13‐year‐olds’ perception of bullying: definitions, reasons for victimisation and experience of adults’ response

Abstract

This study formed the second wave of a longitudinal research project examining bullying from the students’ perspective. A sample of 877 Swedish 13‐year‐olds filled out a questionnaire regarding the definition of bullying, reasons for why some students are bullied and the experience of adults’ response to bullying. In their definitions, girls were more likely than boys to include the victims’ experience of bullying, whereas boys were more likely than girls to mention bullying as an imbalance of power and a set of repeated actions. Assigning responsibility for the bullying to the bully was more common among girls and bullied adolescents than among boys and non‐bullied adolescents. Furthermore, among bullied adolescents, 23% had not told anyone about the bullying and 35% had not received any help.

Keywords:

• bullying
• victimisation
• adolescents’ perceptions

Notes

This study was supported by grants from the Swedish Council for Social Research. We thank Kajsa Eile for her contributions to the research. We also wish to thank the adolescents who took part in this study.