NCJ Number
233206
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 21 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2006 Pages: 337-357
Date Published
March 2006
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Based on in-depth qualitative interviews, this article gives the opportunity to 145 sixth graders to tell, in their own words, how they felt and reacted when verbally and emotionally abused by their classmates.
Abstract
Content analysis of interviews revealed gender differences in students' reactions to verbal aggression. Another interesting finding was the differentiation between verbally aggressive messages meant to be for fun from those that were not so meant based on (1) contextual cues, (2) other peers' reaction, and (3) the malleability of the personal features that were the topic of the attack. Observing friendly peers were found to play an important role in reducing tension and preventing the escalation of violence. However, when the verbally aggressive message targeted a permanent physical characteristic or the student's social or ethnic identity, then suffering, anger and humiliation legitimized the escalation from verbal to physical aggression for students of both genders. (Published Abstract)