Factores psicológicos asociados a los diferentes roles de acoso escolar en Educación Primaria

Abstract

Bullying is a pervasive phenomenon in educational centers. It generates concern due to the negative effects it has on the students involved in these situations. This highlights the importance of investigating this phenomenon to prevent bullying and intervene in the presence of these situations adequately, as pointed out by various authors throughout history. This need is even greater in some populations, where previous research has not placed much emphasis. For all these reasons, this Doctoral Thesis will study this phenomenon, as well as the different psychological factors related to it, in a sample of almost 1,000 students belonging to different geographical areas of the province of Huelva, and schooled in the last years of Primary Education (5th and 6th EP), since most of the previous studies take place in Secondary Education. First, two assessment instruments are designed and validated, one of them aimed at detecting bullying, intending to detect the different types of bullying (verbal, physical, and relational), as well as the different roles that the students can play (victim, aggressor, and bystander); while the second one aims to detect some psychological factors involved in bullying situations (anxiety, self-esteem, social competence, family problems, and emotional regulation problems). Once a valid and reliable questionnaire is available, we proceed to the massive collection of information and the analysis of results, establishing connections between the different roles and types of bullying and the psychological factors studied. In addition, the relationships between bullying and different sociodemographic variables (gender, school year, geographical area, composition of the family, course repetition, and academic performance) related to bullying situations are studied trying to establish a profile of each role. The results obtained show that there are relationships between the different types of bullying and the rest of the variables, although not in all cases these relationships are significant. The greatest significance is found between the victims and the different variables, while the relationships are less significant concerning the role of bystanders. Finally, one more variable is added to this research, checking whether the bystanders lend their help to the victims. From the point of view of both victims and bystanders, this relationship is positively significant (i.e., in most cases, bystanders help victims when they are in a bullying situation). The main conclusions of this study can be directed towards further research focused on designing interventions and bullying prevention programs considering the variables studied, as well as to detect early the onset of these situations according to the profile of the students, trying to minimize both the number and the impact of these situations on schoolchildren.