Bullying and Submissive Behaviors among Turkish Adolescents

Author(s):

Gokhan AtikOnur OzmenGülsah Kemer Gökhan Atik

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

05 SES 06, Urban Education & Children and Youth at Risk

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-29

10:30-12:00

Room:

JUR, HS 15

Chair:

Ruth Leitch

Contribution

In the last decades, bullying among students has become one of the most considerable concern not only in western countries but also in Turkey (e.g. Barrio, Martín, Montero, Fernández, & Gutiérrez, 2001; Solberg & Olweus, 2003, Kepenekçi & Çınkır, 2006). It influences students’ well-being negatively and causes some problems, such as behavior problems, hyperactivity, conduct problems, peer problems, posttraumatic stress, depression and suicidal ideation, becoming violent and decreased academic achievement, etc. (e.g. Haynie, et al., 2001; Mynard, Joseph, & Alexandera, 2000). Studies conducted in Turkey report that bullying is a pervasive problem that needs to be addressed (Atik, 2006; Kapçı, 2004; Pişkin, 2006). Since that, the further understanding of bullying in schools deemed to be important. Therefore, the present study was aimed at investigating the prevalence and types of bullying among Turkish high school students and examining the differences in submissive behaviors according to gender (girls and boys) and bully categories (bully, victim, bully/victim, and not involved). The research questions of this study were as following: “What is the prevalence rates of bullying among Turkish high school students” and “Do the mean scores of submissive behaviors significantly differ according to gender and bully categories (not involved, victim, bully, bully/victim) among Turkish adolescents?”

Method

The sample consists of 400 students recruited from three high schools in Ankara, Turkey. Participants were selected through employing a convenient sampling method. 242 of the participants were males (60%) and 158 of the participants were females (40%). Age of participants ranged from 14 to 19 (M=15.99, SD=.964). The instruments used in this study were; The Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (Olweus, 1996; as cited in Dölek, 2002), Submissive Acts Scale (Gilbert & Allan, 1994) and a brief demographic information form including participants’ gender, age, and grade level. A 2 (gender: girls vs. boys) x 4 (bully category: bully, victim, bully/victim, and not involved) factorial ANOVA was performed to examine the mean differences in submissive behavior scores of Turkish adolescents. All statistical analyses were executed with utilizing SPSS 15.0.

Expected Outcomes

Of the total 400 students, 8% (n=31) were identified as bully, 20% (n=81) victim, 8% (n=31) bully/victim, and 64% (n=257) not involved. The results of factorial ANOVA indicated that there were significant mean differences on the submissive behavior scores of bully categories [F(3, 392)=2.85, p<.05]. Interaction effect of gender and bully categories was also significant [F(3, 392)=2.65, p<.05]. However, mean difference between girls and boys in terms of submissive behavior was found to be insignificant [F(1, 392)=.76, p<.05]. Furthermore, a post-hoc analysis was run to find out where the differences lie. Tukey’s test showed that there was significant mean difference between “victims” (n= 81) and “bullies” (n= 31) [MD=5.24, SE=2.00, p<.05]. Therefore, “victims” displayed more submissive behaviors than “bullies” did. It appears that these findings are congruent with the previous research findings. Results will be discussed in the context of prevalence of bullying and its associations with submissive behavior.

References

Atik, G. (2006). The role of locus of control, self-esteem, parenting style, loneliness, and academic achievement in predicting bullying among middle school students. Unpublished master thesis, Middle East Technical University, Ankara. Barrio, C. D., Martín, E., Montero, I., Fernández, I., & Gutiérrez, H. (2001). Bullying in Spanish secondary schools: A study on a national scale for the Ombudsman’s Report on school violence. The International Journal of Children’s Rights , 9, 241–257. Dölek, N. (2002). İlk ve orta öğretim okullarındaki öğrenciler arasında zorbaca davranışların incelenmesi ve “Zorbalığı önleme tutumu geliştirilmesi programı”nın etkisinin araştırılması. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Marmara University, Istanbul. Gilbert, P., & Allan, S. (1994). Assertiveness, submissive behavior and social comparison. British Journal of Clinical Psychology , 33, 295-306. Haynie, D. L., Nansel, T., Eitel, P., Crump, A. D., Saylor, K., Yu, K., et al. (2001). Bullies, victims, and bully/victims: Distinct groups of at risk youth. Journal of Early Adolescence , 21 (1), 29-49. Kapçı, E. G. (2004). İlköğretim öğrencilerinin zorbalığa maruz kalma türünün ve sıklığının depresyon, kaygı, ve benlik saygısıyla ilişkisi. Ankara Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Fakültesi Dergisi , 37 (1), 1-13. Kepenekçi, Y. K., & Çınkır, Ş. (2006). Bullying among Turkish high school students. Child Abuse and Neglect , 30, 193–204. Mynard, H., Joseph, S., & Alexandera, J. (2000). Peer-victimisation and posttraumatic stress in adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences , 29, 815-821. Pişkin, M. (2006). Akran zorbalığı olgusunun ilköğretim öğrencileri arasındaki yaygınlığının incelenmesi. I. Şiddet ve Okul: Okul ve Çevresinde Çocuğa yönelik Şiddet ve Alınabilecek Tedbirler Sempozyumu. İstanbul: Retrieved July 4, 2006, from http://iogm.meb.gov.tr/siddetveokul/AbstractsBooklet.pdf. Solberg, M. E., & Olweus, D. (2003). Prevalence estimation of school bullying with the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire. Aggressive Behavior , 29, 239-268.

Author Information

Gokhan Atik

Ankara University

Guidance and Psychological Counseling

Ankara

212

Onur Ozmen

Middle East Technical University

Educational Sciences

Ankara

212

Gülsah Kemer

The University of North Carolina, Greensboro, USA

Gökhan Atik

Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

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