Bullying Among Primary School Children in Athens, Greece

Abstract

Using a self-report bullying inventory, the extent and nature of bullying behaviour among primary Greek school children was investigated in a study of 1312 pupils between 8 and 12 years of age, in the greater Athens area. Overall, 14.7% of the children were self-reported as victims of bullying, 6.25% as bullies and 4.8% as both. Significantly more boys were self-identified as bullies and bully/victims. The two most common forms of bullying were 'name calling' and 'hitting and kicking'. Boy bullies engaged in more direct physical bullying, while girls bullied indirectly. There was a tendency for bullying to decrease with increasing age and take more indirect form. There was evidence of peer pressure as 33.5% reported being forced to join in bullying others.