CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

There is a large body of evidence in the literature showing that bullying and victimization causes poor psychosocial adjustment especially emotional and behavioral problem (Arseneault et al, 2006). On the other hand, there are studies which suggest the opposite direction of this effect. For example Glee, Fan, Katon and Rivera (2005) found that children with emotional problems have high risk of becoming involved in many forms of bullying. In the same field Veenstra, Linden(2005) showed that adjustment problems such as aggressiveness and isolation were strongly related to bullying. Children and adolescents identified as victims tend to exhibit poor psychosocial functioning. Schwartz (2000) found that children who were victims appear to have an adverse effects on their mental health compared to children not involved in bullying incidents. Goldbaum, Craig and pepler (2003) argued that bullied children report high level of internalizing problems such as anxiety and somatization as well as problematic relationships as a result of the implications of bullying on mental health.

A number of studies show that both bullying and victimization are linked with extensive array of psychosocial adjustment problem such as depression and psychosomatic problem (KaltailaHeino, Rimpelae, 2004). On the other hand, Sourander , Helstela, Helenius (2000) found that bullying is associated with later externalizing problems such as aggressiveness and mental health dis-functioning while victimization is strongly associated with later internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression.    

 This chapter takes a look at the background to the study which is made up of historical, conceptual, theoretical and contextual background, statement of the problem which addresses the problem faced with respect  to the effects peer bullying behaviours among adolescents in secondary schools in Bamenda I sub division mental health and how they can be solve. The main and specific objectives of the research, research questions of the study,  the scope of study and operational definition of terms.

Background to the study

Historically, the most significant turning point for bullying took place in the mid-1970s. Dan Olweus, a research professor of psychology, was the first to conduct an intensive study on bullying among students using his own systematic researching methods (Voo, 2007,). He created the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP), which had significant results in reducing school bullying (Hazelden Foundation, 2007). Olweus‘s efforts contributed greatly to the fight against bullying because it brought awareness, initiated other professionals to conduct research, and vastly expanded the meaning of bullying (Voo, 2007). Olweus‘s efforts have made a great impact on school violence and helped to bring safety back into schools.

 Indeed, school violence has never ended. In fact, the consequences of bullying reached its peak when two teen boys were shot and killed with many of their classmates after allegedly being victims of bullying. In 1999, Columbine High School experienced one of the worst high school shootings in history. This event caused worldwide devastation due to the situation itself, and because it uncovered the raw truth behind bullying. In the same time frame, bullying took another negative turn. With easy access to the internet, many teens have started using cyber space as a playground for bullying. As more teens have resorted to using cell phones and social networks to communicate, cyber bullying has become a major issue. Presently, cyber bullying is on the rise due to social networks such as Facebook, whatsapp, tiktok, twitter etc where information can travel in seconds to a countless number of people. 

In response to these matters the federal government created laws to crack down on these behaviors. Similar to the Olweus (1996) Bullying Prevention Program, legislators have implemented programs such as, No Child Left Behind to help keep schools safe (Edmondson & Zeman, 2001). In fact, to assure school safety the federal government linked school funding to school safety laws, giving schools no option but to implement these law in order to receive funding (Edmondson & Zeman, 2001). To greatly lower school violence, the government has to create policies that hold bullies accountable and support victims. Linking school funding to school safety laws is an effective way to ensure schools are becoming safer for students. Today, bullying is viewed much differently than it was in the 1800‘s. It took many years for the term to be identified for the serious problems it presents. Due to researchers like Olweus (1996), gaining true understanding of bullying is now possible. 

Educators have been able to gain insights of these issues so they can help stop them from occurring. Indeed, with the growth of technology bullying will be difficult to track and school administrators will have to stay current as electronics continue to change. It is difficult to determine what the future of bullying will be, yet as the government continues to mandate school safety laws and begins to strictly hold bullies accountable for their actions, schools will become a safer place for children. 

