MEDIA VIOLENCE AS A PREDICTOR OF BULLYING BEVAVIOURS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The contemporary society is living in a media driven world. Since the nascent digitalization, the world has gone media crazy. There is virtually no human activities that has not gone to media. Violence has been found in all societies, it represents a serious problem which concerns all populations (Tharp, Simon, & Saul, 2012). Violence tends to generate more aggressive behaviors such as school bullying which causes multiple social problems. This in turn will create obstacles to the integral development of population, especially children and adolescents (Orue et al., 2011). School bullying is a phenomenon that occurs in an educational setting and is common in adolescence. Adolescents need to feel accepted by peers in school, where adolescents spend a large amount of time and maintain personal relationships (Ismail, Jaafar, Sidi, Midin, & Shah, 2014). Nowadays; large amount of violence is daily depicted in different forms of popular media. Media field is ever changing; with new technology, different media forms such as TV, movies, videogames, social media websites, and internet became very attractive (Media Violence Commission, 2012). Media represent one of the most significant and powerful tools that influences children and adolescents’ development and health. They have unstable developmental status, adding to that considerable long time to spend with different forms of violent media, which make them more susceptible (Ukoha, 2013). Exposure to media violence has been related to aggressive behavior, hence; it is plausible that it will lead to bullying as less severe form of aggressive behavior (Dittrick, Beran, Mishna, Hetherington, & Shariff, 2013). Bullying is considered a significant social problem worldwide (Hong & Espelage, 2012). Previous research provided evidence for the relationship between violent media exposure and school bullying (Den Hamer & Konijin, 2015; Dittrick et al., 2013; Fanti, Demetriou, & Hawa, 2012). Growing body of evidence for the correlation between large prevalence of both school bullying in one hand, and the great and easy access of children and adolescents to different forms of violent media on the other hand, is continuously urging public, researchers, and policy makers to further investigate this association. Which in turn will enable them to devise preventive measures to stop further school bullying and other delinquent behaviors (Ttofi & Farringto, 2011).
Bullying behaviour (Nwawube 2014), is a situation whereby a person uses his physical strength to frighten or hurt a weaker person into doing something ordinarily he wouldn’t like to do. A bully is a person who engages in bullying. Bullies are found everywhere, in the school and at home. it has been a very serious problem in the school system where the senior students showcase their powers on the junior and weaker students. Although bulling and aggression are different “bulling is commonly regarded as an aspect of aggression”. Bulling is regarded as a form of aggression in which a person repeatedly harasses another physically or psychologically. However this general agreement did not say with clear expression what kind of aggression may be involved. Aggressive behaviour may conflict between equal powers whereas bulling involves hurting someone who is quite unable to defend him/herself. Bulling is quite different from peer conflict; it is a conflict between individuals that do not share the equal physical or psychological power. Bullies are usually physically stronger and the victims are usually perceived as weaker and unable to protect themselves. In the context of this study, bullying is a form of aggression in which a person repeatedly harasses a weaker person physically and/or psychologically.
The phenomenon of bullying shows that bullying is a comprise of direct behaviours such as teasing, taunting, threatening, hitting and stealing that are initiated by one or more students against a victim. In addition to this, bulling may also be more indirect by causing a student to be socially isolated through intentional exclusion (Nwawube 2014). Whether the bullying is direct or indirect, the key component of bullying is that physical and psychological intimidation occurs repeatedly over the time.
There have been some findings to show some possible consequences for those who bully and their victims. It has been found out that those who have been identified as bullies in school were found more likely to come before the court as consequences of delinquency (Nwawube 2014). Also those who have been identified as bullies at school were more likely than others to have children who behave aggressively. There is no clear explanation of how this happens either by family influence, genetic transmission or both. Children who habitually bully significantly experience higher levels of depression or even suicidal idealization. There is also a proof that frequent bullying among children has negative impacts on the victim’s school achievement. In addition, those who are frequently involved in bullying show poor academic performance in school. It has also been found that, both bullies and their victims had somewhat lower than average marks than the children who are not involved in bullying activities.
Bullying is the systematic abuse of power in interpersonal relationship. It is when a person is picked on over and over again by an individual or group with more power, either in terms of physical strength or social standing. There are apparently imbalances in physical or psychological strength between bully and victim.
Bullying is a widespread phenomenon involving both individuals and groups. It is an immoral action because it humiliates and oppresses innocent victims. Presently unclear is whether bullies bully because of their exposure to violent media. Although bullying is a common experience for students around the world, it is a social complex problem that can still have serious negative consequences for both bullies and their victims. The negative effects of bullying are well documented, not only in terms of the psychological harm inflicted on victims, but also in terms of the maladaptive outcomes for children who bully. Studies around the globe tell that bullying can be predicted by media violence.
