Perception of Bullying and Cyberbullying Situations among Male and Female Middle and Secondary Students in a Single Gender Modern Orthodox Jewish School

Abstract

The study examined whether students are capable of distinguishing between bullying and non-bullying social scenarios. The instrument was based on the Bullying Situations Identification instrument, created by Hazier and Carney (2001): it was further modified for this study to include cyberbullying scenarios, which were adapted from work by Hinduja and Patchin (2008). The study determined, through a quantitative analysis of the responses of 305 male and female middle and secondary students. that the respondents were generally not capable of making the relevant distinctions. They tended to see all the scenarios – even those without the specific bullying factors – as bullying. and past participation in a bullying awareness program did not generally aid in this understanding. This lack of distinction is problematic. since schools often rely on students to act as the first line of defense in identifying and preventing bullying.