Abstract
Peers’ violence has been a prominent theme in the educational literature due to its frequency and deleterious effects on those involved. The general objective of this research was to explore the occurrence of bullying in two school contexts - public and private - comparing them in terms of frequency and patterns of occurrence of the phenomenon. The subjects were 76 students from 6th to 9th degree of elementary school, aged between 10 and 15 years old, 54% of the sample being female. The participants answered anonymously a survey for obtaining information regarding the occurrence of aggressions at school, as well as for identifying the participants’ involvement in these situations. Results indicated that 24% of the participants consider themselves victims of repeated aggressions that could configure bullying episodes. It was observed a higher frequency of male aggressors in the public school while in private school no significant differences were found between the aggressors’ sexes. In both of schools a high incidence of aggressions at break time and in the classrooms was found, with the most of witnesses having a passive behavior. We discuss the need of schools’ investment in strategies aiming to prevent and minimize the problem.
Bullying; School Violence; Elementary Education
