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What
is the role of peers in bullying?
A Canadian study found
that the behaviour of peers does seem to encourage bullying
incidents in the playground. During the incidents, 21% of
the time peers actively encouraged the bullying by joining
in physically or verbally. 54% of the time the peers 'passively
reinforced' the bully by just standing by and watching.
It is suggested that by standing and watching they were
providing the bully with an audience and also sending the
message (whether they realised it or not) that they supported
the bullying. Peers spent only 25% of the time trying to
stop the bullying.
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Article details
P O'Connell, D Pepler
and W Craig (1999) 'Peer Involvement in Bullying: insights
and challenges' in 'Journal of Adolescence', Volume 22,
pages 437-452.
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Over 6,000 children
took part in a study of bullying in Sheffield. When asked
what they did if they saw someone being bullied, 54% of
junior/middle school pupils and 34% of pupils from secondary
school said they did try to help that person. 27% of junior/middle
school children and 47 secondary school pupils said they
did nothing, but thought they should. However, some pupils
(19% in junior/middle school and 20% in secondary school)
said that they would do nothing because they thought it
had nothing to do with them. When they were asked if they
could join in bullying others approximately 16% of junior/middle
pupils and 25% of secondary pupils thought they could.
Article details
I Whitney and P Smith
(1993) 'A Survey of the Nature and Extent of Bullying in
Junior/Middle and Secondary Schools' in 'Educational Research',
Volume 35, Number 1, Spring.
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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.
In 1997, over 2,000
children in England were asked about bullying. When asked
about their reaction when they witnessed a bullying incident
almost half said they tried not to get involved. Fewer (34%)
said that they told the bullies to stop it. It was less
common to ask an adult to stop it. Some children (11%) admitted
that they had not joined in but they had enjoyed watching
it, while a fewer number admitted to actually joining in.
A small number said that they had been forced to join in.
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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, (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.
A study of over 500
pupils in Finland looked at what children in a group (for
example a school class) did when bullying occurred. It was
found that although most of the children were not directly
attacking the victim, most behaved in ways which allowed
the bullying to happen/made it possible. The study found
that some children in the group actively supported the bully,
some encouraged the bullying by standing and watching, perhaps
also laughing or jeering, some tried to stay out of things
and some took action to support the victim and to try to
the stop the bullying. The study also found that the children
were in some ways aware of the role they played in the group.
However they did not seem to realise the extent of their
participation in direct bullying behaviour, and tended to
think they defended the victim or stayed outside things
more than they actually did.
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Article details
C Salmivalli, K Lagerspetz,
K Björkqvist, K Österman and A Kaukiainen (1996)
'Bullying as a Group Process: participant roles and their
relations to social status within the group' in 'Aggressive
Behavior', Volume 22, pages 1-15.
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Graph
details
See figure 1, page
6 in the above article.
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 Author
details
Dr Christian Salmivalli
works at the Department of Psychology in the University
of Turku, Finland. Her research interests include aggression
in children and young people, bullying in school and interventions
to prevent it and also self-esteem and social skills. For
more information go
here.
Some reasons have
been suggested to explain why bystanders might be drawn
into bullying. It has been suggested that bystanders may
be influenced by bullies, especially if the bystander views
the bully as someone with qualities to be admired, for example
being fearless and strong. This influence will be more powerful
if the bystander has feelings of insecurity and does not
fit in particularly easily. Also, if it seems that the bully
has in some way been rewarded for his/her behaviour, the
bystander may be more likely to become involved. Another
suggestion for the changing role of the bystander is that
as part of a group, the bystander may feel less responsible
and less guilty for his/her own actions. Another possibility
put forward is that after watching the frequent humiliation
of the victim, classmates might come to view him/her negatively
and feel less sympathy and less guilt.
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 Article
details
D Olweus (1999) 'Sweden'
in P K Smith and others (editors) 'The Nature of School
Bullying: a cross-national perspective', London: Routledge.
Click the book graphic to buy this book online.
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Author
details
Professor Dan Olweus
was the first person to carry out a thorough research project
on  bullying.
This large, long term study which began in Sweden in 1970,
was to provide the inspiration for many who felt that bullying
in schools should be challenged rather than accepted. Since
the 1970s, his work in this area had continued with force.
Indeed, in 1997-99, he led a group in a large project which
introduced the widely respected Olweus (anti-bullying) programme
to schools in Norway. Professor Olweus is based at the Research
Centre for Health Promotion, University of Bergen in Norway
and can be contacted by email.
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