Relationship Between Staff Maltreatment of Students and Bully-Victim Group Membership

• NCJ Number: 229021
• Journal: Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 33 Issue: 12 Dated: December 2009 Pages: 914-923
• Author(s): Mona Khoury-Kassabri
• Date Published: December 2009
• Length: 10 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Israeli Ministry of Education
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This Israeli study determined the prevalence of students' reports of physical and emotional maltreatment by school staff, with attention to differences in these reports according to types of involvement in school bullying (as bullies, bullying victims only, both bully and bully victim, and neither bully nor bully victim).

Abstract

The study found that levels of staff maltreatment of students varied according to the type of student involvement in bullying, with boys who were bullying victims being at highest risk for staff maltreatment, followed by students who were both bullies and bullying victims. In addition, being a boy and an Arab rather than a Jew increased a student's risk for both emotional and physical maltreatment by school staff. Students who were not involved in bullying, either as bullies or victims, reported the lowest levels of staff maltreatment. Further, the interaction analysis revealed that differences in the bully-victim subgroups varied by gender, being an Arab or Jew, and school level for both physical and emotional maltreatment by school staff. These findings suggest that victims of bullying must be targeted for interventions designed to prevent and cope constructively with being bullied. Also, teachers must be trained to recognize and address bullying situations without resorting to aggression toward students. Such training should include not only school staff, but also students and parents. The study was based on a large, nationally representative sample of 16,604 students in grades 7-11 in 324 schools across Israel. The students completed questionnaires during class. Multivariate analyses of variance was used to examine the difference between bully-victim group membership on their reports of staff maltreatment. It also examined the interaction of students' gender, nation (Jewish compared with Arab students), and school level (junior high compared with high school students) with physical and emotional maltreatment by school staff. 2 tables and 55 references