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Self‐Reported Frequency and Perceived Severity of Being Bullied Among Elementary School Students
Author(s) -
Chen LiMing
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/josh.12289
Subject(s) - friendship , psychology , suicide prevention , poison control , clinical psychology , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , intervention (counseling) , occupational safety and health , perception , medicine , social psychology , psychiatry , medical emergency , pathology , neuroscience
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND This study reports students' perspectives on the frequency and perceived severity of being bullied. METHODS A sample of 1816 elementary school students completed self‐report surveys of perceived severity and frequency of being bullied. A Rasch technique aligned different victimized behaviors on interval logit scales. A 4‐fold schema was used to identify the intersection between the perceived severity and frequency of being bullied. RESULTS There was not a statistically significant correlation between the 2 measures (r = .02). Behaviors that included being hit and kicked, being cursed at, being ostracized, being threatened, being shoved or tripped, having one's friendship ruined, and being spoken ill of in public were perceived as severe and frequent bullying experiences. While boys reported more frequent experiences of being bullied, girls perceived bullying to have greater severity. CONCLUSIONS Self‐reported frequency does not necessarily correspond to the perceived severity of school bullying, a finding with implications for prevention and intervention initiatives designed or carried out by researchers and school psychologists.