The Relationship between Bullying Behaviours and High School Dropout in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

Bullying is generally defined as largely unprovoked, negative physical or psychological actions perpetrated repeatedly over time between bully/ies and victims. Bullying can lead to fear of school, absenteeism, and stunted academic progress, which in turn are precursors to dropping out of school. This paper's aim is to report rates of bullying behaviour, and to investigate whether bUllying behaviour predicts high school dropout in Cape Town, South Africa. Stratified, proportional sampling yielded 39 from a total of 214 schools, from which 40 learners were randomly selected from the combined class list of two, randomly chosen, Grade 8 classes in each of the 39 participating schools. Thus 1 470 learners (from a total of 181 018) completed a self-report questionnaire in 1997, and were followed-up in 2001. This report focuses on those learners who had dropped out of school between 1997 and 2001 (n = 776; 55.2%). Univariate and multiple logistic regression models were used to investigate the relationship between bullying behaviours and dropout, controlling for factors known to be strongly related to high school dropout, namely age, socioeconomic status, race, or ethnicity, being raised by a single parent. repeating a grade, and substance use. Odds ratios and 95 per cent confidence intervals were calculated, taking the clustering of schools into account. In e,Psychological Society of South A frica. All rights reserved.

To what extent do youth-focused prevention programmes reflect evidence-based practices? Findings from an audit of alcohol and other drug prevention programmes in Cape Town, South Africa

“…This is worrisome as there is a high prevalence of gang-related activities in Cape Town's poorer communities (Wilkinson, 2000) with AOD use, particularly methamphetamine use, playing a key role in the gang culture within these communities (Kapp, 2008). In addition, the Western Cape Education Department has seen high school dropout rates as well as an increase in the incidence of depression among young people (Townsend et al, 2004). Various studies have found associations between tobacco use (and other risk behaviours), substance use and school dropout (Flisher et al, 2003) and associations between methamphetamine use and poor mental health functioning, aggression and depression (Plüd-demann et al (in press).…”

A Construction of Bullying in a Primary School in an Underprivileged Community: An Ecological Case Study

“…According to Townsend et al (2008), research shows the following consequences of bullying: psychosomatic complaints, depression and anxiety, and suicide. Those perpetuating bullying were likely to have one or more criminal convictions when reaching adulthood and to have diagnosable psychiatric disorders.…”

“…Those perpetuating bullying were likely to have one or more criminal convictions when reaching adulthood and to have diagnosable psychiatric disorders. Two thirds of school shooters in the USA reported having been the victims of bullying (Townsend et al, 2008).…”

“…Maree (2005) claims that bullying is prevalent throughout South African society, in the family, tertiary institutions and the workplace, as well as schools. W ith reference to different research across South Africa using samples of high school learners, Townsend, Fisher, Chikobvu, Lombard, and King (2008) report the percentages of children involved in bullying as follows: Cape Town and Durban high schools (36.3%), rural schools in Mpumalanga (11.8%) and high schools in Tshwane (61%). A national study reported that 41% of high school learners are involved in bullying incidents (Townsend et al, 2008).…”

A Framework for the Analysis of Student Well-Being in the PISA 2015 Study

“…Victims are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, feelings of loneliness, changing eating patterns, and a loss of interest in activities (Kochel et al, 2012;Rigby and Cox 1996;Striegel-Moore et al, 2002). Research suggest that those who were bullied or were the bully-victim, were more likely to skip classes, drop out of school, and perform lower academically than peers who had no conflictual relationships with their peers (Konishi et al, 2010;Townsend, 2008). A recent study also suggests that bully victims suffer long-term consequences as measured by labour force participation, employment rates and hourly wages (Drydakis, 2014).…”