ERIC Number: EJ1145297
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Jul
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0044-118X
EISSN: N/A
Why Do Students Bully? An Analysis of Motives behind Violence in Schools
Fluck, Julia
Youth & Society, v49 n5 p567-587 Jul 2017
Research on school bullying and violence has always been working with taxonomies of bullying to categorize aggressive acts. Researchers distinguish between direct and indirect or between physical, verbal, and relational bullying. Cyberbullying is categorized either by type of action or by type of medium. In this article, we propose another kind of categorization: the taxonomy of reasons. A questionnaire was developed that asks for the five dimensions "instrumental," "power," "sadism," "ideology," and "revenge." It was tested with middle-school children in Germany. While bullies claim that their reasons were mostly revenge, victims mostly insinuate sadism and power. Both groups claim that ideology and instrumental violence play a little role. Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) show that at least four of the theoretically proposed dimensions make sense (except instrumentality). A qualitative analysis of open answers shows that for future questionnaires, the taxonomy should include additional dimensions, such as peer pressure and lack of self-control.
Descriptors: Bullying, Violence, Educational Environment, Taxonomy, Verbal Communication, Aggression, Computer Mediated Communication, Victims, Questionnaires, Power Structure, Middle School Students, Interpersonal Relationship, Qualitative Research, Student Attitudes, Self Control, Factor Analysis, Foreign Countries, Statistical Analysis, Measurement Techniques
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Junior High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A