A socio-ecological perspective on bullying A new synthesis

Abstract

In recent years, we have seen an abundance of studies on the subject of bullying with an emphasis on its prevalence and its characteristics. However, there has been little progress at regards the explanation of the aetiology of the phenomenon itself. Using external ecological variables which affect adolescent development and possible violent behaviour at school, the discriminating technique is applied to a sample group of young people in Obligatory Secondary School education. The results show social class/socio-economic status to be a robust independent variable capable of discriminating, to a greater extent than the others, the individual and collective violent from the non-violent group. These findings provide empirical evidence of the importance of what Wilson called "neighbourhood pressure" and Sampson denominated "collective efficacy.