Divergence in aggressors' and victims' perceptions of bullying: A decisive factor for differential psychosocial intervention

Abstract

The study of children' and adolescents' perceptions of bullying has become a topic of particular interest in the scientific community as it enables one to better understand the processes of aggression and victimization, and consequently the emergence of new perspectives that will allow anti-bullying programs to be better matched to their targets. This paper analyzes adolescents' perceptions of bullying and the forms in which it is manifest, finding a difference between the perceptions held by aggressors and victims. It also examines the influence of the factor 'frequency of aggression' on those perceptions. The data acquisition instrument was a questionnaire applied to a sample of 2295 teenagers ( M = 13.8, SD = 1.4). The results show that the victims' sole criterion for their conceptualization and identification of bullying is the 'intent to cause harm'. The aggressors, however, stress the criterion of 'power imbalance' rather than 'intent to harm'. The results also show that, as the aggression committed or suffered decreases in frequency, both aggressors and victims tend to legitimize various modes of bullying as a form of peer interaction.