The Profile of Bullying Perpetrators and Victims and Associated Factors among High School Learners in Tshwane District, South Africa

Abstract

Although bullying in South African schools remains a current public health and education discussion, the view has been limited to acts of criminality, and not much has been done to identify risk factors for being bullying perpetrators and victims in a school environment. This study used a cross sectional quantitative survey to determine the profile of bullying perpetrators and victims among high school learners in a township in Pretoria. The Illinois Bully Scale was used to screen for bullying perpetration and victimization, whilst the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Beck Anxiety Inventory were used to screen for depression and anxiety symptoms, respectively, among the sample of learners. STATA version 14 was used for data analysis. The sample of 460 consisted of 69% females with a mean age of 15 years. The 73.91% of learners who fitted the categories of bullying consisted of 21.96% victims, 9.57% perpetrators, and 42.39% perpetrator–victims. The Pearson Chi2 test of association found a significant association between being a bullying victim and reported lack of people who loved and cared for the learner. Being a bullying perpetrator was associated with anxiety symptoms of the learner and home alcohol use, while being a perpetrator –victim was associated with lack of family love and care, the school attended, as well as depression and anxiety symptoms. Using multivariate logistic regression, being a perpetrator–victim was associated with depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and home use of alcohol whilst being a perpetrator was associated with lack of anxiety symptoms. The study concluded that anxiety, depression, and the home environment are strongly associated with bullying, and most learners fitted the category of being both perpetrators and victims.

When bullying victims are also perpetrators: A qualitative study in high schools in Tshwane District, Gauteng Province

“…A study conducted in Egypt reports a 57,8% prevalence of being both a perpetrator and victim of bullying among high school learners, which was higher than the prevalence rates of those that were perpetrators only and victims only found to be 9,5% and 10,5%, respectively (Galal, Emadeldin & Mwafy, 2019). Similar trends are reported in South Africa (Mlisa et al, 2014;Shiba & Mokwena, 2023). A different study reports that learners who were bullied earlier in their lives tended to bully others as time progressed (Myburgh , Poggenpoel & Nhlapo, 2014) but the study did not explore the reasons behind this behaviour.…”

“…In South Africa, available prevalence data found bullying perpetration prevalence rates among high school learners to vary between 3,9% (Mlisa, Ward & Lombard, 2014) and 9,7% (Shiba & Mokwena, 2023) whilst those of bullying victimisation were found to range between 16,5% (Mlisa et al, 2014) and 23,9% (Khuzwayo, Taylor & Connolly, 2016), which indicates lower prevalence rates of bullying perpetration when compared to bullying victimisation. This suggests that in the bullying dynamics one bully may have more than one perpetrator whom they bully.…”

“…Literature has linked bullying to a number of psychosocial and demographic factors, which include current and future mental health problems such as suicidal ideation and plans, selfinflicted injuries, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress (Kubwalo et al, 2013;Reddy et al, 2013;Zaborskis et al, 2018;Tang et al, 2020;Aboagye et al, 2021;Shiba & Mokwena, 2023). Physical and emotional violence in the home, including witnessing intimate partner violence, have significantly been associated with both bullying victimisation and bullying perpetration among learners (Lucas et al,2015;De Sousa, Peixoto & Cruz, 2021).…”

“…Cyberbullying occurs when a perpetrator uses technology deliberately and repeatedly to bully, harass, hassle and threaten another person leaving the victims without any escape (Smit, 2015). It is also known that bullying inflicts harm and distress on the victim, which includes physical, psychological, social or educational harm (Gladden et al, 2014;Shiba & Mokwena, 2023), and that the negative consequences tend to linger on into the adulthood of the victim (Copeland et al, 2013). In extreme cases, bullying has been directly linked to suicide among adolescents (Cooper, Clements & Holt, 2012).…”

“…Whilst evidence has identified bullying as one of the key contributors to violence and abuse among school children (Menesini & Salmivalli, 2017;UNESCO, 2017), it has been argued that the increasing rates of bullying among South African learners mimic and are influenced by the spiralling levels of violence and crime in the country (Timm & Eskell-Blokland, 2011) This article is part of a bigger mixed-method study conducted to understand the impact of bullying on perpetrators and victims of bullying among 460 public high school learners in theTshwane District township, South Africa. The quantitative arm of the study reported 21,96% as victims, 9,57% as perpetrators and 42,39% as both victims and perpetrators (Shiba & Mokwena, 2023). This paper used qualitative methods to explore reasons why some learners become both victims and perpetrators.…”