THE INFLUENCE OF CHILD REARING PRACTICES ON BULLYING BEHAVIOUR

CHAPTER ONE

1.0             INTRODUCTION

1.1             BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Bullying is a problem that affects millions of student and it is a great concern to everybody. Olweuset. al., (2009) defined bullying as the continual picking on someone because the bully think he/she is cooler, smarter, stronger or better than the victims.

Bullying causes many problems, not only for the victim but also for the bully. Student desire to have a safe home and be safe also at school also.Having problems with bullies lead to insecurity in the victim. Bullying should be taken more seriously and teachers, administrators and parents should work together to find solutions.

“Bully” brings a memorable and painful memory to the mind of anyone who has always vouched or experiencedfirst-hand the violence, threats, torments, harass by one who is in greater power and control over that person.Five hundred years ago, the word of bully meaning brother, lover, friend, family member, or sweetheart. Theroot of the word bully was stemmed from the Dutch word “boel” (Spade, 2007). In the 21st century, the term of“bully” takes on a completely different meaning.Olweus (2007) defined that when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the partsof one or more other students, that person is considered being bullied or victimized. It is a negative action andbasically is implied in the definition of aggressive behavior in the social science. This negative actions can becarried out by words, by physical contact, or in other ways, such as spreading rumours, intentional exclusionfrom a group and making faces or unpleasant gesture. Bullying is characterized by the following three criteria:(1) aggressive behavior or intentional “harmdoing”; (2) carried out “repeatedly and over time”; (3) in aninterpersonal relationship characterized by an imbalance of power.

Problems of bullying for victims include psychological problems. Bullying can cause lifelong psychological effects on the victims. A victim will often suffer the abuse because he will be ashamed and if he tells he also may fear retaliation and feel depressed.

The bully may also have life-long issues related to bullying. The center for problem oriented policing gives examples why a bully turns to picking or someone weaker such as abusive influences in the home and peer group influences. According to a study by the fight crime organization, nearly 60 percent of boys who researchers classified as bullies in grade six. In happy Montessori school united state of America and nine were convicted of at least one crime by the age of 24. The bully may be experiencing abuse at home or have problem adjusting at school so he lashes out at someone weaker.

Some researchers Olweus (2001) Berkowitz (2004) Smith (2009) and Stephen (2009) have been able to identify some factors which have contributed to bullying. One of such factor which is the common factor include parental factor (Stephen and Smith (2009). Parents have behavioural expectation from their children. Children who are been bullied more often likely to have parental problems. These are children whose parents do not care for. Bullying in children is as a result of their faulty upbringing neglect, or violent behaviour on the part of the parents.

Studies indicate that bullies often come from homes where physicalpunishment is used, where the children are taught to strike back physically as a way to handle problems, andwhere parental involvement and warmth are frequently lacking. Students who regularly display bullyingbehaviours are generally defiant or oppositional toward adults, antisocial, and apt to break school rules. Incontrast to prevailing myths, bullies appear to have little anxiety and to possess strong self-esteem. Victims’experiences are concurrently associated with array ofadjustment problems, including depression, anxiety, lowself-esteem and loneliness. However,bullies will have anti-social behaviour later in life (Seals & Young, 2003).Family’s emotional climate is an important context that determines the effects of parental control. Children whoperceive high emtional support are more likely to regard parental control as legitimate. They usually perceivethis control as a result of parental involvement and care. On the other hand, high parental control in the contextof poor emotional climate may be perceived by a child as an attempt by parents to restrain personal autonomyand power in the relationship. Hence, children’s adjustment is not simply a function of additive, uniquecombinations of specific parenting characteristics; rather, it is a function, in part, of children’s experience withdifferent patterns or profiles of parenting characteristics (Cummings, Davies & Campbell, 2000).

Generally, parents whose children become involved in bullying are more likely to have problems with poorfamily functioning, insecure attachment relationship with their children. A number of studies within the socialinfluence framework also show that children learn to be aggressive towards others who are less powerful, bywatching daily interactions of their family members (Patterson, 2006). Demaray and Malecki (2003) stated thatchildren who become a bully at school usually imitiate their parents how to retaliate and to hit back whenattacked. Hence, parenting techniques such as harsh and inconsistent punishment often lead to childrenaggression both in and out of the family.School bullying is not a new issue. Although researchers had done the prevention and intervention programs toseek either to prevent the emergence of violent behavior in childhood or to prevent the spread of violence inadolescence, however the problem still not being solves. In year 2004, Olweus and his colleagues has beenclaimed to effectively reduce aggressive behavior among school children by 50 percent, and this positive changewas maintained 20 months after the intervention. These was stimulated other countries to adopt the OlweusBullying Prevention Programme.To prevent the emergence and spread of bullying behavior, identification the factors of bullying behavior is veryimportant. We can notice that internal factor such as individual personality, or even the external factors such asfamily or parent, school, and peer relation, will affect in school bullying.

