The Association Between Bullying and School Satisfaction Among Primary School Children in El Salvador

794 Words2 Pages

The current study focused on evaluating the association between bullying and school satisfaction among El Salvadorian primary school children. Participants within the study were asked to provide an understanding of bullying without prior explanation of the meaning or definition. Researchers DeSouza and Ribeiro state that “international definitions vary from culture to culture…it is important minimize socially desirable responses” (DeSouza & Riberio, 2005 p.13). The survey questions were presented in manner that would allow the participants to assess if they have ever been bullied or bullied other students. Espelage & Holt, 2001 argue that “questions presented that enable superiority rather than subjectivity prohibit the responder to associate bullying as being a mechanism of harm to the individual” (p.). The survey instrument administered illustrated similarity to the Bostworth et al (1999) study. In the Bostworth et al, the study found that 81% of the U.S. students in middle school reported at least one act of bullying; the current study found 30% indicated that they had been bullied at least once in the last year. The difference between the outcomes may potentially be relayed back to the interpretation of bullying across cultures. Although the primary objective did not conclude statistically significant results, studies have shown that bullying should be considered when examining school satisfaction. Verkuyten & Thijs (2002) state, “children perform better educationally when they are satisfied with school that involves minimal victimization” (p.222).

Findings of this study did not show significant secondary outcome measures of bullying versus quality of life. Although quality of life was measured with a participant ever being...

... middle of paper ...

...ture studies should explain the cultural definition of the term bullying/bullied or fighting for El Salvador, which would allow for reduced bias to occur in the data instrument. Other limitations of the study included obtaining data through a cross-sectional methodology rather than longitudinal. In addition, the sample population was derived from two schools rather than several schools within El Salvador. The data obtained inhibits the ability for the results to be generalized among a larger population, specifically when compared to past research that found more than one statistically significant outcome. The research instrument also presented limited answer choice responses, which in turn prohibited a thorough collection of data. Improvement of the instrument collection tool would aid in achieving the necessary outcome measurements at baseline with reduced bias.

More about The Association Between Bullying and School Satisfaction Among Primary School Children in El Salvador

Open Document