Bullying can be moderated by other variables such as gender and location. Bullying behaviours have been observed to occur mostly among male students than their female counterparts. Female students are believe to be mostly victims of bullying following the facts that males naturally are stronger than females. Experiences have shown that bullying are mostly found among students in the urban areas than those in rural schools. They attributed it to the communal type of living that characterize the rural setting.
As shown by literature, there is ample cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence from the literature for the association between exposure to media violence and school bullying (Dittrick et al., 2013). Despite this fact, the topic of exposure to media violence effect on school bullying among adolescents is still ignored in Nnewi Education Zone of Anambra state and some other eastern states. Gap remains in the knowledge of the relationship between violence in the media and school bullying in Nnewi Education Zone.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Secondary school students form an integral part of the society, and these students are believed to be in their adolescence stage which is believed to be an important stage of life. It is a stage of skill and attitude acquisition, which could take one throughout life. Unfortunately, all over the secondary schools and even in families many of these students are found to engage in bullying behaviours. Bullying mars safety of many students as such ought to pose a challenge to school system in Nnewi Education Zone. In recent years, bullying and media violence among students and youths have been disrupting academic activities in most schools especially in the zone of the present study. In many circumstances, the cases have been captured and drastically blown up by local and national media. Bullying among secondary school adolescents have been linked with media violence and other criminal tendencies. These categories of negative incidence have been observed in secondary schools in the zone, hence, the need for this study. Some junior students have fallen victims of bullying behaviours. There several cases of loss of life which occurred as a result of bullying. A substantive body of work has identified key dimensions in the home environment such as video game playing, violent TV exposure, DVD exposure among others. It is likely that one of the factors that predispose students to bullying behaviors is exposure to media violence. Students who are exposed to media violence tend to engage in activities like fighting, kicking, hitting, knocking among others which are likely to be carried into adult lives. It is against this background therefore, the researcher sets to investigate media violence as predictor of bullying behaviours among secondary school adolescents in Nnewi Education Zone of Anambra State.
1.3 Purpose of Study
The general purpose of the study is to investigate how media violence predicts bullying behaviours among secondary school adolescents in Nnewi Education Zone.
Specifically, the study seeks to:
1. Identify the incidence of bullying behaviours among secondary school adolescents.
2. Determine the prediction of media violence to bullying behaviours.
3. To determine the extent of bullying behaviour dependent on gender.
4. To determine the extent of bullying behaviour dependent on location.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The significance for this study emerges from the fact of high prevalence rate of school bullying in Nnewi Education Zone which is alarming. Examining the association between school bullying and other important risk factors such as gender and adolescents’ repeated exposure to media violence, will reveal the link between them.
Results of this study will be significant to the school administrators, teachers, parents, students, future researchers and the society at large. The findings of this study will be of immense benefit to the school administrators both males and females to know how to handle bullying behaviours in schools and to bring it to the barest minimum. If bullying behaviours are reduced to zero level in education system, there will be a tremendous improvement in the academic activities instead of engaging in useless ventures of bullying and victimization. Also there will be reduction in the school violence such as demonstration, and rioting be it peaceful or destructive. The junior students also who always fall victim of these bullies will now enjoy the peaceful atmosphere in the school. This notwithstanding, the general tone of the school will be high.
The teachers who more often than not are always with these students may use the findings of this study to give talks during moral instruction, morning devotion/assembly. The findings also will reveal to the teachers the causes of bullying activities, its consequences and ways of reducing the bullying activities in order to enhance the academic performance of these students.
To the parents, they will equally benefit from the findings of this study. The bullying which before now was extended to the family will be minimized if not totally eliminated. The family will now enjoy a peaceful climate in the home. The society is not left out, because the society and its constituent need peace, orderliness and harmony. The effects of these bullies cannot make for peaceful coexistence without some assistance being extended to them. In addition, educational practitioners and school guidance counselors should also utilize the findings of the study to organize talks on bullying behaviours in the school system to indicate the behaviours expected of the students and other members of the staff who may have bullies in their homes.
1.5 Scope of the Study
The study was carried out in Nnewi Education Zone. The zone is made up of three local government areas of nnewi north, nnewi south and ekwusigo. The geographical scope covers the three local government areas. The content scope will cover media violence and bullying behaviours.
1.6 Research Questions
The following research questions will be answered by the study:
1. What are the incidence of bullying behaviour among secondary school adolescents in Nnewi education zone?
2. To what extent does bullying behaviour among adolescent depend on gender in Nnewi education zone?
3. To what extent does bullying behaviour depend on location in Nnewi education zone?
4. What is the prediction of media violence to bullying behaviours in Nnewi education zone?
1.7 Research Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses guided the study at 0.05 level of significance.
H01: There is no significant difference between male and female students in their mean rating on bullying behaviours.
H02: There is no significant difference between urban and rural students in their mean rating on bullying behaviours.
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