Relation between assumed competence and bullying in high school students

Abstract

The present study investigated the relation between assumed competence based on undervaluing others and bullying. High school students (N = 1,062) completed a questionnaire measuring assumed competence and self-esteem, and asking whether they had been involved in bully/victim problems (physical bullying, verbal bullying, and indirect bullying). The results indicated that the percentage of students who had experienced bullying in the high assumed-competence group (assumption type and omnipotence type) was higher than that in the low assumed-competence group (self-esteem type and atrophy type). These results suggest that assumed competence is a key concept for understanding bullying.