Ways to explain bullying: dimensional analysis of the conceptions held by adolescents

Oliveira, Wanderlei Abadio de; Silva, Jorge Luiz da; Braga, Iara Falleiros; Romualdo, Claudio; Caravita, Simona Carla Silvia; Silva, Marta Angélica Iossi

doi:10.1590/1413-81232018233.10092016

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ARTICLE • Ciênc. saúde colet. 23 (3) • Mar 2018 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232018233.10092016 copy

Ways to explain bullying: dimensional analysis of the conceptions held by adolescents

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Abstract

This study unveils the meaning attributed by students to bullying and contributes to the approach of student health. The objective was to identify the dimensions of the conceptions of students regarding bullying. A total of 55 students from 11 public schools participated by answering semi-structured interviews. Dimensional analysis was used to treat data and a matrix was constructed with the dimensions identified. The Grounded Theory was adopted as the methodological and theoretical framework. The adolescents were aware of the main dimensions of bullying but explained it descriptively and from individual perspectives. The following dimensions were identified: type, nature, examples, motivation and consequences. The type of violence was a dimension with greater explanatory power in relation to the remaining dimensions. Verbal violence and its different manifestations stood out. Aspects of the literature that define bullying were identified, indicating how the topic is diffused, its occurrence and how it is understood by students. The innovative nature of this study is its focus on the identification of the dimensions of bullying present in the narrative of Brazilian students. It is an approach that contributes to the organization of healthcare programs and interventions in different fields.

School health; Violence; Bullying; Adolescent health; Qualitative research

Type of involvement	Examples in the study
Witnesses	They cursed a girl, they kept calling names. There was a kid who even beat her. I went and stayed between them... [Because] I do not think that’s right, I do not think it’s right to hit someone, let alone a woman. It does not matter who (A3S1). A boy, I do not know what it was ... If he did not dress well, I do not know if the people did not like him, by the way he was, I think, and they beat him (A29S7). I did not do anything because I did not have much access to that person. And the person, too, was kind of outsider. If they were friends of mine who were shunning the person I would tell them not to do that with the person (A49S11).
Bullied only	[The school] is a little annoying, because most of the time there are a lot of people who keep cursing, cursing me, making fun of me, but I do not even care. [Talking] About my hair. They keep calling me names in the classroom (A6S2). I was fat and they would make a lot of jokes about me: “he’s fat, whatever...”. [...] There was a June party, I was without a partner and the teacher took me from room to room to get a partner [...] It ended up that I did not even dance (A42S10). Because I was afraid no one would like me (A23S6).
Bullied and bully	So I’ve hit a boy once. Because he was the one who had started [...] He began to hit me, I don’t remember why, then I retaliated, instead of going to the office [...] He teased me and I did not like it, I got angry and I ended up losing my mind (A8S3).
Bully only	Just to pick on [...]. In the case of A. [the other student], it was really for no specific reason, we would pick on her. Then she just retaliated and we hit her. [...] I do not know why, but it was good and bad. Because, it was good to see her crying, because she was irritating, but it was bad to see her crying, I felt pity (A4S2). To attack, no, I never got involved in a fight at school [...] But, picking on someone, to humiliate, yeas, I’ve already done that. [...]It’s like, the guy does not comb his hair, so you call it that ‘train’ all the time, all day long, until he gets crazy in the head. [...] There the person, I don’t know, it’s like you enter his mind, and he goes crazy, he cries... I’ve already done that, make the person cry. At the time I thought it was funny, everyone was laughing (A9S3).

Dimension	Examples in the study
Type of violence	It is name-calling, picking on people’s defects, hitting (A6S2). It is the person who is rejected by friends. Lowered to the other colleagues to feel they are a bit superior (A1S1). It is something that the person has never troubled anyone[...], then someone comes and starts to offend her, horribly, with pejorative names[...]. It’s repetitive. It happens every day (A13S5). It is disrespecting a person for the simple fact that he is different from you and others. Because he has a different style, or he thinks differently, I will shun him. Mistreat the person because she is not like us (A46S10). When we begin to subdue, oppress, someone who has the right to express himself in society. To shun the person. To oppress [...] (A52S11).
Nature	Bullying is you saying something racist to the guy. To curse, to call him names that he doesn’t like [...]. To offend is bullying (A8S3).
Examples	It’s like, people call me Zacharias, I’m not going to lie, I don’t like it. Even though it’s a joke. In general, it’s to go there call a person with names, mistreat her, and she shows that she doesn’t like what you’ve done and you insist (A7S3). I remember that once I went to the vacation colony of the complex [school], and there were only lean girls, those things. [...]They wanted to beat me because they wanted to steal the teacher’s cell phone and I said I was not going to, so they said, ‘Ah, you’re a coward, chubby’ (A32S9).
Motivation	When the person doesn’t like the person who is black, people do not accept when a woman likes another woman, men with men (A27S7). Students who feel superior to others come together to mistreat someone who they find to be inferior (A30S7). An offense, disrespect. An anger that the person has and casts in the other person. This person who is a bully, what is it that is going on in her home, in her life? (A45S10). A person who feels good about mistreating the other, hurting, making him to suffer, really [...] (A51S11).
Consequences	[Bullying is] Just sadness. [...] It is very sad that you be a victim of bullying and in a while you meet the person and not befriend her (A55S11). They are offenses to the colleague or friend, that cause depression, it may even lead to suicide (A3S1). Bullying is a very bad thing. The colleague may feel sad, feel hurt, and even give in to depression (A26S6). The person feels like mutilating herself; that person starts to want to do that (A13S5). I did not come back there [school activity]. [...]Because I was afraid that they would hit me or make me do other things [...] (A32S9). I think the person who is a bully also needs help (A45S10).

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[1] Collaborations

WA Oliveira coordinated the working group, worked on the design, analysis and interpretation of the data, and drafted the main and the final text. JL Silva, IF Braga and C Romualdo participated in the systematization and analysis of the data and critical review of the manuscript. SCS Caravita guided the development of the research, contributed to the final review and approval of the manuscript. MAI Silva guided the design and development of the research, contributed to the analysis of the data and revised and approved the final version of the manuscript.