Abstract

Background. The paper presents results of a study about perception of school bulling among Russian students. Being a type of aggressive behavior, bullying needs to be interrupted by psychologists, teachers and parents, preventive intervention is also required. However, there are few studies about dynamics of bulling perception in males and females a few years after graduation. It is during this period that not only participation, but also the intensity of the experience of school bullying as a significant event of the past, can affect the further choice of a career, success in life, and psychological and emotional state.

Objective. The study is aimed at solving several problems. The prevalence of different types of bullying (social aggression, verbal bullying, physical bullying, cyberbullying) in high school was analyzed, and bullying was assessed in terms of the distribution of roles. We also studied the influence of socio-demographic factors of bullying and conducted a comparative analysis of two age groups (high school students and primary school students) and a retrospective analysis of students' perception of school bullying.

Design. The sample included 700 junior students from a number of Russian cities (males – 12%; females – 88%). During the research, the following methods were used: online questionnaire, methods for evaluating bullying (Adolescent Peer Relation Instrument, Social Bullying Involvement Scales, Cyberbullying and Online Aggression Survey).

Findings show, that every second school student took part in school bulling, and there are positive correlations between bulling roles (aggressor, victim, witness). There are gender and socio-economic differences between respondents who were involved in bulling or avoided participation in bullying. With age, there is a tendency to decrease the number of respondents who participated in physical bullying, however, there is still a high percentage of participation in other types of bullying.

Conclusion. High level of adolescent bulling underscores the necessity of preventive intervention at school of including teenagers in bulling underscores the necessary of preventive intervention at schools.