Telling adults about one's plight as a victim of bullying: Student- and context-related factors predicting disclosure




Blomqvist Katri, Saarento-Zaprudin Silja, Salmivalli Christina

PublisherBlackwell Publishing Ltd

2020

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology

61

1

151

159

9

0036-5564

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12521

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/sjop.12521

https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/39890950



We examined student‐ and context‐related factors related to whether bullied students tell adults about their plight at school or at home. The sample included 1,266 students in primary (Grades 4–6) and lower secondary (Grades 8–9) schools, who had answered an online questionnaire at two measurement points about 5 months apart and were identified as victims of bullying on the basis of the latter. Only 55.4% of the bullied students had told their situation to someone, and much fewer had told an adult. Telling an adult at home was more common (34.0%) than telling a teacher (20.6%) or some other adult at school (12.7%). In a longitudinal structural equation model (SEM), factors related to increased likelihood of telling an adult were female gender, lower grade level, the chronicity of victimization, perceived negative teacher attitude towards bullying (teacher not tolerating bullying), and perceived peer support for victims (classmates’ tendency to defend students who are victimized).


Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 22:34