Bullying in Year 10 Girls' Friendship Groups: "I would so not go through that again."

Abstract

One of the most common concerns presented to school counsellors by Year 10 girls is friendship problems, some of which have been identified as bullying. A three-stage study including focus groups, a survey questionnaire and individual interviews, undertook to describe the nature and experiences of Year 10 (early middle adolescent) girls 'bullying within their friendship groups, according to girls' points of view. The study also sought to discover what girls themselves had found to be helpful in reducing or preventing such bullying. Bullying was found to occur in the majority of friendship groups, but girls often failed to recognise or name it as bullying. Two distinct types of friendship group bullying, large group bullying and triadic group bullying, were found. The majority of observers and helpers were found to experience negative effects from witnessing bullying, while victims experienced significant loss and grief concerns. The findings suggest that the developmental changes in girls which create increased friendship conflict may also contribute to increased levels of bullying as girls learn to manage more highly-developed friendships, and indicate that satisfactory resolution of the bullying is important for girls' developmental well-being. Differences were also found in the recognition of bullying among girls from coeducational and single-sex schools of different decile levels, with girls from middle and high decile coeducational schools recognising all types of bullying more than did girls from single-sex schools of similar decile levels.