Abstract
Given the high prevalence and dramatic impact of being bullied at school, it is crucial to get more insight into how teachers can reduce bullying. So far, few instruments have measured elementary teachers’ responses to bullying. This study investigated the validity of the student-reported Teachers’ Responses to Bullying Questionnaire. The factor structure and measurement invariance were tested across two educational contexts among fourth and fifth grade students from Italy (n = 235) and Belgium (n = 667). Furthermore, associations between student-perceived teachers’ responses and students’ bullying behavior were examined. Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported the predicted five-factor structure, distinguishing Non-Intervention, Disciplinary Methods, Group Discussion, Mediation, and Victim Support. A partial factor means invariance model was found, allowing for valid comparisons between the Italian and Belgian educational contexts. Significant associations were found between self-reported, but not peer-nominated, bullying behavior and most student-perceived teachers’ responses.
Highlights
Bullying, commonly defined as repeated and intentional aggressive behavior characterized by an imbalance in power (Olweus, 1993), is widespread in schools
As the responsible adults in class, teachers may play a key role in tackling bullying incidents among students (Brendgen and Troop-Gordon, 2015; De Luca et al, 2019) and research has shown that teachers use various strategies to do so (e.g., Burger et al, 2015; Wachs et al, 2019)
This study aims at contributing to this gap by investigating the validity of the student-reported Teachers’ Responses to Bullying Questionnaire (TRBQ; Campaert et al, 2017; Nappa et al, 2021) in a sample of fourth and fifth grade elementary school students
Summary
Commonly defined as repeated and intentional aggressive behavior characterized by an imbalance in power (Olweus, 1993), is widespread in schools. The large-scale Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey in Europe and Canada reported that, on average, 10% of youth had been bullied at school at least two to three times in the last couple of months (Inchley et al, 2020). As the responsible adults in class, teachers may play a key role in tackling bullying incidents among students (Brendgen and Troop-Gordon, 2015; De Luca et al, 2019) and research has shown that teachers use various strategies to do so (e.g., Burger et al, 2015; Wachs et al, 2019). A few studies investigating teachers’ responses to actual bullying incidents are based on teachers’ self-reports (Troop-Gordon and Ladd, 2015; ten Bokkel et al, 2020), but these studies often are qualitative (e.g., Tucker and Maunder, 2015; Acquadro Maran et al, 2017). Teachers’ perceptions of their responses to bullying may be subject to social desirability, Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org van Gils et al
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