Bullies and victims of bullying. Gender differences in school violence

Abstract

 This study analyzes some variables associated with the gender of pupils involved in bullying: levels of incidence, differences in sociometric variables, personal evaluation and situational factors depending on the role of the scholar in the dynamic aggression-victimization. A sample of 107 pupils between 7 and 13 years (56 boys and 51 girls) from five Primary School groups took part in the study. Comparisons were established between pupils depending on their role in the bullying dynamic: Neutral (not implied), Bully (aggressor), Victim (the one who suffers from the bully attacks’ consequences) and Provocative Victim (the subject who plays both roles, a bully and a victim) (Cerezo, 2002). The results point that in all the school groups the bullying dynamic is a reality. In our sample, it comprises a 38.3% of pupils and affected to the 46.4% of boys and 29.4% of girls. There were strong differences in the gender of pupils involved in this phenomenon. Data point out that all the aggressors were boys, while two thirds of the victims were girls, and among provocative victim, most of them were boys. Likely, there were gender differences in the perception of the frequency of aggressions, so that for boys it was a daily situation while girls reported a frequency of twice or three times a week. Finally, the results indicate that most pupils considered that, these actions were not extremely serious or affected their personal security in the school. Conclusions suggest that bullying is a phenomenon with a strong gender biased toward boys as aggressors and girls as victims, although with the perception of little severity, which could be a factor that enhances this phenomenon in schools. This aspect seems to be a relevant factor to be conscious about these situations as a previous step to trying to follow it.