How Student and School Characteristics Influence Students' Bullying in South Korean Middle School: A Multilevel Analysis

Background/Purpose: School bullying is a serious social problem in countries worldwide; however, few studies have investigated the factors for bullying in the context of Asian cultures. Moreover, most studies that examined bullying in Asian countries focused on individual-level variables. Therefore, it is unclear how school-level variables are associated with school violence. This study examined the factors for school bullying in South Korea at both individual and school levels with the goal of obtaining information that will enable the reduction of bullying in South Korean middle schools.

Methods: Data were obtained from a sample of 1,777 students in 50 middle schools in Seoul, and its surrounding province, Gyeonggi-Do, in South Korea. In order to avoid bias, sampling was done on the basis of school location. Both the city of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province were divided into four areas and five or six schools were randomly selected within each area. Then, one class in each school was randomly selected for the survey, which was done during the school day. Hierarchical linear modeling was employed to conduct a two-level analysis.

Individual-level variables. Students’ engagement in a variety of bullying behaviors during the prior year was assessed by a 20-item self-reported questionnaire adopted from the Korean Institute of Criminology's (1996) study on violence around schools. Gender was a dichotomous variable with male coded as '1' and female as '0'. Grade levels ranged from 7 to 9. For the academic performance variable, students were questioned about their overall grade point average for all subject areas in the prior semester. Response options ranged from 1 (very good) to 5 (very bad). Attitude toward school violence was measured by four questions with multiple choices (range, 1–4) (Kim, 1997). Family economic status was measured by responses to a question with five answers that ranged from 1(very rich) to 5 (very poor). Child abuse experience was assessed by 15 items from the Conflict Tactics Scales Parent Child version (Straus et al., 1998). Involvement with delinquent peers was measured by responses to eight questions related to behavior by friends (e.g., drinking, smoking, and running away).

School-level variables. The School Database in the Korean Ministry of Education was used to describe school and class size. Teacher support was measured using five items from the School Climate Scale (Zullig et al., 2010). Teacher maltreatment was measured using five items from the Korean Institute of Criminology's (1996) study on violence around schools. Teacher support and teacher maltreatment were aggregated at the school level.

Results: Individual characteristics including attitude toward violence, child abuse experience, and involvement with delinquent peers were found to significantly contribute to school bullying. Teacher maltreatment was a significant predictor of school bullying at the school level.

Implications: Teacher maltreatment, a school-level variable, was identified as a significant factor for increased school bullying in situations where individual-level variables were controlled. This finding indicates that it is necessary to focus on student behavior at the individual level and also to eradicate teacher maltreatment at the school level in order to reduce school bullying.