Abstract

The present study tried to explore the effects of various social and psychological variables on school bullying among elementary students. The specific purposes of this study were to explore 1) if the social and psychological variables of four groups of students(non-participants, bullies, victims, and bully-victims) were different in their characteristics, and the contents of impact on bullying behavior, 2) the relative importance of the variables affecting bullying behaviors, 3) the contents of impacts of the variables on bullying behaviors were different by students' gender and grade. A sample fo 1062 elementary students(4~6 grades) completed a questionnaire survey. Results showed that 1) non-participants, bullies, victims, and bully-victims differed in three social variables(gender, grade, school-achievement), and in all psychological variables except individualism and active strategies for stress. Results of multiple regression showed that exposure to peer's violence and victim experience of bulling were the most important in explaining the bullies behaviors whereas exposure to parents' violence and offending experience of bullying were the most important in explaing the victims' behaviors. Results of other multiple regressions analyzed by both gender and grade showed that elementary students' bullying behaviors had several differences on the bases of their gender and grade. On the bases of the results of this study, variables related elementary students' bullying behaviors and possible interventions were discussed.