Only 30% of seniors have never faced a long and violent harassment (bullying) as victims, and more than half of the pupils of 9-10 classes at least once acted as attackers, according to the research of the laboratory of prevention of antisocial behavior, higher school of Economics. The experts noted an indirect relationship of the growth of aggression in schools with the law on decriminalization of domestic violence. The researchers made an approximate portrait of a potential aggressor — and it’s not always the loudest bully in the class.
From the attack on the school affects not only the families of those injured or simple witnesses of the incident, but in General entire community. “Even those who were not in the room during the attack, but is part of the team, often recorded the symptoms of post-traumatic stress, sometimes even physical abnormalities” — says researcher of the laboratory of prevention of antisocial behavior at HSE Maria Novikova.
Almost always, the attackers are young people, who shortly before the incident suffered serious stress or loss. Almost 80% of attackers adolescents had suicidal ideation, but 70% had been victims of a long and cruel bullying.
These are the data provided by the inter-University seminar “problems of prevention of antisocial behavior in the family and in schools”.
Bullying in school is systematically repeated harassment, aggression to one child from the majority. Manifestations of bullying can be a variety of: insults, humiliation in front of classmates, threats, or, conversely, isolation and neglect. Often, if the process of bullying is not controlled and does not stop, the aggression begins to be expressed in physical violence and damage to personal belongings.
The researchers isolated the phenomenon of cyberbullying. Teachers often find posts in social networks in which poisoned one or more students at the school. Bullying can be both unsuccessful and edited photos and direct threats, and insults.
And the victims who?
A clear portrait of a “typical striker” or “typical victim” to be impossible, but we can talk about inherent traits. According to experts, the HSE, the boys often act as victims of physical bullying and the aggressors in situations of physical bullying.
Children in the family which works only the mother, generally have higher rates of victimization, more than others, risk being the object of bullying. If the family none of the parents have no higher education, their children more often become victims of social aggression by their peers.
With approximately equal levels of social and verbal aggression faced by students from families with incomes below the average.
Finally, the child may be subjected to violence by their peers because of appearance, nationality, academic performance, appearance, health. “The child may become a victim simply because he was worse dressed than the other children, has any physical disabilities or abnormalities in development, better learning, it does not hide the fact that academic success is important to him. Sometimes the reason for persecution can be the identity of the child to the subculture incomprehensible to other children’s interests and Hobbies. In other words, when the child differs from the others and all the other strange” — said “Газете.Ru” Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on education and science Lyubov Dukhanina.
As for the aggressors, then they can serve children, secure in the knowledge that to achieve their goals will be easier to intimidate. They often do not sympathize with its victims and physically much stronger. Researchers believe that boys are more prone to aggressive behavior: they are impulsive and easily excitable.
“The aggressors may be different categories of children. There are children who have been the victim of violence and today venting my anger on others. And there are those who have already formed the archetype of antisocial behavior: they absolutely do not believe such actions are antisocial, but on the contrary, we are convinced that this kind of heroism,” — said Vice-President of the Russian Academy of education (RAO) Victor basiuk.
The aggressors are often guided by a sense of impunity, continues Dukhanina. They can vent on their own peers unsolved problems, complexes. “Many bullies in fact they were victims of either a family or in the yard, or at other schools,” she explains. And, according to Novikova, it is possible to trace an indirect link between the rising level of violence and aggression in children and the decriminalization of domestic violence (a law on administrative and not criminal liability for battered family members, applied for the first time, was adopted in 2017).
Social psychologist Natalia Varskaya also notes that the decriminalization of domestic violence affects the formation of the adolescent psyche.
The lack of accountability for violence in the family, the teenager takes to school. Thus, according to the expert, he either becomes a victim of bullying or the aggressor.
Often Teens tend to withdraw into themselves because of family conflict and fear to talk about them. Or the same situation is formed in the opposite way: the model of violence they stand for a collective, where the expert added.
However, school psychologists assure that it is a mistake to believe that a victim of bullying is only the object of persecution. When in the class a child is being bullied, traumatic effect exposed and the witnesses. But for the aggressor also reflected the negative effects of bullying. Experts notice that the children of the aggressors more likely to have depression and suicidal thoughts. In addition, there is a danger of repetition of the bullying, but the teachers or the school administration: as a result of the collective “preventive conversations” an outsider may be the aggressor, not the victim.
The lesson of history in the browser for parents
Academician Artur Rean stressed that it is important for the teacher characteristics of the child (e.g., whether it is noisy, distracted, stopping to teach a lesson) really are not any indications whether he will be the “murderer and arsonist”. But how and who should identify a potential aggressor? Scientific Director of the Institute of education HSE Isak Frumin believes that a significant proportion of the responsibility lies on the teachers. He offered to divide the salary of school psychologists between the headmasters: they provide attention to each child.
Vice President RAO Bass, in turn, believes that “you should think about the return of important experts, not involved directly psychology: the organizers of extracurricular activities, senior leaders — those who had been organizing the social life of schools, nurturing space.”
Social psychologist Natalia Varskaya notes that to shift all the work with the family to strangers is wrong: parents should pay attention to the child. But do not overdo the vigilance of doubtful community in subscriptions of the child in social networks is not a reason to panic. The process rarely make teenagers to form real structures and to resort to violence: “the Internet is a very free environment. To forbid the child to use it as a space of expression is not necessary. Internet folklore has very little to do with reality.”
Specialist urges caution to control what resources visits the child: “do Not openly condemn the child for something that in the Internet, he may behave aggressively or to create a shocking image. You can sometimes view the search history, but if you have something confused – try to begin to understand it. Many modern jokes adults now do not understand, but do not raise your voice or panic. The Internet is not real life. If you are sure that the family relationship of trust and your child has no mental disorders, you can be absolutely calm.”
On the other hand, said the Deputy of the state Duma Dukhanina, studies show that nearly 40% of children in Russia use the second account in social networks:
“The second page in social networks allows them in the first place, to hide information from strangers, and to share information does not endorse entourage. It is obvious that on the second page, children feel freer without close supervision by school or parents. So the likelihood that parents will be able to control which groups is the child with whom he communicates, is not very big”.
The Chairman of the Duma Committee on education listed the characteristics that must not only alert the parents and encourage them to direct intervention. “If a child is humiliated, trying to hurt or even hit, need some help here — a Frank conversation with the child, the parents of the offender and the class teacher”.
The child should understand that you are on his side, even if it seems that it is not done correctly, and they exhibited a weakness or even chickened out. All this can be to discuss and draw conclusions, when the main phase of the conflict will be settled. “In extreme cases, if the problem cannot be solved, or if the child is in high school, when it is inappropriate to resolve issues with parents, and the school can not help, you can go to another school. It is possible that at the new school, even if there is, in contrast to the previous place of learning, a Cup in chess and fencing, the child will be calmer, and the atmosphere is more positioning to the appearance of friends,” she explained.
In some cases, especially if the parents of the offender are not willing to discuss the situation or solve the problem, it makes sense to connect law enforcement agencies. In any case, if the child became withdrawn, aggressive, doesn’t want to go to school if he has no friends, is a reason for serious confidential conversation, he said.
