Research within the project Stand up against bullying (Erasmus +)
The research was attended by 267 respondents from 7 countries (Czech Republic, Turkey, Poland, Romania, Italy, Macedonia and Portugal). The majority of respondents were respondents aged 14-19 years, in a total of 78 % of cases (207). From a gender perspective, the scatter was unbalanced. The survey was attended by 60 % of girls and women (161).
Of the total number of respondents, 41 (15 %) were individuals with disabilities or disadvantages. Most individuals were visually impaired (29 %), physically disabled (20 %) and with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Regarding respondents, 87 of asked respondents, that is 33 % (N = 267), experienced bullying. Of these, 26 % (n23) were victims with a disability. The most frequent victims were people with öther and physical disabilities. Most often bullying occurred in places like class (23%), schoolyard, playground, or cyberspace (17%). In the most attacks, two or three aggressors were present in 51 % (44). The aggressor, as suggested by the place, was mostly classmates (44 %). These aggressors most often showed victims a slander, bullying and provocation in cyberspace. Also 13 % of victims were beaten.
The most common defence reaction of the victims was to go away in 21 % (n69). The next was, ignoring and later reporting the situation to an adult. These practices were successful in 51 % and led to mitigation or elimination of bullying-related symptoms. Bio-psycho-social responses to the aggression of individuals have been experienced by the interviewees differently. Most often, the unsuitable behaviour of others caused feelings of anger and sorrow, then nausea, and a lack of appetite. 10% of respondents (n=87) started taking large quantities of drugs and medicaments with ongoing bullying. Addictive substances were used occasionally to solve the situation by 21 % of respondents and medicaments were used by 18 %.
When dealing with the term bullying itself, 95 % of respondents know what the concept of bullying is, and 103 of the asked respondents (39 %) definitely consider it a social problem. Very interesting information is that individuals who have never been bullied do not consider this risk phenomenon a social problem. They most commonly understand bullying as a provocation, mockery and lying (25 %), expressions realised in cyberspace (23 %) and exclusion from the group (20 %). And one of the most common reasons is to have power over people or differences between people. Money or TV, PC, and PC Games are considered the minimal cause of bullying.
The success of bullying solving by schools is mostly rated by the average, and that is in 31 % of respondents (82). In general, however, the situation associated with solving this risk behaviour at school is evaluated positively. As a prevention that could lead to alleviation or elimination of bullying, respondents consider important to punish aggressors, to teach the neighbourhood to help individuals who have become victims of bullying and to create opportunities for common discovery of people with and without disabilities.
The evaluation of the data is divided into four areas, which are based on the individual parts of the questionnaires, which consisted of 21 questions. These questions were directed to sociodemographic data, bullying experience, victim vs. aggressor, bullying reaction.
Chart 1: Gender representation of the research sample.
The survey sample consisted of 267 respondents (N = 267). Of these, 60 % (161) women/girls and 40 % (106) men/boys. Respondents aged 14-19 represented a large proportion of the research, that is 78 % (207), respondents aged 20 and over were 22 % (60). Graph 3 shows the percentages of nationalities that participated in the research in individual countries. One respondent from Macedonia participated within the Czech Republic and 2 individuals from Poland participated in Italy.
Chart no. 3 Percentage distribution of nationalities
Of the total number of 267 respondents, 41 from interviewed (N = 41), that makes 15 %, are disabled or disadvantaged. In terms of types of individual disabilities, there were mostly represented: visual impairment (29 %), then ADHD and physical disabilities (both 20 %), (18 %), Down’s syndrome (12 %) and a minimal number of mental disorders and autism spectrum disorders. Twelve percent of respondents said they had a different type of disability or disadvantage.
A total of 254 respondents (N = 267) know what the term bullying is. Only 5% of respondents did not know what this term means. This ignorance was associated with the age group of 14-19 years. Most often, respondents (N = 267) considered bullying to be a provocation, mockery and lying (25 %), then ridicule and abusive language realised in cyber space (23 %), group exclusion (20 %).
