Australian school children's self appraisal of interpersonal relations: the bullying experience

The extent and nature of bullying among South Australian primary school children and their self appraisals of peer relations were investigated in a survey of 412 primary school children between the ages of 7 to 13 years. It was found that 10% of boys and 6% of girls were subject to peer group bullying and for 8% of such children the bullying episodes lasted 6 months or more. Factor analysis of styles of interpersonal relating amongst children identified three independent factors including a tendency to bully, to be victimized and to act in a pro-social manner. The tendency to be victimized correlated negatively with self appraisals of the number of friends, popularity, happiness at school and feelings of safety at school. The findings are discussed in relation to research linking negative self appraisals of interpersonal competence with isolation and proneness to depression in later years.