Bullying of Students by Teachers and Peers and Its Effect on the Psychological Well-Being of Students in Jamaican Schools

• NCJ Number: 229105
• Journal: Journal of School Violence Volume: 8 Issue: 4 Dated: October-December 2009 Pages: 312-327
• Author(s): Audrey M. Pottinger; Angela Gordon Stair
• Date Published: October 2009
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study questioned 225 Jamaican university students about their recollections of being bullied by students and teachers in elementary and high schools, as well as bullying's psychological effects on them.

Abstract

The sample indicated that 44.2 percent of their worst bullying experiences were by educators; the most frequent bullying experiences by educators were being embarrassed or humiliated (29.4 percent), being beaten (23.5 percent), and being unfairly disciplined (20 percent). The top three worst bullying experiences perpetrated by peers involved being humiliated (33.8 percent), followed by physical assaults (16.9 percent), and being sexually harassed or abused (12.3 percent). Peers and educators were equally likely to commit most offenses, regardless of the gender and age of the victim, except in a few instances in which peers were more likely to tease and shun females than males, threaten or harass male students, and inappropriately sexually touch students in elementary grades. Male educators were more abusive than female educators; and more male students reported being threatened, beaten up, and treated unfairly by male educators. The most common psychological and behavioral effects from being bullied were fighting (17 percent), loss of trust (15.7 percent), depression (15.2 percent), feelings of hopelessness and suicidal thoughts (14.3 percent), and posttraumatic stress disorder (14 percent). Peer bullying was not linked to any specific psychological outcomes; however, educator bullying was associated with increased oppositional conduct by male students and feelings of humiliation by female students. The more frequent the bullying, the more recurrent were the pathological responses. Some Jamaican schools are introducing guidelines for managing bullying, by a policy has yet to be developed by administrators/leaders of the educational system. 4 tables and 40 references