Publications

Family, teachers and peers: Keys to Support Victims of Bullying.

María Jesús Cavas

Psychosocial Intervention Journal

Valencia 2011

Research

Spanish

English

School bullying

The purpose of the study carried out by María Jesús Cavas is centered in the differences in the psychological adjustment in victims of school bullying, in relation with the quality of the relationship with their parents, teachers and, especially, peers. In particular, a comparison was carried out, between four indicators: self-esteem, depressive mood, solitude and stress perception; in victims that had an optimal or awful communication with their mother (the same with their father), high or low perception of teacher help, and, especially, high or low identification with their group of peers. To carry out the study, they have collected a sample from 1795 Spanish teenagers, from both sexes, from 11 to 18 years old, coming from 9 schools in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. The tool used was a School Victimization Questionnaire based on the Multidimensional Scale of School Victimization Joseph (2000) and Grotpeter (1996), which was handed to the students in a conventional classroom with the teacher being present. The participation in the study was completely voluntary and anonymous.
In the results part of the study, it is exposed how those bullying victims that used to have good relationships both with their parent as well as with the teachers, and, especially, with their peers, showed a better psychological adjustment over those who did not live that situation.

This study is of great relevance for the School Safety Net Project, as one of its main objectives is to prove the importance that the social environment takes, not only in the vulnerability of harassment or bullying, but also in the greater or lesser impact that the experienced situation has in teenagers, and this is one of the main risk factors of school absenteeism, as school bullying, direct or indirect, has very negative consequences for the victims; for this, they tend to be included in the majority of programs of intervention developed for the prevention of school violence.
The results of this study show how the victims of bullying or cyberbullying, who count with an optimal communication with their parents, perceive a great amount of help from the teachers in schools and, above all, are totally integrated in the group of peers, present a great psychological adjustment that those boys and girls that do not count with this social support, for this reason, to avoid conflict or violent behavior it is very important to work a balance between peers and to favor the feeling of group in schools that foment regularized attendance.
In consequence, the importance of reinforcing the social link is highlighted, thus improving at the same time the educative quality and favoring and fomenting the feeling of support of the educative community towards the victim, preventing the disassociation of the students to the school, which can result in school absenteeism.

Rosario del Rey

University of Seville

Researcher