Page 109 - Ana Kozina and Nora Wiium, eds. ▪︎ Positive Youth Development in Contexts. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2021. Digital Library, Dissertationes (Scientific Monographs), 42.
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venting bullying: peer culture as the crucial developmental context in adolescence
Bullying: a brief overview
Peer relationships are strong sources of joy, support and satisfaction yet
also distress in all periods of schooling. During adolescence, the impor-
tance and impact of experiences in the peer context for students’ well-being
increases. The experience of peer victimisation is one of the biggest sources
of distress that can happen within a peer context. Since bullying comes in
many forms and the experience of the victim is the key criterion to deter-
mine whether an imbalance of power exists between perpetrator and vic-
tim, bullying can prove very difficult to recognise (Salmivalli et al., 2011).
Understanding bullying as a phenomenon that reflects and co-shapes peer
dynamics in the classroom can significantly enhance efforts to prevent and
efficiently cope with bullying.
Bullying refers to a wide range of behaviours traditionally catego-
rised as three distinct forms: physical (e.g. hitting, kicking, pushing), ver-
bal (e.g. name-calling, threats) and relational bullying (e.g. social exclusion,
spreading rumours) (e.g. Marsh et al. 2011; Menesini and Salmivalli 2017;
Salmivalli et al., 2000). Recently, although cyberbullying has been added to
this categorisation, scientific consensus on whether cyberbullying may be
regarded as a distinctive form of bullying is still missing because this form
of bullying contains many characteristics of verbal and relational bullying.
Cyberbullying is typically defined as aggressive, intentional behaviour of
a group or individual using electronic forms of contact over an individual
who cannot easily defend him- or herself (Smith et al., 2008). The perpetra-
tor can act anonymously, making it more difficult for the victim to report
cyberbullying (DePaolis & Williford, 2015). In addition, since cyberbully-
ing is not limited to certain peer contexts, it can occur at any time of day or
night (Kowalski et al. 2018); the audience can hypothetically be much larg-
er than with traditional bullying (e.g. Nocentini et al., 2010). Yet, it should
be noted that traditional bullying is a strong predictor of cyberbullying (e.g.
Kowalski et al., 2014; Peras, 2019). This makes it reasonable to assume that
prevention and intervention efforts in the area of traditional bullying by
shaping an inclusive peer culture also help to prevent cyberbullying.
The term bullying refers to both bullying behaviour and victimisa-
tion; current conceptions of bullying consider victimisation and bully-
ing behaviour as orthogonal dimensions (Menesini & Salmivalli 2017;
Sanders & Phye 2004), whereas students can be high or low in both di-
mensions. Students low in both dimensions are conceptualised as bystand-
ers and recognised as significant participants in the dynamics of bullying.
109
Bullying: a brief overview
Peer relationships are strong sources of joy, support and satisfaction yet
also distress in all periods of schooling. During adolescence, the impor-
tance and impact of experiences in the peer context for students’ well-being
increases. The experience of peer victimisation is one of the biggest sources
of distress that can happen within a peer context. Since bullying comes in
many forms and the experience of the victim is the key criterion to deter-
mine whether an imbalance of power exists between perpetrator and vic-
tim, bullying can prove very difficult to recognise (Salmivalli et al., 2011).
Understanding bullying as a phenomenon that reflects and co-shapes peer
dynamics in the classroom can significantly enhance efforts to prevent and
efficiently cope with bullying.
Bullying refers to a wide range of behaviours traditionally catego-
rised as three distinct forms: physical (e.g. hitting, kicking, pushing), ver-
bal (e.g. name-calling, threats) and relational bullying (e.g. social exclusion,
spreading rumours) (e.g. Marsh et al. 2011; Menesini and Salmivalli 2017;
Salmivalli et al., 2000). Recently, although cyberbullying has been added to
this categorisation, scientific consensus on whether cyberbullying may be
regarded as a distinctive form of bullying is still missing because this form
of bullying contains many characteristics of verbal and relational bullying.
Cyberbullying is typically defined as aggressive, intentional behaviour of
a group or individual using electronic forms of contact over an individual
who cannot easily defend him- or herself (Smith et al., 2008). The perpetra-
tor can act anonymously, making it more difficult for the victim to report
cyberbullying (DePaolis & Williford, 2015). In addition, since cyberbully-
ing is not limited to certain peer contexts, it can occur at any time of day or
night (Kowalski et al. 2018); the audience can hypothetically be much larg-
er than with traditional bullying (e.g. Nocentini et al., 2010). Yet, it should
be noted that traditional bullying is a strong predictor of cyberbullying (e.g.
Kowalski et al., 2014; Peras, 2019). This makes it reasonable to assume that
prevention and intervention efforts in the area of traditional bullying by
shaping an inclusive peer culture also help to prevent cyberbullying.
The term bullying refers to both bullying behaviour and victimisa-
tion; current conceptions of bullying consider victimisation and bully-
ing behaviour as orthogonal dimensions (Menesini & Salmivalli 2017;
Sanders & Phye 2004), whereas students can be high or low in both di-
mensions. Students low in both dimensions are conceptualised as bystand-
ers and recognised as significant participants in the dynamics of bullying.
109
