The social context of school bullying: evidence from Communities that Care survey data

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The social context of school bullying evidence
from Communities that Care survey data

• Dr Jonathan Scourfield
• Cardiff School of Social Sciences

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The aim of the research

• To explore the associations between the variables
  in the CTC survey and childrens reports of
  bullying
• To enable a more sociological focus than you find
  in most of the bullying research

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Research team

• Paul Lambert, Jonathan Scourfield, Nina Smalley
  and Raya Jones
• Included statistical expertise and knowledge of
  the bullying literature

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The data

• Survey of children in three South Wales
  authorities in 2001
• The CTC questionnaire included the following
  questions
• Have you been bullied/badly treated by other
  pupils in the last 12 months? (24.7 said yes)
• Have you bullied/badly treated another pupil in
  the last 12 months? (9.2 said yes)
• N and response rate
• Swansea 10963 (77)
• Bridgend 5843 (70)
• Caerphilly 9268 (76)

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Statistical analysis

• Bivariate analysis correlation between reports
  of bullying / being bullied and each of the other
  variables in the survey
• Multi-variate analysis to learn more about the
  relationship between variables and to rule out
  spurious associations with bullying. We used
  multiple linear regression to identify the
  predictors of bullying

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Results of multiple linear regression Being
bullied (part 1)
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Results of multiple linear regression Being
bullied (part 2)
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Results of multiple linear regression Being a
bully (part 1)
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Results of multiple linear regression Being a
bully (part 2)
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Discussion

• Boys
• Lower school years
• Younger in school year
• Bullying and being bullied
• Family factors
• Conformist or anti-social attitudes
• Religious activity
• Changing school and being excluded
• Social class
• Ethnicity
• Clear rules on bullying

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Conclusions

• The focus of previous research on micro-level
  interaction and attitudes seems reasonable enough
• Some variables relevant to bullying not included
  in the survey e.g. sexual identity, gender role
  conformity
• In terms of policy implications, the research
  might suggest support for the use of bullying
  policies, parenting initiatives, work with boys
  on masculinity and the development of peer
  mediation

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The published paper

• Lambert, P., Scourfield, J., Smalley, N. and
  Jones, R. (forthcoming, 2008) The social context
  of school bullying evidence from a survey of
  children in South Wales, Research Papers in
  Education.