Abstract
We compared how teachers and pupils in Italy take into account different dimensions of bullying behaviour, such as intentionality, imbalance of power, repetition and typology of aggression, in relation to bullying behaviours, and investigated the attribution of meaning that teachers and pupils give to a set of terms frequently used to connote this problem. 20 teachers and 87 students in two primary schools, and 40 teachers and 47 students in one middle school, participated. Following a methodology previously developed at a cross-national level (Sharp, 1999; Smith, Cowie, Olafsson, & Liefooghe, and colleagues, 2002), five target terms were selected using focus groups of children. Participants were presented with 25 stick-figure cartoons showing different types and contexts of bullying and related behaviours, and asked to evaluate whether or not the cartoons could be described by one of the target terms. Cluster analysis identified 6 clusters of cartoons characterised by specific behaviours: non-aggressive, fighting, severe physical aggression, verbal aggression, gender exclusion, and severe exclusion. Clear differences were found between teachers and pupils in the extent of use of the five terms in relation to these clusters. From multi-dimensional scaling and descriptive analysis, the clusters of social exclusion, gender exclusion, verbal bullying and fighting emerged as those where the discrepancy between the two groups was highest; teachers systematically applied the five terms less to these clusters, compared to pupils. Results are discussed in terms of implications for intervention policies against bullying.
Résumé
On a comparé comment enseignants et élèves en Italie considerent les diverses dimensions du comportament violent, tels que intentionnalité, déséquilibre de pouvoir, répétition et typologie de l'agression et on a recherché la signification que enseignants et élèves donnent a une série de termes fréquemment employés pour connoter ce problem.
20 enseignants et 87 écoliers dans deux écoles primaires, et 40 professeurs et 47 élèves dans une école secondaire en on pri part.
Suivant une méthodologie developpèe précédemment a niveau cross-national (Sharp, 1999; Smith, Cowie, Olafsson, & Liefooghe, 2002) on a sélectionné cinq termes-objectif en employant groupes focus d'enfants.
On a présenté aux participants 25 cartoons qui montraient diverses types et contextes de bullying et comportaments relatifs et on a leur posé la question de juger si les cartoons pouvaient être décrits à l'aide d'un des termes-objectif ou non.
L'analyse cluster a identifié six clusters de cartoons caractérisés par comportaments spécifiques: non-agressif, bagarre, agression physique sévère, agression verbale, exclusion de genre, exclusion sévère.
Des differences manifestes entre enseignants et élèves furent trouvés sur l'usage des cinq termes en relation avec ces clusters. Du point de vue de l'échelle multidimensionale et de l'analyse descriptive, les clusters de l'exclusion sociale, de l'exclusion de genre, agression verbale et bagarre révélaient la plus grande discordance entre les deux groupes: les enseignants appliquaient les cinq termes a ces clusters systématiquement moins que les élèves.
Les résultats sont discutés en vue de leur implication dans les programmes d'intervention contre le bullying.
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This research was supported financially in part by the European Commission, under the TMR grant ‘Nature and Prevention of Bullying’ (Contract No. CT97-0139). The Italian authors were supported in part by MURST “University funds, 2001” (ex. 60%) under the title “Attribuzione di significato ad episodi di prepotenza. Un confronto tra alunni ed insegnanti”.
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Menesini, E., Fonzi, A. & Smith, P.K. Attribution of meanings to terms related to bullying: A comparison between teacher's and pupil's perspectives in Italy. Eur J Psychol Educ 17, 393–406 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173593
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173593