JPediatr(RioJ).2016;92(1):4---6
www.jped.com.br
EDITORIAL
Bullying
behavior,
youth’s
disease
and
intervention:
which
suggestions
from
the
data
for
research
on
bullying
in
the
Brazilian
context?
夽
,
夽夽
Comportamento
de
bullying,
doenc
¸as
na
juventude
e
intervenc
¸ão:
quais
são
as
sugestões
das
pesquisas
sobre
bullying
no
contexto
brasileiro?
Simona
C.S.
Caravita
a,∗,
Barbara
Colombo
b,caCenterforResearchonEvolutionaryDynamicsandEducational(CRIdee),DepartmentofPsychology,UniversitàCattolica
delSacroCuore,Milano,Italy
bDepartmentofPsychology,UniversitàCattolicadelSacroCuore,Milano,Italy cEducationandHumanStudies,ChamplainCollege,Burlington,UnitedStates
Since the influential work by Dan Olweus,1 bullying has
emergedasamajorproblemofthesocietyalloverworldand acrosssocieties. Theinternational literaturereports rates ofchildrenandadolescentsinvolvedinbullyingindifferent countriesranging from7%to43% for victimsandfrom5% to44%forbullies.2Moreover,thestudiesagreein
highlight-inghowbullyingconstitutesafactorofrisk forthehealth aswellasthesocialandpsychologicaladjustmentofboth thebulliedandthebullyingyouth.Childrenandadolescents whosuffer victimization bypeerscan beaffected by sev-eralhealth problems,includingphysical andpsychological diseasesymptoms,both concurrently andprospectively.3,4
Likewise,thereisevidencethatbulliescanalsosufferfrom depressionandotherdiseases,4andthattheyareatriskof
externalizingbehaviorandinvolvementincriminalactivities inlateadolescenceandadulthood.5
夽 Please citethis article as:Caravita SC, Colombo B. Bullying
behavior,youth’sdiseaseandintervention:whichsuggestionsfrom thedataforresearchonbullyingintheBraziliancontext?JPediatr (RioJ).2016;92:4---6.
夽夽SeepaperbydeOliveiraetal.inpages32---9.
∗Correspondingauthor.
E-mail:[email protected](S.C.S.Caravita).
Inadditiontobulliesandvictims,otherschool-and class-mates participate inbullying byplaying different roles in the phenomenon. They can act as helpers or reinforcers of the bullies; a minority act asdefenders of the bullied peers;otherpupilsserveaspassivebystanders,who with-draw from the bullying situations by not taking side for thebulliesor thevictims,henceindirectlyreinforcingthe bullies’ behavior.6 Being involved in bullying as an active
or passive bystander can alsoaffect psychological adjust-ment during youth,because witnessing bullying has been found toincrease the levelsof bystanders’distress.7 This
framework,aswellasthehighcoststosocietyofbullying, makesinvestigatingthephenomenon,anddeveloping inter-ventionprogramsthatareabletofightbullyingspecifically andeffectively,apriorityforanycountryinwhichbullying isdetected.
