Abstract
Background: Bullying has been recognized as an important risk factor for personal development in adolescence. Although numerous studies report high prevalence of bullying in Russian schools, limited research was based on the large-scale, nationally representative analysis, which highlights the lack of findings applicable to the national context.Objective: This study aims to address the following research questions: (1) What is the bullying victimization prevalence in Russian secondary schools? (2) What is the socio-demographic profile of the bullying victims? (3) To what extent do learning outcomes in core subject domains predict bullying? (4) How does psychological climate at school affect the occurrence of bullying? (5) Which emotional states do bullying victims typically display? (6) Which psychosocial traits are the most common for bullying victims?Data and Methods: The study adopts the statistical analysis of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data in Russia. The final sample consists of 6,249 children aged 15 years who answered the bullying questions. K-means clustering approach was adopted to identify schoolchildren who should be classified as bullying victims amongst those who have reported bullying. Logistic regression was used to estimate the probability change of bullying under different psychosocial factors and examine the effect of bullying on the emotional states of the victims.Results: The results of the study reveal that 16% of children are victims of bullying in the Russian secondary school. Bullying is strongly associated with learning outcomes in reading, thus outlining that low performers are at risk of severe victimization. Bullying is also contingent on the psychological climate and tends to develop more frequently in a competitive environment. The findings outline that bullying increases negative feelings such as misery, sadness, and life dissatisfaction amongst its victims, making a substantial footprint on their lives. Logically, bullying victims are less likely to feel happy and joyful. Finally, it was revealed that bullying victims do not tend to share negative attitudes to the per se, which identifies directions for future research in this domain.Implications: Instead of dealing with the consequences of bullying, prevention strategies should aim at facilitating a positive environment at school, thus addressing the problem.
Highlights
In 2015, while approving Sustainable Development Goals
The results of our analysis suggest that one out of six 15year-old children in Russian secondary schools is a victim of bullying
Calculations on Russian data go in line with the OECD countries as bullied students tend to report feeling sad, scared and less satisfied with life, and demonstrate a weaker sense of school belonging than their peers who are less bullied
Summary
In 2015, while approving Sustainable Development Goals The psychological needs for inclusive and safe education are often not met in many contexts where children still become victims of bullying, abuse, or even violence. Research confirms that often times, bullying takes place amongst classmates (Salmivalli and Voeten, 2004; Pecjak and Pirc, 2017; Nesterova and Grishina, 2018). It occurs as a result of asymmetric power balance between the perpetrators and victims. Accounting for a variety of definitions, we look at bullying as a “longstanding violence, physical or psychological, conducted by an individual or a group, and directed against an individual who is not able to defend himself in the actual situation” Numerous studies report high prevalence of bullying in Russian schools, limited research was based on the large-scale, nationally representative analysis, which highlights the lack of findings applicable to the national context
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