6.3 Discussion of the findings
6.3.3 Reasons for the behaviour of bullies, victims and by-standers
The results of this study show that the most common explanation given by all the girls for bullying, but which also increases significantly in frequency with age, centres around the out-of-the-ordinary „characteristics of the victim‟, a trend observed and reported by Olweus (1993) and Owens et al., (2000c). As Olweus (ibid) observes,
these „deviant‟ features may be positive (strengths) or negative (weaknesses). The participants gave many examples:
She‟s short, tall, skinny, different to them (8 yrs)
She might be a new girl or maybe there is something wrong with her…she is pretty or clever…she has a different colour skin (13yrs)
She is the „different‟ one in the group…fat or ugly…clever in class…a little bit of a nerd…wierd (15 yrs)
She is smarter than them. She looks beautiful, she has qualities and knows people that they wish were their friends outside school…appearance, the way she acts, her speech, IQ, or about family, boyfriends or other friends she has (17 yrs).
Secondly, the chance that girls attribute „peer pressure‟ to bullying behaviour also increases significantly with age in years, as described by the participants‟ comments:
So other people can see they are strong and so they get more friends…some of the girls think it is cool and everyone will then support them (10 yrs)
They do it out of peer pressure (13 yrs)
They may find her as a threat to them. To make them seem better and more popular (17 yrs).
This increasing use of an external locus of control may possibly be linked to gender socialization and a growing sense of morality in the older girls, who then feel the need to justify their actions as the fault of „others‟, thereby shifting the blame (and guilt) away from themselves, as noted by Owens et al. (2000c). In addition, pre-adolescent girls are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of social approval from their peers, which may influence them to act in ways that they believe will gain this
acceptance (Galen & Underwood, 1997).
6.3.3.2 Boredom
Owens et al., (2000b) reported that they had an unexpected finding in their study, when some of the girls explained their use of relational aggression as simply „because they are bored and need something to do‟. Similarly in the current study, girls stated:
They probably have nothing better to do in their lives…maybe they are bored with their life (12 yrs)
For fun…because they can (13 yrs and 18 yrs).
Owens et al. (ibid) regard this as highly concerning, since it complicates intervention strategies, which have never been designed with such an explanation in mind.
However, in Hadley‟s (2004) opinion, and as supported by the findings of this current study: “There is surely more at stake than the alleviation of boredom” (p. 345).
6.3.3.3 Friendship and group processes
In the Owens‟ et al. study (2000b) a more predictable category relating to friendship and group processes was found, which they further divided into several sub-
categories. Their findings were supported by those in the current study (as illustrated by the words of the participants), namely, issues of:
1) Attention-seeking and the power that social knowledge brings to a girl:
Probably the main girl is doing it to make the other girls laugh, so she feels better about herself (14 years)
2) Inclusion in the group:
They think that she doesn‟t fit in their group (12 yrs)
3) Belonging to the „right‟ (popular, high status) group (a finding supported by Duncan and Owen-Smith, 2006):
Because they feel insecure about themselves, or want to prove their dominance over others.
She is possibly a popularity threat to them (15 yrs)
4) Self-protection (join in the victimization in order to avoid being excluded):
Others are just glad it‟s not them while some find it very funny. It‟s better to watch it being done to someone than to have it done to yourself (14 yrs)
They want to be part of the popular group. They have their own insecurities and don‟t wanna [sic] seem like they are weak (18 yrs)
5) Jealousy:
They‟re jealous of her. There‟s something in her that they envy and because they can‟t stand the idea of her being better than them, they choose to bring her down (16 yrs)
6) Revenge/retaliation (also identified by Cullerton-Sen et al., 2008):
They have also been bullied and want to do it to others (9 yrs) She might have told their secret or a lie about them (10 yrs)
Because they were probly [sic] in a bullying situation when they were younger. They were teased so they do it to others to show their pain (11 yrs).
The findings in the current study are also consistent with Duncan and Owen-Smith‟s (2006) contention that indirect aggression is directly related to the degree of anxiety about status in a friendship, which is different for boys and girls. Simmons (2002) and Eder and Enke (1991) discuss „alliance building‟ as one of the aims of relational aggression. It creates an „us‟ versus „them‟ mentality, reinforcing traditional gender norms and allows group aggression whilst each girl maintains her façade of being a
„nice‟ girl. Alliance building could also serve to reduce the anxiety that girls feel over the possible “loss” of friendship or status resulting from their aggression, since the group is united against the victim, as Duncan and Owen-Smith (2006) hypothesize:
“…if girls‟ friendship networks are tighter, and/or their status depends more heavily upon friendships than does boys, then girls may have greater motivation than boys to engage in indirect aggression because direct aggression is so potentially damaging to these very important relationships” (p. 500).