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Bullying im klassenverbnd Doch Nicht Nur in Der Schule
Background: Bullying is an aggressive pattern of behavior that is directed against
weaker members of a group. The present empirical study examines bullying as a
group phenomenon and addresses the question which roles are taken by different
members of a school class and how they can be characterized. The particular
focus is on social-cognitive and affective reactions to bullying, taking into account
school bullying as well as cyber bullying.
Methods: For this purpose, two measurements have been developed and tested
in pilot studies: The RoleGrid – a peer nomination questionnaire capturing the
roles in different forms of bullying – and the SCARB questionnaire for the socialcognitive and affective reactions to bullying. In the main study both instruments
were combined in a sample of 1174 pupils from grades six to ten. Bullies, victims,
reinforcers, defenders, and passive bystanders were identified and characterized
in terms of empathy, moral disengagement, sense of responsibility, defender selfefficacy, and apprehensions via multilevel analysis.
Results: Consistent with expectations, defenders report more empathy, feelings
of responsibility, and self-efficacy as well as less moral disengagement compared to the other roles, especially the bullies. However, no differences regarding
apprehensions were found. Furthermore, associations with sociodemographic and
sociometric variables are presented.
Discussion: The results of the present study confirm that bullying should be
considered as a group phenomenon in which different members of the class
take different roles. Bullying within the school class is not restricted to the
school grounds, but takes place via digital media, too. Therefore, prevention at
school should include the whole class and it should also address cyberbullying.
Moreover, the findings imply that social-cognitive and affective reactions are a
promising starting point to modify bystander behavior
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