Dear Readers
One of the negativities that has become widespread in our schools in recent years is peer bullying. This disease, which has a tendency towards aggression and violence in its background, causes great harm to the mental development of our children. The marginalizing and violent political debates in the country, the unrest at home, and the pressure created by financial difficulties trigger bullying behavior in students.
Bullying Concept
There are many definitions of bullying. It can be defined as a behavior that is intended to hurt or disturb, that recurs over time and that develops within an imbalance of power between someone who is stronger and someone who is weaker. Name-calling, belittling, verbally threatening, making fun of, hitting, excluding, insulting, humiliating others, intentionally damaging their belongings, taking their money and belongings by intimidating them are some of the bullying behaviors (Pişkin, 2002).
Roland (1989) defines bullying as the long-term and systematic use of physical or psychological violence by another individual or individuals against an individual who cannot defend himself/herself during events.
Bullying is defined as the behavior of intentionally harming others through verbal attacks, physical abuse, or manipulation, which is a more subtle form of pressure (www.wikipedia.org).
Bullying is a serious problem that can affect people in any environment, at one time or another, regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status or religious beliefs, and is widespread all over the world. In recent years, the prevalence of bullying in schools has threatened the physical and psycho-social health of children and young people.
According to Due et al. (2005), it is necessary to accept that bullying at school is a serious cause of trauma for students, that its effects are not limited to the school period but last a lifetime, and that it has a serious negative impact on public health (www.bullyingcourse.com).
According to Besag (1995), bullying is a repeated physical or psychological, social or verbal attack by a powerful individual or individuals for their own gain or pleasure with the intention of causing distress to those who are powerless to resist (cited in Çayırdağ, 2006).
According to Olweus (1993), bullying is the prolonged and sustained exposure of an individual to negative behavior by another individual or group. According to Harris & Petrie (2003), bullying is when a single stronger student or a group of students deliberately inflicts environmentally damaging aggressive behaviors on a weaker student or group of students without any provocative reason (cited in İrfaner, 2009).
According to Yeşildal (2005), bullying is malicious, hostile, spiteful, humiliating, cruel, continuous or repetitive destructive behaviors against another individual.
Herris Petrie (2003) states that bullying manifests itself in two ways:
a. Direct Bullying It includes mocking, teasing, name-calling, unfairly criticizing, threatening, harassing with obscene gestures and threatening looks, hitting, using or threatening to use weapons, stealing or hiding someone else's property.
b. Indirect Bullying: Includes behaviors such as influencing others to ridicule or tease the individual, calling the individual derogatory names, unfairly criticizing or physically harming the individual, spreading rumors about others, willfully ignoring the individual or individuals, anonymous phone calls, willfully excluding others from the group.
Bullying, which is seen as a different form of aggression, is a very problematic situation in terms of human relations. For this reason, in order to better understand bullying, the underlying aggression tendency should be examined well.
The Concept of Aggression
Aggression occurs in the form of a behavior form that is more likely to intentionally cause pain and harm to living beings and is seen as one of the forms of violence (Aronson et al., 2012). Anger that occurs in situations such as being blocked, threatened and attacked can turn into aggression. The aggression that anger can cause can be defined as an emotional state that can result in violence. Different factors such as the culture in which the individual lives, past experiences and education level are determinant in the severity and consequences of anger (Yener, 2023).
As the definitions of aggression make clear, hurting or harming can be physical or psychological. At this point, it is necessary to distinguish between violence and aggression. Violence is an intentional act of serious physical harm (Feldman, 1998). Violence, then, is only physical. Aggression, on the other hand, can be both active, physical violence and passive, verbal or otherwise. For example, the behavior of a teacher who constantly ignores one of the students in class discussions is passive aggression. Passive aggression is defined as inaction that aims to harm the other person even though no action is taken (Bilgin, 2000).
Identifying behavioral problems such as aggression at an early age is also very important in terms of understanding the adaptation problems of individuals and the socialization process. There are many factors underlying the tendency to violence and aggressive behaviors in individuals. The main factors that cause aggression are family relationships and challenging childhood experiences in the family. (Cited in Yeğen, 2008).
Authoritarian, inconsistent, lack of control and negative parental attitudes increase children's tendency towards aggression, crime and anti-social behaviors (Cited in Yeğen, 2008). All forms of violence affect children and adolescents psychologically and violence in the family, school and society pushes them to be more aggressive and commit crimes (Arıkan, 2007: 46).
Kulaksızoğlu (2005) sees aggression as one of the main adaptation and behavioral disorders seen in children and adolescents. Recent rapid changes in science and technology, irregular urbanization and unemployment, rapid industrialization, inequality in income distribution, migration from villages to cities, deterioration of tradition, shaking of traditions make people more hopeless than before and make them prone to aggression and violence (Geçtan, 2020; Kılıççı, 2006; Yörükoğlu, 2000).
