Citation

Rigby K. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020; 17(7): e2338.

Affiliation

Department of Education, University of South Australia, Adelaide 5001, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph17072338

PMID

32235651

Abstract

Student victims of peer bullying (n = 223) in 25 coeducational Australian schools answered a questionnaire to provide accounts of how their school responded to their requests for help. In addition, respondents indicated how severely they were emotionally impacted by the bullying and whether the bullying was perpetrated by an individual or by a group. The reported outcomes from the intervention indicated that in 67% of cases the bullying stopped or was reduced. In cases where the emotional impact was reported as relatively severe, the school interventions were less successful. In addition, reportedly being bullied relatively often by groups, as distinct from individuals, was independently predictive of a less positive outcome. Among girls, but not boys, younger students reported more satisfactory outcomes. Implications are suggested for more effective interventions in cases of bullying.

Language: en

Keywords

bullying; interventions; schools; surveys; teachers