Teens Explain Bullying

Bullying is a phenomenon that exists in all societies, and it might follow you even after you finish school, but since it all starts there, a team of scientists thought it might be a good idea to ask teenagers more about it.

176 Swedish high school students, aged 15 and 16 years old, took part at the study, and it seems that individual traits are the main reasons for bullying.

The students filled out a questionnaire asking them about their own school bullying experiences – whether they were bystanders, victims and/or bullies, and they also had to explain why they thought bullying occurs.

This study was led by Dr. Robert Thornberg and Sven Knutsen from Linköping University in Sweden, and it concluded that the reasons for which bullying occurs are linked to both the bully and the victim's individual characteristics, rather than the social environment.

The results concluded that 69% of teens blame the bully, and they say the main causes are the bullies' inner flaws – like insecurity and low self-esteem, and their desire to maintain or expand their power, their status, and their popularity.

Oddly enough, 42% of adolescents, mostly boys though, blamed the victim, and the justification was that the person was 'different' or 'odd'.

Only 21% of teens blamed the peer group for the bullying, 7% blamed the school and fewer blamed human nature or society.

This is one of the rare studies investigating young people's views on why bullying takes place in school.

Thornberg and Knutsen concluded that “teenagers explain bullying significantly more in individualistic terms, that is, the bully or victim is to blame, than in non-individualistic terms where peers, school or society are to blame.

“These findings have important implications for prevention and intervention efforts designed to reduce bullying among children and adolescents.

“Bullying prevention efforts should investigate and target teenagers' conceptions of the causes of bullying."

The study is published online in Springer's journal, Child & Youth Care Forum.