Explicating Bullying in Early Adolescence

Abstract

School Bullying is prevalent across all schools globally. Starting in the 1990s, various researches have been carried out in trying to understand and explain the characteristics of bullies and victims, the consequences of it and the like; however a clear understanding of exactly how this process unfolds is missing. The present study explicates the underlying process of bullying using interview narratives of six participants (four males, two females, mean age 12.34 years), selected by way of peer nominations (Introducing My Classmates, Gottheil & Dubow, 2001) from students of classes 6, 7 and 8 (n= 887; 481 males; 337 females; 59 students did not specify their gender; mean age 11.89 years). The results indicate that bullying results from interplay of factors arising within the situation as well as the characteristics of the individual. These findings have important implications for school psychology, developmental psychology and also at the policy making level.