Defining the word bullying: Inconsistencies and lack of clarity among current definitions

Slattery, Lindsey; George, Heather Peshak; Kern, Laura

doi:10.1080/1045988x.2019.1579164

Cited by 29 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…When an imbalance of power exists, bullying victims are helpless and incapable of defending themselves against the perpetrator. Current research on bullying has adopted at least one of these 3 definitional principles (Slattery et al, 2019).…”

Section: The Development Of the Definition Of Bullyingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Olweus (1993) defined an intent to harm as a willful negative thought when someone attempts to inflict injury or discomfort upon another person. However, several scholars have raised issues regarding the difficulty in determining an intent to harm (Slattery et al, 2019). First, setting aside that a bully can potentially be dishonest about his intention, having an intention implies sufficient selfawareness of potential harm (Goldsmid & Howie, 2014).…”

Section: Ambiguous Situations Involving An Intent To Harmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bullying may inflict harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psychological, social, or educational harm. (Gladden et al, 2014, p. 7) However, recent research reviewing 901 studies on bullying-related behaviors from 1980 to the present indicated a wide difference in how bullying is defined in research (Slattery et al, 2019). Specifically, Slattery et al (2019) found that 17% of the studies required the bullying act to be intentional, 25% required the act to have happened more than once, 32% required an imbalance of power between the perpetrator and the target, and 8% of studies specifically addressed the phenomenon of cyberbullying.…”

mentioning

confidence: 91%

“…(Gladden et al, 2014, p. 7) However, recent research reviewing 901 studies on bullying-related behaviors from 1980 to the present indicated a wide difference in how bullying is defined in research (Slattery et al, 2019). Specifically, Slattery et al (2019) found that 17% of the studies required the bullying act to be intentional, 25% required the act to have happened more than once, 32% required an imbalance of power between the perpetrator and the target, and 8% of studies specifically addressed the phenomenon of cyberbullying. Although some of these studies referred to one or more definitional principles, 57% of the 901 studies had a vague or unspecified definition of bullying.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Is having some level of awareness of harm the same as having an intent to harm? The subjective nature of an intent can lead to disagreement among actors, recipients, and observers (Sercombe & Donnelly, 2013;Slattery et al, 2019). Furthermore, it is unclear how bullying can be differentiated from playful teasing (Cornell et al, 2006;Farrington, 1993) and other types of peer aggression (Cascardi et al, 2014;Rodkin et al, 2015).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inconsistent Definitions of Bullying: A Need to Examine People’s Judgments and Reasoning about Bullying and Cyberbullying

Chang¹

2021

Human Development

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Despite decades of research efforts, researchers have yet to reach a consensus on the definition of bullying. There are ambiguities around the conceptualization of bullying relating to the intent, harm, repetitions of an act, and power disparity in episodes of bullying. Practically, the lack of differentiation between bullying and playful teasing as well as between bullying and other types of aggression has made it difficult to accurately measure bullying and derive the prevalence rate. There has been scant attention to how people evaluate an intent, harm, repetitions of an act, and power disparity between bullies and targets. If bullying is a moral issue, it involves people’s moral judgments and cannot be understood solely by empirical descriptions of the behavior. In this paper, I considered how social domain theory can be applied to help understand people’s judgments about bullying behaviors, which, in turn, is helpful in improving our conceptualization of bullying.

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Section: The Development Of the Definition Of Bullyingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ambiguous Situations Involving An Intent To Harmmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 91%

mentioning

confidence: 97%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inconsistent Definitions of Bullying: A Need to Examine People’s Judgments and Reasoning about Bullying and Cyberbullying

Chang¹

2021

Human Development

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Definitions of Bullying

Hellström¹,

Thornberg²,

Espelage³

2021

The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Bullying

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Still a rite of passage? A perspective on current therapeutic attitudes and interventions in relation to cyberbullying

Jones

2023

Couns and Psychother Res

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This paper examines cyberbullying concerning therapeutic interventions. A section on bullying and how bullying impacts the therapeutic environment is included. The author provides his definition of bullying to incorporate cyberbullying and how it is no longer a “new issue” but an evolving one. The current status of therapeutic interventions used to support victims of cyberbullying has been explored, emphasising their effectiveness in assisting those experiencing bullying. A segment has been implemented to comprehend whether practitioners fully understand the potential implications of cyberbullying on clients, whether bullying is still seen as a “rite of passage” and what the possible consequences of this could be. Peer interventions and support groups concerning cyberbullying have been referenced, including The KiVa Programme, the Shared Concern Method and The Circle of Friends Method. These have highlighted specific examples of therapeutic and nontherapeutic approaches to intervene with cyberbullying. A section on potential further training is presented for practitioners working within educational environments. Moreover, physical, psychological, sexual and relational bullying are discussed in the article when applicable, with the umbrella term “bullying” used to discuss all forms of bullying at once. The paper has uncovered two key messages: (1) cyberbullying requires more awareness in counselling and is no longer a new issue and (2) more extensive training is required to assist therapists to work with cyberbullying victims.

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Defining the word bullying: Inconsistencies and lack of clarity among current definitions

Cited by 29 publications

References 44 publications

Inconsistent Definitions of Bullying: A Need to Examine People’s Judgments and Reasoning about Bullying and Cyberbullying

Inconsistent Definitions of Bullying: A Need to Examine People’s Judgments and Reasoning about Bullying and Cyberbullying

Definitions of Bullying

Still a rite of passage? A perspective on current therapeutic attitudes and interventions in relation to cyberbullying

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