Severalproposalsfortheanti-bullyinginterventionshave beendeveloped,withdifferenttheoreticalapproachesand different levels of effectiveness.8 However, all of them
recommendstartingfromanaccuratescreeningofthe phe-nomenoninthecontextoffutureintervention.Indeed,one ofthemainassumptionsforanti-bullyinginterventionisthat bullying,incomparisontootherformsofaggressiveand anti-socialbehaviors,hasahighercomplexity,whichneedstobe investigatedinthespecificcontexttobefoughteffectively.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jped.2015.11.002
Bullyingbehavior,youth’sdiseaseandintervention 5
In thisframework,theoriginalityand theworthof the paperbydeOliveiraetal.9isevident,especiallyconsidering
thescarcityofstudiesonbullyingatschoolinBrazil10and,in
abroaderperspective,inSouthAmerica.Thisstudyprovides relevantdataontheprevalence ofbullies inapopulation sampleof109,104eighth-gradepupils;20.8%ofthesample reportedbullying behavior at school. These data indicate ahighrateofbullyinginBrazilianschoolsincomparisonto othercountries,anditcomesfromself-reportevaluationsby theparticipants.Thisisimportantbecause,astheauthors themselves consider, self-reports may have increased the risk of under-estimating the prevalence of bullying. How-ever,theuseofself-reportsforinitialscreeningofbullying isinlinewiththeusualprocedureadoptedininternational studies.Thus,eventhoughadministeringthestandard mea-suretoassessbullyingforcross-nationalcomparisons(i.e., theOlweusBully/VictimQuestionnaire)1,5,11 wasnot
possi-bleinthisstudy,theresearchbydeOliveiraetal.provided dataonbullying thatiscomparablewiththeinternational literature.Moreover,thelargesizeofthesamplealso guar-antees a reliable assessment of the situations of bullying in Brazilian elementary schools. Hence, the high rate of bullies that hasbeen found by deOliveira etal. suggests that addressing bullyingis a possible priorityfor research andfutureinterventioninBrazil.
In order todevelop Brazilian programs toprevent and fight bullying at school effectively, an accurate analysis of the correlates associated to a higher risk of behaving bullying amongBrazilian pupilsisneeded. Thisis the sec-ondrelevantcontributionprovidedbydeOliveiraetal.to theresearchonbullying.Indeed,thisstudyexaminessome indexes of possible social and psychological adjustment disorders of bullies, and some family dimensions possibly relatedtoahigherprobabilitytobullypeersatschool.This allowsfortheconstructionofaninitialprofileofthebullies thatisspecifictotheBraziliansociety.Thepictureemerging fromthe study indicates that malegender and older rel-ative age are associated withan increasedprobability to beanaggressor.Thesefindings,aswellasthoseregarding scarcefamilysupervisioninbullies’families,anddomestic violence experiencedby bullies,aresimilartothe results obtainedinotherinternationalliterature.However,the out-comeson theethnicity ofthe bullies, together withdata derived from the comparison between private and public school,highlightsomeelementsthatarespecifictoBrazilian culture andthat call for furtherinvestigation. In particu-lar,theauthorsfoundthatblackandAsianyouthaswellas pupilsattendingprivateschoolsaremorelikelytobebullies. In light of the literature on bullying, these findings can-notbeadequatelyinterpretedwithoutalargerperspective thatsimultaneouslyexaminesthecontextsinwhichbullying occursmoredeeply.Indeed,bullyingisnotonlya particu-larformofaggression,whichisproactive,12,13 intentional,
andaimedatacquiringapowerfulpositionamongpeers,14
butit alsorepresentsatypeof antisocialbehaviorthatis largelyinfluencedbythepeercontext.Theliteratureonthis phenomenonhasconsistentlyshowedthatthestatuswithin thepeergroup15,16andfactorsatthepeergrouplevel,such
asinformalnormsandattitudessharedamongschool-and classmates,17playarelevantroleinexplainingthisbehavior.
Therefore,thefeaturesofthepeercontextinwhich bully-ingamongBrazilianstudentshappensneed tobecarefully
considered.Followingthislineofreasoning,thefindingthat belongingtospecificethnicitiesincreasestheriskofbeing abullycannotbereadasan‘‘absolute’’index,butrather requiresinvestigationofthemajority/minorityproportions ofethnic groups in the schools where the data were col-lected,and,inabroadenperspective,withintheBrazilian context.These data, indeed,may mirrorthe presence of formsofdiscriminatorybullying,18ofin-/out-groupeffects,
orofinformalpeer-groupnorms,17whichmaybeestablished
withingroupsofpeerssharingthesameethnicity.Wealsodo notknowenoughaboutwhowerethevictimsofthebullying actions:forinstance,whetherthebulliedpeersbelongedto thesameortoadifferentethnicgroupofbullies. Accord-ingly,if,in Brazil, pupilsattending privateschools are at higherrisk toshow bullying behaviors, thereis a need to furtherexaminethefeaturesoftheprivateschoolcontext, whichmayfavor bullying inBrazil. Is itpossible that bul-lyingis actually favored by specific characteristics of the pupilsattendingtheseschoolsandtheirfamilies?Ormayit dependonfeaturesoftheorganizationandthedisciplinary normsthataretypicaloftheprivateschoolenvironmentin Brazil?Moreover,theschoolatmosphereandtheteachers’ attitudeshavebeenfoundtocontributeinpromotingor hin-deringtheoccurrenceofbullying.19Therefore,thestudyby
deOliveiraetal.callsforfurtherresearchfocusingonthe peer-andschool-contextdimensionsthatmaybeassociated tobullyingbehavior in theBrazilian reality,which canbe addressedbyanti-bullyinginterventions.