Personality is those features of theindividual which determine that individual’s unique response to the environment (Pridmore, 2009). Manydescriptions state the personality is “lifelong and persistent”, and involves “enduring characteristics andattitudes” which can influence individual’s ways of thinking, feeling and behaving.Olweus (2007) stated that in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, bullying among school children has attracted attentionalso in other countries such as Japan, Netherland, Australia, USA, Canada and so forth. (Brown, 2003) wasestimated that approximately 160,000 students across the nation make attempts to stay home from school eachday because they terror of tormented and harassed by school bully.The relationship between parents and their children play a central role in understanding the behavioral andpsychosocialdevelopment of the child. For many decades, it was believed that parental rearing could beadequately described by two dimensions, which are care and control (Cummings et al., 2000).

Generally, bullies have a more positive attitude toward violence and use of violent means than students ingeneral. They are always characterized by impulsivity and have a strong need to dominate others. They are alsohave little empathy with victim of bullying. Especially male’s bullies are likely to be physically stronger thanothers same gender in general, and the victim in particular. In other words, typical bullies can be discribed ashaving an aggressive reaction pattern, which in the case of boys, is combined with physical strength. In addition,bullying behavior is motivated by the bullies’ pursuit of high status and a powerful, dominant position in thepeer group. There is an imbalance of power between bullies and victims. As regards the possible psychologicalsources underlying bullying behavior, the pattern of empirical findings suggests the interrelated motives ofbullies, particularly for male bullies. First, the bullies have a strong need for power and dominance, where theyare enjoyed being “in control” others. Second, the bullies are derived satisfaction from inflicting injury andsuffering upon others.

The study ofparental control effects is complex and various factors should be considered. This dimension relates toheterogeneity of behaviors, such as enforcement of the rules, monitoring, supervision, and overprotection(Deater-Deckard & Dodge, 2007).

Various components of child-rearing styles and family experiences also related to bully/victim behavior.Research findings shown that bullies are more likely to come from families where the parental child-rearingpractices are authoritarian, characterized by harshness and punitiveness (Georgiou, 2009; Olweus, 2007).Besides, also indicate that parents of bullies are more likely to employ power assertive techniques to controltheir children’s behavior.Family factor more influential during childhood. Thus, various family factors mayaffect the individual during their development period. This implies that the same risk factors may have differentinfluences on behaviour of bullying.

The different parenting style can affect children especially those who are been neglected. They tend to pour out their angers on weaker ones. A case of a young boy of twelve years who requested that his father should purchase his textbooks but the father refused and on getting to school, the boy poured out his anger on the weaker students. Parents should care and know the needs of their children. Berkowitz (2004), also find out that children bully others as a result of the environment they come from especially the kind of friends they keep. They want to belong. When parents do not care about the friends their children keep, this may influences the behaviour of pupils.

1.2             PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of child rearing practices on bullying behaviour of pupils in Basic Six classes (A case study of public schools in Abeokuta South Local Government area of Ogun State).

The objectives of this study are to:

i.                            Assess the extent to which different child rearing practices affect bullying behaviour of pupils.

ii.                         To determine the effective way to stop the bullying of school age pupils in Abeokuta North Local Government, Ogun State.

iii.                       To identify the areas in which parent can adjust their styles in order to reduces incidence of bullying.

1.3             STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In recent times, it has been observed that school age children who are been bullied by others is as a result of the way they are been brought up by parents and guidance.

Parents are no longer dedicated, most of them are two busy taking care of business and other things in order to meet up with the challenge of economic resources.

Most children who bully others have low self-esteem and lack parental guidance. It is for the above reason that the researcher attempt to look at the influence of childsrearing practices on bullying behaviour of the influence of pupils different behavour rearing practices on bulling in Abeokuta South Local Government, Ogun State.

1.4             RESEARCH QUESTION

The researches is carried out to find out the influence of child rearing practices on bullying behaviour of pupils in Basic six classes in Abeokuta South Local Government, Ogun State.

1.      Are child rearing practices contributory factors to bullying?

2.      Does child personality affect bullying tendency in the child?

3.      What are the factors affecting the bullied children?

4.      Does violence attitude of parent result in bullying behaviour of children?

1.5             SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

These research will enable parents to know or identify the kind of parenting style to use in bringing up their children and to reduce bullying among the children. It also helps guidance and counselors to identify problems and children who have bullying behaviours and those who are been bullied and how to help to. This also serve as eye opener to Government in order to support and establish more organization in order to reduce bullying among children in the society.

1.6             SCOPE OF THE  STUDY

The research is mainly concerned with the different children rearing practices of school children in Abeokuta South Local Government Ogun State.

1.7             DEFINITION OF TERMS

Bullying: It is that continual picking on someone because the bully thinks he/she is cooler, smarter, stronger or better than the victims.

Child-rearing practices: It is the way parent raise their children and how they interact with them.

The Bully: These are those who pick on others and making them feel uncomfortable

The Victim: They are those who are been bully or picked on.