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Who
do children tell when they are being bullied?
A 1989 Scottish study
of bullying found that half the victims had told no one
about being bullied. Of the children who had confided in
someone, 47% had told a parent and 31% a teacher.
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Article details
A Mellor (1997) 'Bullying
in Scottish Secondary Schools', SCRE Spotlight, Number 23.
Available to download
online here.
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Author details
 At
the time of the study, Andrew Mellor was a practising teacher
who had received funding from the Scottish Education Department
to carry out this project. He has been actively involved
in anti-bullying work in Scotland for almost 15 years, speaking
at conferences, writing for academic and non-academic audiences
and running in-service courses for teachers. He is now manager
of the Anti-Bullying Network, which is funded by the Scottish
Executive and based at The University of Edinburgh.
Over 16,000 children
in Strathclyde, Scotland answered questions about bullying.
It was found that Primary 5 pupils were more likely to tell
their parents than their teachers about bullying. In P6/7,
the children were still more likely to tell their parents
than their teachers, but it had become less common to tell
either parents or school staff. Both girls and boys became
less likely to confide in their parents or school as they
moved up into secondary school, but the reluctance was particularly
evident in boys. It was suggested that this drop might have
something to do with the increased importance of the peer
group at this time.
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Article details
A McLean (about 1994)
'Bullyproofing Our School - what do the pupils think?',
unpublished report. Reference copy held by the Anti-Bullying
Network. This article can be viewed here.
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 Author
details
At the time of this
study, Alan McLean was Principal Psychologist based at the
Education Department Psychological Service in the former
Strathclyde Regional Council. His particular interests in
the area of bullying include: links between bullying and
motivation; the thinking processes and self-esteem of the
bully.
He can be contacted
at by email.
In a Scottish study,
over 800 children from primary and secondary schools in
North Lanarkshire and Aberdeenshire answered questions about
bullying. It was found that most of the pupils (78%) who
said they had been subjected to peer aggression (usually
one-off aggressive behaviour) or bullying (repeated aggression)
had told someone about it. It was found to be much more
likely for girls to tell someone than boys. It was also
more likely for primary school children to tell than secondary
school children. When they asked for help children would
most frequently turn to a family member, this was closely
followed by turning to a friend. Of the three groups suggested,
they indicated that they were least likely to tell a teacher.
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Article details
S Hunter, J M E Boyle
and D Warden ( 2002) 'Help Seeking Amongst Child and Adolescent
Victims of Peer-Aggression and Bullying: the influence of
school-stage, gender, victimisation, appraisal and emotion'.
Overheads from presentation at the BPS Developmental Section
Conference at the University of Sussex, 5-8 September 2002.
To obtain a copy of the overheads please contact Simon
Hunter at the Department of Psychology at the University
of Strathclyde. The Anti-Bullying Network at Edinburgh University
has a reference copy.
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 Author
details
Simon Hunter is a
PhD student and research assistant based in the Psychology
Department at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.
He has published a number of papers on different aspects
of bullying including coping strategies and help seeking.
Simon may be contacted by email.
Over a number of years
in the 1990s, more than 26,000 Australian children provided
information about bullying. Their answers revealed that
both boys and girls are most likely to tell friends about
bullying, then their mother, then their father and lastly
their teachers. If bullying becomes more frequent, the likelihood
of telling someone also increases. Sadly, approximately
40% of boys and 25% of girls who are bullied every week
do not tell their friends, even more feel unable to confide
in their parents. The studies also found that as children
grow older they become less likely to tell. The exception
was that girls were more likely to tell their friends as
they grew older.
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Article details
K Rigby 'What Children
Tell Us About Bullying in Schools', in, 'Children Australia'
(1997) 22, 2, 28-34. Available to read online here.
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Graph
details
See Table 3, 'Percentages
of children who have been bullied and have told about it,
according to person told, and gender and age group of informant',
within the above article. Follow the online link.
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Author details
 Ken
Rigby is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Social Psychology
and an educational consultant at the University of South
Australia. He has been involved in major studies of bullying
in Australia and has published widely on this topic. For
more information about Dr Rigby and his work see the
bullying pages here. Ken may be contacted by e-mail.
In the 1990s, children
from 25 secondary schools in England were asked about bullying.
Their answers revealed that if they were being bullied it
was most common for them to turn to a best friend for help.
It was also found that children were more likely to turn
to their mother rather than father in the home and if approaching
a member of staff in the school, it was most likely to be
their form tutor.
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Article details
D Glover, G Gough,
M Johnstone and N Cartwright (2000) 'Bullying in 25 Secondary
Schools: incidence, impact and intervention', in 'Educational
Research', Volume 42, Number 2, Summer.
In 1997, over 2,000
children in England answered questions about bullying. In
response to a question which asked bullied children if they
had told anyone about it, many (30%) said they had not.
It was also found that it was more likely for boys and for
older children to keep silent. Of the children who did tell
someone, 45% said they told a member of the family. This
was closely followed by telling friends and then school
staff (35%).
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Article details
P K Smith and Shu
Shu (2000) 'What Good Schools Can Do About Bullying: findings
from a survey in English schools after a decade of research
and action', in 'Childhood', Volume 7, Issue 2.
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Author details
 Professor
Peter K Smith is Head of the Unit for School and Family
Studies, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, London.
He has been involved in bullying research for a number of
years and has published widely on this topic.
Peter Smith may be
contacted by email,
and the website of the Unit for School and Family Studies
at Goldsmiths College may be found
here.
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