Chapter II

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter presents the revie if related literature and studies both foreign

and local which are relevant to the present study.

Foreign Literature

Bullying and harassment are not new issues that students and

schools face. In fact, over the years, it has been viewed as being so

commonplace in schools that it has been overlooked as a threat to

students and reduced to a belief that bullying is a developmental stage

that most youth will experience then get over (Ross, 2002, p. 107). But not

everyone gets over the personal trauma that can come with bullying both

for the victim and the bully. This is why it is seen happening by adults in

work places, in homes, and in the community. Therefore, this harassment

is not isolated to schools alone. But schools are the best place to actively

intervene. Teachers, administrators, counsellors, and even students have

the greatest access to the most students through a school system. It is

here that school staff can intervene, support and educate students about

ending bullying behaviours directly and indirectly; breaking the bullying-

cycle. This paper will address bullying in general at all grade levels, but its

intervention focus will be at the high school level. Harris & Hathorn, (2006,

p. 50) state: Because adolescence is a difficult time in a child’s maturation,

bullying exacerbates these difficult times by forming barriers to positive

connections with other students and school faculty members.

Consequently, the presence of bullying at school often creates a barrier

for young people to develop into well-adjusted adults. High school is the

last opportunity educators have to work with students at building

citizenship, building character, and building self-responsibility. For some

students this may be the last opportunity for an intervention to change

behaviours and attitudes associated with bullying or victimization before

they become adults in the workplace, with a family and in the community

at large.

Foreign Study

Cythia (2014) analyzed bullying impact on student’s performance

either in short or long term. She found that there are differences in

relationship between bullying level and academic performance depending

on student´s academic achievement. Nadine (2014) investigated bullying

impact on student’s ability to academically succeed. Nadine found that

bullied students have feel of fear from coming to school because they feel

that they are unsafe; therefore they are unable to concentrate which

reelect negatively on their academic success. Mundbjerg et al. (2014)

analyzed the relationship between bullying in elementary school in

Denmark. They found that bullied students have lower academic

achievement in 9th grade and bullying impacts are larger if it is more

severe. Placidius (2013) found that physical bullying was perceived as a

dominant bullying element. Boys prefer to be bullies more than girls. Poor

academic performance was as impact of bullying. Mehta et al. (2013)

found that when students feel that bullying is a phenomenon in their

school, they feel that they are unsafe which reflected on less engaged in

school community. Therefore they have less motivation to do well at

school and they do not participate in school activities. Bullying affects

student’s academic achievement in various ways. Ammermueller (2012)

found that being bullied has a significantly negative impact on present and

future students’ performance in school Brank et al. (2012) indicated that

bullying victims are weak, shy, and anxious. They added that victims’

performance is poor in school and seek to avoid attending school classes

for the purpose of avoiding victimization. Victimization experiencing can

lead to poor academic performance and leading to absenteeism.

Skapinakis et al. (2011) found that victims were more likely to report

suicidal thoughts than were bullies. Juvonen, et al. (2011) said that

bullying experiences affect victims’ academic achievement in both direct

and indirect ways. So bullied student by his peers may become worried

and afraid of being teased, therefore he may stop participating in class or

may has e trouble in concentrating on class work because of fear. They

added that students who are often subject to be bullied by their peers

during school period have less engagement at school and poor grades.

Konishi et al. (2010) confirmed that interpersonal relationships within

school environment influence academic achievement. Roman and Murillo

(2011) found that aggression in schools has a negative effect on academic

achievement in Latin America. They affirmed that students who have been

physically or verbally abused perform less. Marcela and Javier (2011)

found that bullying is a serious problem throughout Latin America they

indicated that; students who suffer from their peers aggression have lower

performance in reading and math than those who do not; and students

who are in classrooms with more physical or verbal violence perform are

more worse than those in less violent classroom settings. Konishi et al.

(2010) found that school bullying affects negatively academic

achievement. Chaux et al. (2009) argued that ten to fifteen percent of

adolescents worldwide are bullied two or more times a month. Skrzypiec

(2008) found that third of students who had been seriously bullied reported

having serious difficulties in concentrating and paying attention in class

because of bullying and the fear associated with. Glew et al. (2005)

reported that bullying prevents concentration and subsequent academic

achievement since bullying victims lose interest in learning and experience

a drop in academic grades because their attention is distracted from

learning. Mishna (2003) indicated that bullying is “a form of aggression in

which there is an imbalance of power between the bully and the victim that

occurs largely in the context of the peer group”.

Local Literature

Bullying behavior can be defined as aggressive act that is repeated

overtime or has a potential to be repeated in the future with an intent to

harm the other person who is perceived to be weak and more vulnerable

in either physical, emotional or psychological aspect and leaving that

person with a severe damage or impact that hinders him/her to perform

his/her daily activities (Penetrante, 2009; Myers, 2005). In a National

Study of bullying by the National Education Association (NEA), results

have shown that approximately 43 percent of NEA members perceived

bullying to be a moderate or major problem in school. Half of the survey

respondents (62%) claimed that they witnessed two or three incidents of

bullying within the last month. In the same study, they also found out that

verbal (59%), social/relational (50%), and physical (39%) forms of bullying

are greater concerns in school compared to cyber bullying (17%)

(Bradshaw, Waasdorp, & O’Brennan, 2009). In addition, a study (Wang,

Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009) on school bullying among adolescents in the

United States indicated that 20.8 percent of the respondents reported

being perpetrators or victims of physical bullying in the past two months.

The study of Plan Philippines (2009) which suggest that verbal and

relational abuse like teasing, demeaning and ignoring classmates were

identified as forms of bullying while physical and emotional abuse were

attributed as violence or aggression. The understanding of students that

verbal and relational abuses were form of bullying can be explained by the

findings of various researches confirming verbal bullying as the

predominantly observed form of bullying. Foreign and local studies have

comparable findings in terms of the prevalence of different forms of

bullying as derived from the percentages of responses in the survey

conducted. Verbal is the most common form of bullying, followed by social

or relational bullying, then physical bullying and lastly, the cyber-bullying

(Bradshaw et al., 2009; Villasor, 2010; Wang et al., 2009; Bayhon, 2001; &

Plan Philippines, 2009). It appears that there is a consensus in the

previous literature thatbullying incidences are high and that verbal bullying

is the most common form of bullying. However, the unique experiences of

different respondents in a culture or community may vary, depending on

the frequency and forms of bullying incidences. The present study aims to

investigate this context by looking into the level of school connectedness

among the students, which may serve as a protective factor to buffer the

incidences of bullying. Students who feel connected to their school were

less likely to skip school or be involved in fighting, bullying, and vandalism

(Schapps, 2003). These students will most likely succeed and be able to

overcome conflict in school. They can take part in responding

appropriately to the bullying incidences and other violence happening

inside the school. By exploring how high school students in one institution

describe and define the dynamics of bullying is the gap that is being

bridged by this study. The relationship between bullying and school

connectedness will be the determining factor in coming up with an anti-

bullying program.
Local Study