Citation

Koo H, Kwak K, Smith PK. J. School Violence 2008; 7(4): 119-139.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15388220801974084

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

School bullying in South Korea may take different forms from bullying in western societies, and there is little data on its nature and extent nationally. We report results from a nationwide survey on the Korean form of bullying, wang-ta (many-on-one bullying). Two pilot studies were carried out, to adapt a western-based questionnaire for use in Korea. With the revised questionnaire a survey was carried out across five main regions of South Korea. Participants (N = 2,926), aged between 11 to 16 years, were from randomly selected schools. Altogether 5.8% of Korean pupils reported receiving wang-ta and 10.2% reported that they did wang-ta to other peers, more than once or twice in the last term. Unlike in western countries, in Korea the number of bullies was larger than the number of victims, there were more girl than boy bullies, and very few pupils were bullied by those from higher grades. The most cited forms for both receiving and giving wang-ta were verbal, followed by relational; physical forms were relatively infrequent. The findings are discussed in relation to understanding similarities and differences between eastern and western forms of bullying, and implications for intervention in Korean schools.