Chart no. 6 What behaviour can be considered bullying
A total of 103 respondents – 39 % (N = 267) definitely agree that bullying is a social problem. 14 % of the respondents (38) strongly disagree or disagree. In the majority of cases, the negative response was from individuals that did not experience bullying themselves (they have never become victims of bullying). The most common reasons for bullying are to have power over people (19 %) or differences between people (20 %) (Chart no. 8). 
Domain “Victim and aggressor”
We can see on charts 9-12 to what extent respondents have met with bullying in their lives, either with others or with themselves. A total of 55 % (147) of respondents know someone who was bullied. When dealing with the differences between countries, the largest representation in the answer “yes, I know someone who was bullied” is from the Czech Republic. At least is Romania, but Romania had a small sample. The bullying itself experienced 33 % of respondents, that is 87 interviewed persons. When compared with the individual countries, most of the individuals who have been victims of bullying can be found within the Czech Republic and that is in 38 %.
Chart no. 12 Differences between states “Have I ever been bullied”
If questioned respondents were victims of bullying, attacks occurred most often in the classroom (23 %), in the school yard/playground and then in cyberspace – through social networks such as Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp and others (17 %). In these attacks, there were mostly 2-3 aggressors in 51 % (44), a higher number of attackers appeared very little. But one aggressor was in 33 % (29). Regarding the identity of the aggressors, the most common bullies were the classmates (44 % – n38) and older classmates (28 % – n 24). The most frequent manifestations in a week and a month between individual countries appeared slander and talking about ugly things about the victim (20 %), then beating (13 %). Very common responses were slander and provocation through social networks or SMS (12 %).
Chart no. 14 Persons with disabilities who have become victims of bullying.
Within the total number of 69 respondents who were victims of bullying, there was a total of 23 disabled individuals (26 %). Of these, 26 % were physically disabled (6), people with Down syndrome, ADHD, and visual impairment accounted for 27 % of the total number of people with disabilities who were victims of bullying. Furthermore, the respondents stated that they had other disabilities or disadvantages in 43 %.
Domain “Response to bullying”
In the chart no. 15 we can see, how individual victims reacted to bullying. The most commonly mentioned response in the case of an attack was the victim´s leave in 21 % (n = 69). The next reaction was ignorance and only on the imaginary third place was to report the situation to an adult. The above-mentioned procedures were successful in 51 % (52) and led to the mitigation or elimination of bullying-related manifestations (Chart no. 16).
If bullying has not been solved for a long time or has not been eliminated, it has caused various difficulties for respondents. The most often mentioned, which had the greatest impact on the individual, are sorrow and anger. . Bio-psycho-social responses to the aggression of individuals have been experienced by the interviewees differently. Most often, the unsuitable behaviour of others caused feelings of anger and sorrow, then nausea, and a lack of appetite. 10 % of respondents (n=87) started to use drugs and medicaments in a big amount in connection with bullying. 21 % of respondents (who have experience of bullying) played occasionally with addictive substances and 18 % used occasionally medicaments.
The success of trustworthy people in dealing with bullying in victims is different. Most often, the conversation with them was useful to the individual, but the problem was not solved. The most frequently addressed but without solving the situation were friends. For the interviewed respondents, in most cases, nothing has been done by an educational consultant (47), another teacher (47) and a class teacher (46). Only 17 % of the cases were resolved by a class teacher and 18 % by an educational consultant. Parents are in the rate of solving/not solving a balanced group – 30 % of cases were resolved with their help.
The success of bullying solution by schools is mostly rated as the average, that is in 31 % of respondents (82). Generally speaking, bullying solution by school is considered successful. In an effort to prevent bullying and a bad behaviour, respondents mostly point out that people should learn how to help those who are being mistreated, that was in 20 % of cases (142). They also consider as important to punish people who behave badly, to have more preventive programs, that was in 18 % of responses. Last but not least, they also highlight the importance of creating opportunities for collaboration of people with and without disabilities (16 %).
