Bullying perspectives among rural youth : a mixed methods approach

Introduction: Few studies have examined violence among rural youth even though it is recognized as a societal concern. A mixed method, descriptive study was conducted to examine violence among rural youth including their perceptions and experiences of it. This article focuses specifically on the perceptions and experiences of bullying among rural youth that were generated from the Qualitative Phase One interviews and Quantitative Phase Two responses. Method: A mixed method study was conducted in two separate phases. The information generated from the Qualitative Phase One (n = 52) was used to develop a survey instrument employed in the subsequent Quantitative Phase Two (n = 180). The youth who were involved in each phase lived in different geographic areas of a Western Canadian province. The qualitative phase generated a number of comments about the experience of being bullied or how it felt to be a bully. In the survey instrument, specific questions related to bullying were embedded within it. Demographic information was collected in both phases of the study. Research assistants were used to collect the data in each phase. The transcripts from the qualitative phase were analyzed for categories and themes. The survey instrument included demographic questions and seventy questions that included a four-point Likert scale. The data were analyzed using SPSS v14 (SPSS Inc; Chicago, IL, USA). For this article, the survey questions that focused on bullying were considered alongside the qualitative comments in order to more fully understand the perceptions and viewpoints of rural youth regarding this particular aspect of violence.


Introduction
There is a need for public health measures to curtail violence among youth; generating information about such violence is vital to understanding the phenomenon, and to creating antiviolence programs 1 . This article focuses on the findings related to bullying from a mixed method study that addressed the meaning and perceptions of violence among rural youth in Alberta, Canada [2][3][4] . In general, research on violence in rural settings is limited and, hence, the study described here provided a unique opportunity for rural youth to share their perceptions about a topic that has the potential to impact their daily lives. The findings emphasize a need for an action plan based upon a clear understanding of the youths' perceptions and experiences of bullying.
The definition of rural and small town for this study consists of residents in communities with a population of less than 10 000, living outside the main commuting zones of larger urban centres 5 . Youth includes those individuals from 11 to 19 years of age, in grades 6-12 in the public school system. Violence was defined as: 'an act with the intention, or perceived intention, of causing physical pain or injury to another person' 6, p15 ; whereas, bullying was viewed as physical or psychological harassment 7 .

What is bullying?
The following general overview is provided to illustrate what is currently known about this topic. Research on the subject has used various definitions of bullying but a common theme is that it takes the form of harassment and/or violence. The lack of common instruments to measure and examine bullying, and the lack of consensus regarding the definition of rural makes comparison between studies difficult.
Bullying involves a power differential between the bully, and his/her victim/s. As bullies' power increases and victims' power decreases, repeated bullying serves to consolidate this power differential 8 . Bullying has also been described as a direct abuse of power that leads to feelings of isolation, insecurity and terror in victims 9 . Bullying includes a range of activities such as name calling, cruel rumors and social isolation. Exact figures on the frequency of bullying © JC Kulig, BL Hall, R Grant Kalischuk, 2008. A licence to publish this material has been given to ARHEN http://www.rrh.org.au 3 are difficult to locate but in Alberta, where the study occurred, one in 10 children have been bullied 9 .
Bullying takes many forms, but the findings about the types of bullying that occur are fairly similar across countries 10 . A WHO study revealed that Canadian students in grades 6, 8, and 10 reported levels of bullying that, with respect to the 36 countries surveyed, fell in the top quartile for bullying others, and in the top one-third for being victimized. This study also found, when frequent bullying and victimization (at least twice in the last 5 days) was examined, Canadian rates fell into the mid-range for bullying (17th out of 36 countries), and the top quartile for victimization (9th out of 39 countries) 8 .
In the majority of bullying incidents, other children are involved with behaviors such as joining in the bullying, observing passively, or actively intervening to stop the bullying 11 . Recent research on bullying has challenged the assumption that bullies and victims fit into categorical, dichotomous bully or victim dyadic patterns. Bullying is more commonly being thought of as dynamic, rather than static, with levels of involvement falling somewhere on a continuum 12 . This departure allows for many different roles to be held by an individual, including: bully, aggressive bully, a victim, a bully-victim, and/or a bystander. An understanding of the various roles that students play in bullying (ie bystander, enabler), acknowledges the diversity of experiences along this continuum, ultimately showing how bullying is a group phenomenon 12 .
Bullying is typically done by one other child or by a very small group of peers. It is much less common for children to be bullied by large groups 11 . It also is much more common at school 11 and has been found to increase during the transition from primary to middle school, helping adolescents manage peer and dominance relationships as they move into new social groups 13 .
The suggestion that students are more likely to become victims of bullying if they are overweight or have a different ethnic origin has had limited empirical support. However, a recent study has shown that overweight and obese schoolaged children are more likely the victims and perpetrators of bullying behaviors than their normal-weight peers 14 .
In general, boys and girls report being victimized at relatively similar rates, suggesting that gender may not be a risk factor for victimization. Children with internalizing problems such as depression and anxiety are at risk for becoming victims, as are children in friendships lacking affection and emotional support 8  There are individual characteristics identified as contributing to bullying behaviors, such as anger, normative beliefs and social skills 12 . Peer influences are also important factors in bullying incidents. For example, children who bully are more likely to have friends who have positive attitudes toward violence 11 . There is also an association between familial characteristics and bullying behavior, including a lack of warmth and involvement on the part of parents 12 , overly submissive parenting 12 , a lack of parental supervision 12,15 , and harsh, corporal discipline 11 . In addition, young children exposed to parental violence 9,16 and child maltreatment 11 are more likely to bully in later childhood.
Finally, neighborhood safety concerns have also been positively associated with bullying 15 .
Research conducted on the role of siblings in bullying found that children often bullied their siblings (40%), of this group, 30% were frequently abused by their siblings. When examining the victimization experiences more closely, 22% were often hit or pushed, 8% were often beat up, and 8% were scared they would be badly hurt. Fifty-seven percent of school bullies and 77% of school bully-victims also bullied their siblings 12 .
There are numerous short-and long-term problems associated with being bullied. Short-term problems can include: depression, anxiety, loneliness, and difficulties with schoolwork; while long-term problems may include low selfesteem and depression 11 , including suicidal ideation among victims 17 . Individuals who have been bullied have been found to have higher levels of depression and poorer selfesteem at age 23 years, despite the fact that they were no more harassed than comparison adults 10 .
There is an increased risk of numerous interpersonal problems associated with bullying. Some of the most prominent problems include: criminal activities, drug and alcohol abuse, and adult relationship problems 8,10-11 .
Antisocial and delinquent behaviors (ie vandalism, truancy, and frequent drug use) often continue into young adulthood with an increased likelihood of drinking, smoking, and poor school performance 11 . When bullying occurs in adolescence, the sexual dimension in romantic relationships may also provide an outlet to exert power and control. These

