Identifying The Contextual Factors Of Indirect Bullying Situations That Influence Canadian Teachers' Intervention Behaviour

Abstract

Indirect bullying is a form of peer victimization that is observed as frequently occurring in both males and females yet is often overlooked by teachers. Nine bullying situation characteristics were created, which contained 3 to 4 descriptive levels. These bullying situation characteristics were then used to create unique randomly generated questionnaires consisting of 17 unique choice tasks. One hundred and ninety four teachers participated. Using latent class analysis two segments with different influences on intervention were identified. The Group 1 segment teachers (28%) were found to be less influenced by specific information regarding bullies and victims while making intervention decisions and instead assimilated more elements of a bullying situation into consideration. Furthermore, these teachers were found to be more sensitive to covert acts of indirect bullying. The Group 2 segment teachers (72%) decisions were more influenced by the vulnerability of the child who is victimized as well as to physical components of bullying situations. These findings indicate that there is a need for greater focus on the vulnerability of children who bully as well as greater emphasis on indirect bullying within bullying prevention training for teachers.