Greek Students’ Perception of School Bullying: The Profiles of Victims and Perpetrators

Vassiliki Kalati, Anastasia Psalti & Vassiliki Deliyianni-Kouimtzi

Inter-Disciplinary Press (Critical Issues) Oxford, United Kingdom

English

English

age, gender, academic performance, visctimisation

Research

Teachers, Researchers, Young People.

1 - 20 pages

This paper reports on a large-scale project that aimed to study school violence in Greek primary and secondary schools. A total of 214 boys and girls aged 11-12 years old and 15-16 years old participated in the study. According to the findings, the most common form of school bullying in primary schools is verbal bullying and the spreading of rumours, while in secondary education social and racist form of school bullying is more common. Bullying at school appears to be related to masculinity, low academic performance and provocative behaviour. Victimization is related to the female identity (though boys were the most likely victims), high academic performance and different ethnicity.
In reference to victims’ reactions towards bullying incidents, most students seem to avoid share their experience with others (especially with their teachers), a finding that requires further investigation. Victims reported that they count mostly on their friends for support. This is an important dimension to school bullying and must be taken into account when implementing future intervention.
The implementation of bullying intervention programmes is strongly suggested in this study, through raising awareness among parents and teachers, and instilling in the students the appropriate skills to raise their self-confidence and cope with the problem.

This study aims to explore bullying through the self-reporting of primary and secondary school students on a large-scale project. It gives very important information about the frequency and types of bullying, the characteristics of school bullying, the profile of victims and perpetrators and the victims’ reactions to bullying.
The results indicated that bullying is a widespread phenomenon in Greek schools. Significant age, gender and ethnic differences were noted in terms of the types and frequency of bullying, characteristics of victims and perpetrators and reactions to bullying. Bullying appears to be related to male identity, low academic performance and provocative behaviour, while victimisation is connected to female identity, high academic performance and different ethnicity. A major implication of the study is the significance of raising awareness about bullying among parents and teachers.
The above findings give an adequate analogue of the characteristics of bullying in Greece, and therefore help to implement the appropriate strategies to cope with the problem.

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/bully1ever22411101.pdf (e-book)

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