Am I a bully? Relationship between aggressive behaviors and self-admission of being a bully in primary school children

Abstract

The present research focuses on the self-admission of being a bully in primary school children who bully, and studies it in relation to sex, educational stage and type of bullying behavior. Our objective was to understand better the relationship between aggressive behaviors and bullying self-admission. We hypothesized aggressive behaviors would be related to bullying self-admission. A total of 4646 primary school students aged from 7 to 12 years participated in this correlational study. The EBIPQ questionnaire was administered to evaluate children’s aggressive behaviors, whereas bullying self-admission was evaluated through a direct question. From the total of participants, 14.9 % were considered bullies, and 4.4 % frequent bullies, according to their responses to the EBIPQ. Among bullies, 21.4 % admitted having bullied others, and this percentage increased to 32 % for frequent bullies. Self-admission of being a bully was independent of sex and educational stage. On the other hand, some aggressive behaviors were more associated than others to self-admission of being a bully. Results suggest reluctance in children to consider themselves as bullies, especially in some types of aggressive behaviors. Finally, we discuss the need to study further the factors influencing the self-admission of being a bully. La presente investigación se centra en la percepción de ser agresor en niños de primaria que acosan, y su relación con el sexo, la etapa educativa y el tipo de conducta agresiva. Nuestro objetivo fue comprender mejor la relación entre las conductas agresivas y la percepción de ser agresor. Se hipotetizó que los comportamientos agresivos estarían relacionados con la percepción de ser agresor. Un total de 4646 estudiantes de 7 a 12 años participaron en este estudio correlacional. Se administró el cuestionario EBIPQ para evaluar la agresividad, mientras que la percepción de ser agresor se evaluó con una pregunta directa. Un 14.9 % de los participantes se consideraron acosadores, y un 4.4 % acosadores frecuentes, según sus respuestas en el EBIPQ. Un 21.4 % de los acosadores y un 32 % de los acosadores frecuentes admitieron haber acosado. La percepción de ser agresor fue independiente del sexo y la etapa educativa. Por otra parte, algunas conductas agresivas se asociaron más que otras a la percepción de ser agresor. Los resultados sugieren una dificultad para considerarse acosador, especialmente en ciertas conductas agresivas. Finamente, se discute la necesidad de profundizar en los factores que influyen en la percepción de ser acosador.