 1958-1970 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4090076/