This research explores the differences between Chinese and Western research on school bullying. We conducted a review of the literature on school bullying in Chinese and English. During this process, we found that the definition of school bullying being used among most researchers is that school bullying consists of aggressive behaviors with 3 elements, which are imbalance of power or strength between bully and victim, repetition over time, and intention to harm (Nansel et al., 2001). After reviewing articles about school bullying in English and Chinese, we have summarized the similarities and differences of it. We found that the school factors are different from Western and China. One similarity, is that school bullying is associated with poor academic performance in both contexts. We also found that it is difficult to make direct comparisons across the bodies of literature, because of the different research focuses. A common focus in Western research is school climate and the relationship between school climate and school bullying, while most of the Chinese research is more focused on teachers and school management. Our next step is to continue to review the literature and discover how cultural factors may influence bullying in China and the United States. We also hope to collect and analyze survey data about school bullying in secondary schools in China and the United States, to make more direct comparisons across the two contexts.
Nansel, T. R., Overpeck, M., Pilla, R. S., Ruan, W. J., Simons-Morton, B., & Scheidt, P. (2001). Bullying behaviors among US youth: prevalence and association with psychosocial adjustment. JAMA, 285(16), 2094–2100. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.285.16.2094
Author: Jiawei Sun
Faculty Advisor: Paul Flaspohler, PhD, Department of Psychology
Graduate Student Advisor: Amy Kerr, Department of Psychology
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