Indirect bullying among 4-5 years old girls

Author(s):

Mai Brit Helgesen

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

05 SES 09, Children and Youth at Risk (Part 3)

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-12

10:30-12:00

Room:

B1 135

Chair:

Ruth Leitch

Contribution

Bullying in kindergarten is widespread and belongs to everyday life (Perren, 2000, Kochenderfer & Ladd 1996, Alsaker 1997, Midtsand, 2004). Kochenderfer and Ladd (1996) found that 22.6% of their sample of 5-6 years olds were victimized by peers in kindergarten. Another study from kindergarten found that bullying occurs quite frequently. 37% of the children were regularly and actively involved in bullying (Perren, 2000). Bullying in kindergarten can be seen as a category of aggressive behaviour in which there is an imbalance of power, and the aggressive act is repeated over time (Salmivalli 1996). Bullying is social in its nature, and takes place among children who are friends. Physical and verbal forms of bullying such as hitting and name calling were quite often reported. These direct forms of bullying were not the only forms. Also subtle negative behaviours, such as hurting other children’s social relationships or excluding children from peer activities were widespread. The focus in this paper is to understand how indirect bullying is produced in children’s play and what are the consequences for those involved. I will describe and discuss the different interactional styles or strategies in a peer group existing of four girls who are 4-5 years old.

Method

The method was naturalistic observations carried out in one kindergarten. The observation descriptions were presented as narratives.

Expected Outcomes

The forms of bullying in this peer group were harming other through purposeful manipulations and damage of their peer relationship. It was verbal and overt but also covert or indirect. Bullying occurs in a play-context and because children’s play used to be a voluntary activity, it is an effective context to cover the bullying and therefore difficult to discover for the teacher. At the first glance it looked like the children were peacefully playing but after a period of intensive observations the aggression was discovered. The bully had certain verbal and social skills to manage to manipulate the others in the group and the others lacked more or less this competence. The bullying process did not only involve the bully and the victim. Even if the others in the group did not participate in active bullying behaviour, they behaved in ways which make the beginning and continuation of the bullying process possible.

References

Alsaker, F (1997): Hva vet vi om mobbing i barnehagen? I Pettersen: Mobbing i barnehagen Sebu Forlag Björk, G: (1999): Mobbning – en fråga om makt. Lund Studentlittertur Craig,W., Pepler, D.: Understanding Bullying: From Research to Practice. Canadian Psychology; May 2007; 48,2 ProQuest Psychology Journals p. 86-93. Craig, W., Pepler, D., Atlas, R.: Observations of Bullying in the Playground and in the Classroom. School Psychology International 2000; 21; 22. Helgesen, M. B.: Mobbing i barnehagen. En studie av mobbing som strategisk maktutøvelse blant førskolebarn. HiF-rapport 2006:7. Kaukiainen, A. et al., 1999. The relationships between social intelligence, empathy, and three types of aggression. Aggressive Behavior, Volum 25, p. 81-89. Kochenderfer, B. J. & Ladd, G.W. (1996): Peer victimization: cause or consequence of school malajustment? Child development. Volum 67, p. 1307-1317. Midtsand, M (2004):Tiltak mot mobbing starter i barnehagen. DMMHs publikasjonsserie nr. 2 - 2004 Olweus, D (1994): Mobbing i skolen. Hva vet vi og hva kan vi gjøre? Universitetsforlaget Oslo Perren, S. (2000): Kindergarten children involved in bullying: Social behavior, peer relationships, and social status. Selbsverlag, Basel. Salmivalli, C.,Karhunen, J. and Lagerspetz, K (1996): How Do the Victims Respond to Bullying? Aggressive Behavior Vol. 22, pages 99-109. Underwood, Marion (2003): Social Aggression among girls. The Guilford Press, New York, London

Author Information

Mai Brit Helgesen

Finnmark College University

Faculty of Education and Liberal arts

Alta

158

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