Temperament and character in victims of school bullying
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Date
2014-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Indian Psychiatric Society
Abstract
Background: Bullying involves repeated and over time targeted intimidation or humiliation. The bully can resort to a
number of aggressive behaviours to make the target or victim feel powerless. However, bullying entails more than
aggression: a power imbalance exists between the bully and the target .Bullying takes place among young children as well
as adults in a variety of settings, but most of the research focuses on children and youth in schools.
Aim: To evaluate temperament and character in victims of school bullying in comparison with a control group using the
Junior Temperament and Character Inventory.
Method: 41 victims of school bullying and 40 control group participants between the ages of 8 and 17 years studying in
English medium schools in South Delhi were included in the study. Participants were excluded if participants were
younger than 8 years, could not read English and parental consent was not obtained. Illinois Bully Scale and the Junior
Temperament and Character Inventory was administered to the participants.
Results: According to child and parent data, victims of school bullying had lower scores on self-directedness,
cooperativeness, reward dependence and persistence compared with control group and significantly higher scores on
novelty seeking and harm avoidance .According to parent data only, victims of school bullying significantly differed from
a control group on self-transcendence with higher fantasy scores and lower spirituality scores.
Conclusion: Victims of school bullying have a different temperament and character profile compared to control group
.Hence, up to a certain age there is still a potential for changing some temperamental characteristics, and consequently
timely interventions could prevent the onset of victimization or minimize the severity of clinical outcomes in school
children
Description
Keywords
School, Bullying, Victimization, Temperament ;character
Citation
Negi Rekha, Aleem Sheema. Temperament and character in victims of school bullying. Andhra Pradesh Journal of Psychological Medicine. 2013 Jan-Jun; 15(1): 50-54