Bullying: who does what, when and where? Involvement of children, teachers and parents in bullying behavior

TLDR

Bullying victimization is linked to multiple health problems, making its prevention a key priority for health and education professionals. The study surveyed 2,766 children from 32 Dutch elementary schools using a questionnaire that assessed bullying behaviors and the involvement of teachers, parents, and classmates. Results showed that bullying remains common, with more than 16 % of children aged 9–11 reporting regular victimization, many of whom do not inform teachers, and that teachers and parents rarely intervene effectively, highlighting the need for better communication and whole‑school anti‑bullying strategies.

Abstract

Bullying victimization is associated with several health issues. Prevention of bullying is therefore an important goal for health and education professionals. In the present study, 2766 children from 32 Dutch elementary schools participated by completing a questionnaire on bullying behavior, and the involvement of teachers, parents and classmates in bullying incidents. The results of this study show that bullying is still prevalent in Dutch schools. More than 16% of the children aged 9–11 years reported being bullied on a regular basis and 5.5% reported regular active bullying during the current school term. Almost half of the bullied children did not tell their teacher that they were being bullied. When teachers knew about the bullying, they often tried to stop it, but in many cases the bullying stayed the same or even got worse. With regard to active bullying, neither the majority of the teachers nor parents talked to the bullies about their behavior. Our results stress the importance of regular communication between children, parents, teachers and health care professionals with regard to bullying incidents. In addition, teachers need to learn effective ways to deal with bullying incidents. Schools need to adopt a whole-school approach with their anti-bullying interventions.