Citation

Nelson HJ, Burns SK, Kendall GE, Schonert-Reichl KA. PLoS One 2019; 14(3): e0211124.

Affiliation

Human Early Learning Partnership, School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Public Library of Science)

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0211124

PMID

30849078

Abstract

Bullying in schools is associated with an extensive public health burden. Bullying is intentional and goal oriented aggressive behavior in which the perpetrator exploits an imbalance of power to repeatedly dominate the victim. To differentiate bullying from aggressive behavior, assessment must include a valid measure of power imbalance as perceived by the victim. And yet, to date, there remains no agreement as to how to most accurately measure power imbalance among preadolescent children. This qualitative study explored children's (age 9 to 11) understanding of power imbalance through thematic analysis of focus group discussions. Subthemes that emerged as influencing power imbalance include: age of victim, peer valued characteristics, and group membership and position. Subthemes of empathy and peer valued characteristics emerged as protecting against the negative impact of power imbalance.

Language: en