NCJ Number
227018
Journal
Journal of School Violence Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: April-June 2009 Pages: 177-190
Date Published
April 2009
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined bullying and the role of power imbalance on victimization.
Abstract
Findings showed that elementary grade students reported that a large percentage of bullying was carried out by one’s peers or age-equals, and not by someone outside of one’s class. This finding raises an important issue relating to the existence of a power imbalance, which for many researchers constitutes the de rigueur condition for bullying to take place. With a large percentage of the bullying coming from one’s peers and age-mates, as reported by students, the obvious disparities that accrue from the more readily observable physical characteristics like size, height, weight and strength as a function of higher grade/age are much less likely to occur, thereby making the assumption of a power imbalance difficult to uphold. Peer victimization instead of bullying should be considered a much more appropriate term to describe the kind of dyadic aggressor-victim relationship involving peers in the school setting, where the inequality between the two parties is not clear-cut or established. A non-anonymous instrument that allows the victims to name their bullies has the advantage over existing questionnaires in identifying the aggressor-victim dyad, and makes it easier to follow-up with additional investigations of whether the assumed power imbalance exists between the pair, for example through interviews with school personnel, parents, or the students themselves. Data were collected form 562 students from 30 classes in 2 local elementary schools in Toronto, Canada using self-reports on the School Life Survey (SLS) Victimization Scale. Table and references