School/Peer Bullying
According to Olweus (1993), school bullying can be defined as a student being subjected to both deliberate and persistent aggressive behaviors by another student or group of students and being unable to defend himself/herself against these behaviors.
School bullying generally occurs in four different types: verbal, physical, relational and cyber violence among students (Zhang et al., 2019).
Students who are exposed to such behaviors experience sadness and pain, and may experience fear and anxiety because they are unable to resist the bully. School bullying, which is generally experienced among adolescents, can have negative effects for the perpetrators as well as the victims. These problematic behaviors, which can pave the way for school failure, can also have negative effects on positive social behavior skills and psychological well-being (Burnukara & Uçanok, 2012).
Bullying at school, which is also called peer bullying, is generally defined as verbal, physical and psychological attacks or intimidation that the stronger of the children, who have a power imbalance between them both physically and psychologically without provocation, intentionally, maliciously, deliberately, systematically, at certain time intervals, aiming to create fear and anxiety in the victim or to cause harm (Olweus 1994; Schwartz et al. 1997; Pellegrini 1998; Salmivalli 1999; Baldry & Farington 2000;Akgün 2005)
The psycho-social development of victimized students who are exposed to bullying at school can be negatively affected in later ages after their education period (Gaffney et al., 2019). School bullying, which harms both the personality development and academic success of individuals, can lead to lack of self-confidence, introversion and depressive behaviors in social life (Ünalmış & Şahin, 2012; Gürhan, 2017).
Undoubtedly, the most common type of violence in schools around the world is student-on-student violence. According to Debarbeieux (2003), student-on-student violence can be expressed in the form of peer harassment, rude behavior and minor incidents of violence (Debarbieux, 2003).
Kochenfender & Ladd (1977) state that the interaction between the bully and the victim starts in kindergarten and is reinforced in primary and high school years. Negative experiences in school environments cause students to become disenchanted with school and reading and to withdraw from school. Bullying behavior is one of the most important events that may cause students to become disenchanted with and disengage from school (Pişkin & Ayaz, 2011:2).
Koç (2007) categorized the reasons that cause school bullying under two headings; the first one is, self-esteem levellow or high, generalized or persistent anger personality traits The second is the physical and psychological reasons stemming from the student himself/herself and the second is the reasons stemming from the environment, especially the family and the school, other than the student himself/herself. He states that social reasons are more determinative than personal reasons in the emergence of bullying at school.
Students who are exposed to bullying behaviors have physical and mental problems affecting developmental areas, difficulties in focusing and fear of school, bedwetting, sleep and eating problems, head and abdominal pains, depression and low self-esteem in adulthood, and low social adaptation (Banks, 1997; Bernstein & Watson, 1997; Rigby, 2002; Olweus, 2005).
Forms of School Bullying:
Forms of school bullying are categorized as physical, social/verbal, relational and cyber bullying.
a)Physical bullying: Interventions such as hitting, shoving, taking away or breaking things are the most common forms of bullying.
b)Verbal bullying: Verbal attacks such as insults, name-calling, ridicule, humiliation and threats are also very hurtful. The effect on self-perception is the most destructive effect.
c)Social/Relational bullying: Exposure to experiences such as spreading rumors, embarrassment and exclusion from the group has an impact on a person's social life and should be well monitored.
d) Cyberbullying: This form of bullying, which is done remotely using technology, such as threatening or sending harassing messages over the Internet, seems to be very difficult to prevent.
Olweus (2003) defines the concept of “school bullying”, which is referred to in the Turkish literature as peer harassment, school bullying or peer bullying, as “long-term aggression, excessive and systematic use of power”. According to Olweus (2003), school bullying decreases students' school achievement, leads to deterioration in psychological health, triggers an increase in school absenteeism and dropouts, affects loss of self-confidence and in some cases leads to events that end with the victim's suicide.
When evaluating bullying incidents, the different roles that emerge in these incidents should be taken into account. These roles are defined by Olweus (1991) as impulsive, aggressive, non-empathic, physically strong bullies; (2009) defined as ’children with high levels of anxiety, low levels of self-esteem, living in fear, extroverted, sociable, excluded from the group and complaining of insecurity“. Victims; more rejected by their peers; both involved in bullying behaviors and targets of such behaviors bully-victims (Uludağlı & Uçanok, 2005); protecting the victim and opposing the bully defenders (Kartal & Bilgin, 2008); witnessing any bullying incident with Audience (Karataş and Öztürk, 2009).