Conceptually, Olweus (1993) defines bullying as a specific form of peer aggression which is intentionally repetitive and it involves an imbalance of power between the victim and perpetrators. On the other hand, Baron (1977) defines bullying as behavior that is directed towards the goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment.  In his view, any behavior that is directed towards harming or injuring another person is bullying. For example fighting, kicking, physical assault etc. Arora (1987) define bullying as the act of achieving or maintaining social dominance through overtly aggression means which occurs because no sufficient skill or capacity to integrate with their group. Galloway (1993) define bullying as physical or psychological abuse of an individual by one or a group of students. In this regard, bullying denotes aggressive behaviour.

Aggression refers to a range of behaviour that can result in both physical and psychological harm to oneself or others in the environment. This type  of social interaction centers on harming another person, either physically or mentally. The expression of aggression can occur in a number of ways including verbally, mentally, and physically. The different  forms of aggression are physical, verbal, and mental. Model distinguishes between three motivational mechanisms that are supported by distinct neuro-biological systems and characterised by distinct motor responses which are offensive aggression, defensive aggression, and marking/display behaviour. 

 Reactive aggression is based on the frustration aggression model that occurs as a reaction to a threat and is often associated with intense emotions, high levels of impulsivity and hostility, and deficits in information processing (Raine et al., 2006) where the aggressor is frequently guided by the motivation to harm others without a specific objective. Meanwhile, proactive aggression can be found in Bandura‘s (1973) social learning model as a strategy that intends to reach a goal, an objective or some kind of benefit through cold-blooded. Some studies have shown that the factors that lead to proactive aggression and the factors that lead to reactive aggression are interrelated, although it might be reasonable to assume that proactive and reactive aggression have different etiologies (Crick & Dodge, 1996). 

It has also been demonstrated that both types of behavior are linked to different personality traits, styles of sociability, and especially each individual‘s personal and social values (Dodge & Coie, 1987). The factors associated with bullying behaviours are cultural influences on bullying behaviours, social reinforcement whereby appropriate behaviours are encouraged and inappropriate behaviours are discouraged, harmful action such as name calling, hitting and kicking. Another factor is that it arouses a sense of fear that can lead to physical altercation that disrupt learning (Crick 1997, Casas and Mosher 1997, Menesini et Al 1997). Lazarus (2006)  defined coping as a person‘s effort to handle environmental stress and to deal with the emotions that are a result of the stress.  The most common coping methods used by victims include: ignoring the bully, asking them to stop, requesting an adult for help, fighting back,  running away, asking friends for help and crying. 

Theoretically, three theories were used to explain this work. The theories are Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, Erik Erikson Psychosocial  theory and Uri Bonfrenbrenner ecological system theory. Albert Bandura asserts that most human behavior especially aggression is learned through observation, imitation, and modeling. Bandura is famous for his studies of children observing adults who acted aggressively toward a doll. After the children viewed this behavior, they were given dolls to play with. They imitated the aggressive actions that they observed earlier.

Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development  is made up of eight stages but the stage that is concerned here  is stage five which is identity versus role confusion because it shows how adolescent are seeking identity and some time they seek the identity in aggressive behaviour. Uri Bronfrenbrenner’s ecological systems theory view school environment as a set of nestled structure (Bronfrenbrenner 1979). The current theoretical framework allowed investigation into simultaneous effect of individual traits, interpersonal and contextual factors on bullying behavior. Factors that cause a child or youth to be involved in bullying based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory are divided into five systems; microsystem, mesosystem, ecosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem . The five systems are interrelated and have a major influence on the development of a child.

Contextually, the relationship between parents and children who have been involved in bullying activities and what characteristics their parents have is considered. In the National Survey of children’s Health, the author examined the association of community factors and bullying perpetration among children and parents,  the results showed that African, America , and Latinos children living in poverty and who had emotional problems had higher odd of bullying. The school climate may also be critical factors that affect students bullying behaviour. School characteristics such as free lunch may be predictors of students bullying school. Meanwhile majority of bullying behavior occurred in school ground, little is known about the effect of school factors on bullying behaviour in some various schools (Shetgiri et anl 2012) some researchers have considered peers group to address bullying activities (Brown 2003, Graha and juvonen 2002), Craig pepler and Atlas (2000) indicate that most peer relationships reflects mutuality and positive companionship. 