AthirdnovelcontributionfromthestudybydeOliveira etal.consists ofthe analysisof thehealth-risk behaviors associated to being an aggressor among Brazilian pupils. The profile of bullies emerging from their investigation confirmsthat bullying is an indicator of multidimensional psychological and social adjustment disorders in youth. Apparently,therearehigherprobabilitiesofBrazilianbullies reporting risky behaviors in comparison to non-bully peers.Reportedrisky behaviorsranged from consumption oftobacco,alcohol,andillicitdrugs,tomissingclassesand earlysexualintercourse.Thispictureisnottotallynovelin theinternationalliteratureonbullying.20However,
unfortu-nately,thecross-sectionalnatureofdatafromthestudyby deOliveiraetal.doesnotallowunderstandingwhether bul-lyingisapredictorofotherrisk-behaviorsamongBrazilian childrenor ---more likely--- whether it mirrors a complex social and psychological maladjustment profile of Brazil-ianbullies.Thisalsomaybepossiblyrelatedtodistortions inmoraldevelopment,assomerecentliteratureon bully-ingsuggests.21Nevertheless,undoubtedlythisfindingbyde
Oliveiraetal.highlightshowthesocialcostsassociatedto bullyingarehighinBraziltoo,andthatbeingabully dur-ingelementaryschool in Brazilmay bean early indicator ofmultifaceted disease,requiring multidimensionalforms ofintervention, addressing the familyand,moreover, the peers.Infact,peerinfluencehasbeenshowntoberelevant inincreasingthe probabilitytobully andtoperformrisky behaviors.19
6 CaravitaSC,ColomboB
feelings of loneliness and of being isolated by peers, in particular,indicate thatbullying behavior is linkedtothe emotional and social diseases of bullies. Reading these feelingsasrepresentingpossiblehealthproblemsofbullies, requesting health intervention is a reality, and is very legitimate.However,amorecomplexreadingmayhighlight somebullies’skillsthatarepossibleresourcestohelpthese children. Indeed, the international literature on bullies’ socialcompetenceshowsthatpeersattributebullieswitha highsocialstatus,asvisibleandinfluentialwithinthegroup, butthattheyalsoreporttoactuallydislikebullies.15Hence,
bullies’feelingsoflonelinessandisolationmayreflectthe actualisolationthatiscausedbybullies’behavior,showing thatbullieshaveadequateskillsinunderstandingthepeer interactions.Theseskillscanbeconsideredwhenplanning healthintervention.Lastly,thereisalsothepossibilitythat thefeelingsoflonelinessexperiencedbybulliesalsodrive and promote the bullying behavior. Unfortunately, since thedataprovidedbydeOliveiraetal.arecross-sectional, wecannotfurtherexplorethishypothesis,but,again,this studydefinitelypromotesfutureresearchonbullying,and onitscorrelatesandmotivesamongBrazilianstudents.
Insummary,notwithstandingsomepossiblelimitations ---whicharecorrectlyidentifiedbytheauthors---thestudyby deOliveiraetal.constitutesaninterestingcontributionto literatureonbullying,andprovidessomeclearindications for future research on this topic in Brazil. These indica-tionsarealsohelpfultodevelopinterventionprogramswith maximizedeffectivenessintheBraziliancontext.
Conflicts
of
interest
Theauthorsdeclarenoconflictsofinterest.
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