Except for the defenders, all of the roles mentioned above have a negative impact on personality development. There is no chance for anyone to benefit from the education given in schools where there is not enough work to prevent peer bullying.
It is suggested that students exposed to bullying experience anxiety, anger, being pushed out of the group, feelings of loneliness and helplessness, reluctance to go to school, increase in school absenteeism, preference to stay at home, decrease in academic achievement and self-esteem, emergence of some chronic diseases, and in some cases, suicide attempts (Pişkin, 2002; Midgett et al., 2018; Bowes, 2019).
School bullying can also be considered as a form of workplace violence for teachers. Teachers are occasionally subjected to violence by students and their relatives in the schools where they work. Teachers should take precautions against such attacks at school or outside the school.
In the report published by the World Health Organization (2019) on the prevention of bullying behavior in schools develop life skills that are effective, teach students safe behaviors, fight to change cultural and societal norms and promote equal relationships three important strategies have been adopted (WHO, 2019).
Although school-based studies are generally emphasized to prevent bullying in our country (Albayrak, 2016; Ayaz Alkaya & Avşar, 2018; Karataş, 2011), the number of studies on cyberbullying has increased in recent years (Nedim Bal & Kahraman, 2015; Özbay, 2017; Altundağ, 2018; Akyüz & Koç, 2020; Yurdakul, 2020).
Many factors such as the social environment, family and school climate play a role in the occurrence of bullying behavior. Therefore, there is a need for interdisciplinary teamwork such as school counselors, psychologists, nurses, and social workers to prevent bullying behavior (Arslan & Akın, 2016; Akcan & Ergun, 2019; Yelboğa & Koçak, 2019).
The first thing to be done for schools to achieve their educational goals is to create environments that do not produce crime and violence. What needs to be done in order to prevent violence at school or violent incidents perpetrated by students in a timely manner are generally listed as follows (Parladır, 2009):
a) Increasing students' commitment to school,
b) Developing social responsibility projects that students, school staff and teachers will carry out together,
c) Providing serious counseling services to the families of problem students,
d) It can be stated as ensuring that the media acts with a sensitive broadcasting approach regarding violent images (Parladır, 2009).
In the primary protection of measures to be taken against violence, first of all, it is necessary to create an environment where violence is never tolerated, to criminalize the incidents of violence, regardless of the type of violence, and to establish the necessary legal infrastructure in this regard (Dursun, 2012). In the studies conducted to prevent aggression at school, it is also very important to gain the skills of coping with peer pressure and saying no. It can be suggested that the training of these skills in practices should also include studies aimed at preventing aggression and violence in schools.
In addition, careful application of cognitive-behavioral techniques can be recommended for adolescents to gain awareness of dysfunctional automatic thoughts that trigger aggression and to change these thoughts (Yavuzer et al., 2014).
Research has shown that the most effective methods for preventing violence in schools are zero tolerance programs (79.3 percent) and conflict resolution programs (65.2 percent). It is necessary to prevent incidents of violence in schools with proactive approaches before they occur and to take measures to prevent violence.
In order to prevent violence, open communication and close cooperation between administrators, teachers, students, parents and other school personnel should be emphasized. Establishing trusting and supportive ties between school staff and students is important in preventing violence.
In most cases of crime and violence, there are early signs of recognition and warning signs. Systematic observation of children in their environment can help to detect changes in their behavior and identify those who may cause problems.
School activities should aim at satisfying students' basic needs for love, unconditional acceptance, control, freedom and fun. Emphasis should be placed on cooperative learning, and teachers should enable students to satisfy their needs, which are diverse and are satisfied in different ways, in accordance with their individual differences.
Students should be encouraged to express themselves in a free environment and their thoughts should be listened to carefully. Teachers should avoid traditional oppressive punishment methods, value students' personal experiences, and set clear, consistent and objective classroom rules (Korkut, 2004).
Today, there is a tendency to develop strategies to intervene after acts of violence and bullying have occurred. However, it is argued that it will be necessary to create new initiatives based on preventing serious or repetitive incidents before they occur and that it is important to analyze the causes of bullying, especially in schools, to plan and implement appropriate interventions in the problem area and to disseminate the results (www.meb.gov.tr).
It is stated that students can develop healthier relationships throughout their lives if the situations that cause bullying are understood, the most appropriate interventions for the identified problem area are planned and implemented in advance. Since bullying occurs as a form of aggression, students should first be trained in areas such as anger management and control, strategies for coping with stress, and positive communication skills. When bullying occurs, interventions should be made by a multidisciplinary team consisting of school staff, school guidance services, psychologists, school nurses and physicians, and rehabilitation programs should be prepared and implemented for bullying and bullied students (Özdinçer Arslan & Savaşer, 2009).