Coping is defined as the cognitive or behavioural effort to eliminate the negative emotions elicited by excessive demand (Monday and Lazarus, 1991).  Lazarus (2006), defined coping as a person’s effort to handle environmental stress and deal with the emotions that come as a result of stress. The ability to cope with the stressful situation of life is essential in promoting psychological and emotional health (Lazarus, 2006) . According to a study cited in more  comprehensive research (Smith et al, 2001), the most common coping methods use by victims include: ignoring the bully, asking them to stop, requesting an adult for help and fighting back;  and the least common strategy is running away, asking friends for help and crying. 

Researchers at the primary and secondary school level have shown that, in general, some of the successful strategies include informing a teacher, asking friends for help, and ignoring, whereas some unsuccessful strategies are fighting back, acting passive or showing helplessness (Hunter et Al, 2004; Naylor et Al , 2001; Salmivalli et al  1996;  Smith et Al, 2004) .

The various indicators of this study are social manipulation, verbal bullying, physical bullying and victimization. Social manipulation is defined as the skillful handling, controlling or using of something or someone. Social manipulation entails using personality and conversational skills to tailor social situations of one‘s own personal gains. Moreover, it is about reading situations and knowing when to act. Verbal bullying by definition, is when an individual uses verbal language (e.g insults, teasing etc) I to gain power over his/her peers. 

Verbal bullying is also defined as harder to see and stop which tends to occur when adults are not around to stop it and the effects of it are not obvious. It can be very damaging and may have long term psychological effects on the victim. Physical bullying is the use of physical actions to intimidate and gain control over a target. The physical actions often are unwanted by the victim and can either cause damage to their body or possessions. This behavior is common in schools. Victimization is the process of being victimized, either from a physical or a psychological or a mortal or a sexual point of view. The term victimization is often used in a generic way to identify the studies that investigate crime assuming the victims as the main focus. 

Statement of the Problem 

Bullying maybe on the rise in schools and the school authorities may be doing little or nothing and it seems as if it’s not properly checked. Many children often may have been victims are bullies themselves. Most victims often suffer from emotional problems and sometimes they may have anxiety problem and even low self-esteem. Some of these children usually go unpunished and for that reason they continue to perpetuate this kind of bullying behavior. When a child gets involved in aggressive behavior, he may feel irritable and restless; he may feel impulsive and may find it hard to control his behavior. This poses a serious problem which needs to be addressed and possible solutions made to curb peer bullying behaviors among adolescents in secondary schools in Bamenda 1 sub division and to understand its implication on students mental health.

Research Objectives

One main research objective and four specific objectives were formulated to guide this study

Main Objective

The main Objective of this study is to find out the effects of peer bullying behaviors among adolescents in secondary schools in Bamenda 1 Sub Division: implication for mental health

Specific Objectives

Specifically, this study set out to

To investigate factors associated with peer bullying behaviors that affects the mental health of adolescents.

Find out how power related aggression affects the mental health of adolescents.

Investigate how proactive and reactive aggression affects the mental health of adolescents in secondary schools.

Find out some strategies put in place by adolescents and others to cope with bullying behaviors 

Research Question 

One main research question and four specific research questions were formulated to guide this study

Main Research Question

The main research question of this study is what are the effects of peer bullying behaviors among adolescents in secondary schools in Bamenda 1 Sub Division.

Specific Research Questions

Specifically, the following research questions will be formulated:

How does proactive and reactive aggression affect the mental health of adolescents in secondary schools?

How does power related aggression affect the mental health of adolescents in secondary schools?

What are the factors associated with peer bullying behaviours affecting students