An ethnographic study of participant roles in school bullying

Abstract

An ethnographic study in a 10th grade remedial class was undertaken in order to discern patterns of school bullying. Twenty 10th graders were observed over the course of one academic year as they interacted with their peers and teachers. The observations helped us identify dispositional and situational factors which influenced participant roles. In-depth interviews of students involved in school bullying showed how participants interpreted and explained their classroom behaviors. The analysis of the data gathered allowed the identification of four main actor roles recognized in the existing literature on bullying-the pure victim, the pure bully, the provocative-victim, and the bystander-as well as the differentiation between aggressive bullies and the bully managers. Most roles fluctuated according to specific circumstances and often appeared to be moderated by the teacher's management style and contextual variables. Some pupils assumed different roles in different contexts, sometimes changing roles within or between episodes. Teacher personality and style also had an impact on the frequencies and types of aggression and victimization. The use of an ethnographic research paradigm is discussed as an important supplement to positivistic studies of school bullying.

Temporal patterns and predictors of bullying roles among adolescents in Vietnam: a school-based cohort study

“…Of these students, nearly three in four indicated unstable bullying roles over time. The findings are consistent with other studies indicating that bullying experiences are fluid (Gumpel et al, 2014;Lereya et al, 2015). Among the students who experiences remained stable, the two largest groups were those with stable-low victimisation or stable-low bully-victim status.…”

“…Globally, scholars have identified four main bullying roles that to classify children's involvement as bully, victim, bully-victim (Gumpel, 2008;Gumpel, Zioni-Koren, & Bekerman, 2014;Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Björkqvist, Österman, & Kaukiainen, 1996;Thornberg, 2007). International estimates suggest that from 10% to 30% of children and adolescents are victims only (Gumpel, 2008;Gumpel et al, 2014;Lereya et al, 2015;Solberg, Olweus, & Endresen, 2007;Vlachou, Andreou, Botsoglou, & Didaskalou, 2011).…”

“…International estimates suggest that from 10% to 30% of children and adolescents are victims only (Gumpel, 2008;Gumpel et al, 2014;Lereya et al, 2015;Solberg, Olweus, & Endresen, 2007;Vlachou, Andreou, Botsoglou, & Didaskalou, 2011). The proportions of those who bully others range from 3 to 15 % of adolescents (Gumpel et al, 2014;Lereya et al, 2015;Solberg et al, 2007). Further, bully-victims or 'provocative victims' (Gumpel, 2008) who are both victimised and bully others comprise between 15 and 20% of populations of young people (Lereya, Copeland, Zammit, & Wolke, 2015;Salmivalli, 2010).…”

“…To date, little is known about the extent to which the bullying roles are stable or fluid over time (Gumpel et al, 2014;Ryoo, Wang, & Swearer, 2015). There is some emerging evidence that the majority of youth who report involvement have infrequent experiences (Ryoo et al, 2015).…”

“…Even for youth who bully others, there seems to be unstable involvement over one or a few years at middle or high school (Lereya et al, 2015). Findings of an ethnographic study conducted with 10th grade adolescents revealed that 'many roles are fluid' (Gumpel et al, 2014) in specific situational context. Unfortunately, most evidence regarding factors associated with bullying roles has been derived from cross-sectional studies (Cook, Williams, Guerra, Kim, & Sadek, 2010;Hong & Espelage, 2012).…”