An examination of bullying from a group-dynamic perspective, the third party role of peers in bullying incidents

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to demonstrate that there are multiple roles involved in bullying episodes. It was hypothesized that a bully/victim episode comprises of five distinct groups of children: bullies, victims, guardians., henchmen or accomplices, and active bystanders. The second objective of the present research was to examine children's social alliances within the classroom by investigating the classroom social networks and to explain how these social networks are related to bullying. It was hypothesized that bullies will belong to social groups and victims will not. In addition., bullies are hypothesized to have nuclear centrality (very prominent) within their respective social groups, whereas, active bystanders and henchmen will have secondary or peripheral social centrality within the same social group. A final objective of this study was to analyze children's episodic account of an actual bully/victim incident. One hundred and fifty-three children (82 females, 71 males; M= 11. l years and M= 11.2 years, respectively) participated in a structured child-researcher interview. During this interview children were asked to nominate classmates who were bullies, victims, guardians, henchmen, and active bystanders.

Furthermore, children were asked to describe the classroom social network. Finally, children were asked to narrate their personal experiences with bullying by describing a specific bully-victim episode. Descriptive analyses of the peer nominations revealed that 92% of the children identified bullies, 91% identified victims, 92% nominated henchmen, and 97% nominated active bystanders. Moreover, the quality of the bully/victim episode was modified by peer participation children reported more negativity surrounding the bullying incident when henchmen were involved.

Social network analyses revealed that nuclear-nuclear children ( children who belong to prominent classroom social groups and were prominent members of their respective groups) received significantly more Bully and Guardian nominations compared to secondary children ( e.g., children who did not belong to prominent classroom social groups and were prominent members of their respective social groups). Furthermore, nuclear-secondary children (children who belong to prominent classroom groups and possessed a less prominent membership to their respective groups) received significantly more Active Bystander peer nominations compared to other children. In contrast, isolates ( children who did not belong to a classroom social group) received more Victim peer nominations compared to other children. These research findings provide evidence that classroom social groups and children's respective social network centrality play a role in abetting the power imbalance inherent in bullying episodes. Finally, the examination of children's bullying narratives contributed to the validity and the necessity of examining particular roles children assume when confronted with bullying in their environments. The results reported herein highlight the social nature of bullying and the examination of children's narratives provided an alternate method of studying bully/victim incidents.