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“That Could Be Me Squishing Chips on Someone’s Car.” How Friends Can Positively Influence Bullying Behaviors

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Abstract

Semi-structured one-on-one interviews with a purposive sample of 51 grade 7 students (12 years old) who reported bullying others explored what might encourage students to stop bullying others. The theoretical perspectives of symbolic interactionism, in particular the development of self and definition of the situation, were used to inform this study. Dissonance theory was used to understand how students felt about their bullying behaviors. The theme of peer group emerged as an influence when considering desisting bullying others. Feelings of dissonance reinforced by peers and the need to be accepted by peers facilitated positive changes if significant peers disapproved of bullying. Some students changed friendship groups to move away from negative situations, representing significant development of self. School-based programs can work to enhance the positive influence of prosocial students, to focus on the development of self, and to reduce the social status achieved by some through bullying others.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Stacey Waters and Erin Erceg for their contributions to the management and data collection for this project and to the other members of the management committee for the Friendly Schools, Friendly Families (FSFF) Project. Thanks to the FSFF study schools and their staff, parents, and students. The FSFF Project was funded by the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation (Healthway).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, School of Public Health, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U198, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia

    Sharyn Burns

  2. Child Health Promotion Research Centre, School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, 6018, Australia

    Donna Cross

  3. Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, School of Public Health, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U198, Perth, WA, 6845, Australia

    Bruce Maycock

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  1. Sharyn Burns
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  2. Donna Cross
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  3. Bruce Maycock
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Correspondence to Sharyn Burns.

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Burns, S., Cross, D. & Maycock, B. “That Could Be Me Squishing Chips on Someone’s Car.” How Friends Can Positively Influence Bullying Behaviors. J Primary Prevent 31, 209–222 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-010-0218-4

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