Francisco Medina Herrera
Francisco Medina Herrera, a graduate in Sociology, has defended his PhD at the Public University of Navarre; he analyses the problem of bullying and school violence in ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education) classrooms in Navarre. In the research, the profile of those harassing is analysed and the risk factors making a student a possible victim identified. Francisco Medina’s PhD has the title “Bullying and school violence in ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education) in Navarre”.
The research is the result of a sample of 732 students from 19 colleges distributed throughout Navarre and in which the testimony of various Heads of Studies from the schools are analysed. The research focused on secondary school students because it is at the start of this educational cycle that adolescence begins, a period in which certain kinds of behaviour, such as violence, are often intensely expressed.
As Mr Medina explained in his thesis, school bullying is a form of violence occurring in schools amongst the students themselves. It not only refers to physical attacks, but also to other harassing and intimidating behaviour in which verbal ill treatment and social exclusion are present. In school bullying, there is always an inequality of power, over a long period of time, and in a recurrent manner.
The thesis also analyses new phenomena in school bullying arising from new technologies, such as cyberbullying or the role that society plays in creating values. In this sense, Mr Medina highlights that young people regularly exposed to violence are more likely to be aggressive with their peers and use violence as an acceptable method to resolve conflicts.
The research also identifies what the variables are that influence school bullying, amongst which are the family, social class, residential environment, exposure to the mass media, immigration, gender, age and physical traits.
As regards mass communication media, Francisco Medina especially highlights television in his thesis. This medium often presents models of behaviour that lack values and socially justifies violence as a means to an end.
Another factor having influence is immigration. The fact that immigrant students are seen to be different may cause xenophobic attacks against them, but their situation of inferiority with their fellow students may give rise to them being aggressive to vent their frustration.
Risk factors
One of the goals that Mr Medina had set himself in this PhD research was to find out the risk factors influencing these young people to become bullies, factors that are essential to know about when drawing up prevention strategies. The profile of a bully is that of a boy, with low academic achievement, having an impulsive temperament, incapable of learning from experience or punishment, without sense of guilt, who wants to call attention to himself in order to win the respect of others and who depends on friends who behave similarly.
Bullies usually have greater physical strength than their victims and take advantage of this superiority to carry out the intimidation. They show little interest in studying and are not concerned that their behaviour might affect their school grades and their future. They usually have a record of violence for their impulsive temperament and are incapable of putting themselves in the place of others due to their lack of empathy.
In the opinion of the author of this research, the aggressor seeks winning the respect of and recognition by others because he believes, with his behaviour, he is going to be more popular and to feel more important. Moreover, his friends usually behave similarly or have some kind of antisocial behaviour. The group sometimes forms around processes of victimisation which reinforces their behaviour and own identity.
Mr Medina argues that adolescents give great importance to being in a group of equals and that, if they adopt violent behaviour, their peers do the same in order to feel accepted.
Finally, the PhD identifies the risk factors that can make a student into a victim of bullying. As regards gender, boys usually suffer more ill treatment than girls. The victim usually shows an apparent weakness or other type of defect which marks them off from the rest of his or her peers, and may be ridiculed by the aggressors.
Victims of bullying are also usually good students. Fellow students see them as “teachers pets” and torment them so that they change their behaviour. The research also highlights that victims are insecure persons who do not respond to aggressions, a weakness which is exploited by the bully. Having a small group of friends is also crucial for the victim of bullying, because it is less probable that they receive help.
Mr Francisco Medina Herrera is a graduate from the Public University of Navarre. He has taken part in a number of research projects undertaken by UPNA teams, such as “The evolution of the family in Navarre from an interdisciplinary perspective (XVI –XX centuries)” or “Integration in Navarre society of immigrants receiving Secondary education”. He also collaborated in the organisation of the X Spanish Congress of Sociology, held at the UPNA in 2010.
* Elhuyar translation, published in www.basqueresearch.com