Rural bullying
There is limited research that focuses specifically on bullying within the rural context. Oliver and Hoover 18 conducted a survey examining bullying among students in grades 7 to 12 in rural Ohio, Minnesota and South Dakota, USA. The survey was developed by the authors and used in previous research on the topic. Examination of six specific line items (eg 'victims of bullying bring it on themselves', 'bullies have higher status') noted that the students perceived that victims were partially to blame for being bullied and that being bullied served to make one 'tougher'.
Seven rural Illinois elementary schools were included in another American study which sought to determine the perceptions regarding bullying among students, parents and teachers 19 . The study provided baseline information for determining the context within schools which were to participate in a school violence intervention program. In total, 739 students in grades 4 to 6, 367 parents and 37 teachers participated by completing surveys. The students reported higher prevalence of bullying compared to the parents and teachers. In addition, bullying was associated with aggression and a positive attitude toward violence 19 .
Another American rural-based study found small differences in the frequency of bullying others, showing fewer suburban youth reporting participation in bullying 10 . There was also a 3-5% increase among rural youth who reported first-time bullying, than youth from town, suburban, and urban areas 10 .
One other study, conducted in rural Appalachia, tried to determine the prevalence of bullying among students in grades 3 to 8 20   Bullying was sometimes the result of peer pressure to conform to group values that focused on violence. In this way, group acceptance was ensured, as was noted in the following quote: If there's a group of kids standing in the hallway and you're picking on someone, and if your friends don't say anything and they just stand there, then you'll quit because you just feel stupid. But if your friends are like ha ha laughing with me and they kind of go around, and you get worse and worse, and the problem gets bigger.
One other female youth supported these ideas when she said: In a way the ones who stand by and watch are accepting it, but the ones that are participating are doing it, but the ones who are standing but are still accepting it because being silent about it is as good as accepting it, you're not standing up for anyone.
The interviews revealed that there was a hierarchy of students at their schools. This was referred to in different ways, such as the 'food chain' or the 'pecking order'. Names were given to describe the youth within these systems. For examples, 'skaters', referred to those who skateboarded and used illegal drugs while others were referred to as 'cowboys' and 'preppies'. The ordering that occurs within the groups cannot be altered and, hence, behaviors, activities and friends are pre-determined by your place within the hierarchy. For example, one female youth said: You can't wear weird things in school ever…unless you're really at the top of the social ladder you can wear whatever you want and everybody else wants to be like you then.
In this instance, bullying helped to maintain the natural order of the groups within the school.
Bullying was perceived by the participants to be targeted toward individuals because of a specific trait they exhibited.
Hence, looking different, being perceived as homosexual, being a newcomer, or acting outside the norms of the group were all reasons cited for being a target of bullying. Bullying was also said to occur if a girl was promiscuous. In both of the participating rural communities, girls who demonstrated sexual behaviors beyond group norms were candidly criticized by the other participants.
Being bullied: Being bullied was humiliating; those participants who had been bullied noted its negative affect on their physical health and self-esteem. One male youth said: 'It's not good to be bullied, it brings you down, it's real negative'. One other male participant who was still being bullied at the time of the interviews stated: 'It [bullying] makes me feel like a pile of garbage, that people can just throw around!' Other participants noted that it was hard to concentrate on their school work when they were being bullied. In one of the communities, a female student had committed suicide due to the bullying she experienced from her classmates.
Those who were bullied were more often seen as victims, as indicated by one female youth who said: Being poor or not, someone who is not as fortunate looking as others, but it is just something you can't control, yet you get bugged a lot. There's a lot of kids who can't afford as nice of clothes as the other kids, and they'll get bugged about it, or people who look different, they'll get bugged about it.
The youth who were interviewed talked about being the 'new kid' and that they were excluded from extracurricular activities. Individuals who were of a particular ethnic background (Aboriginal or Black) were also identified by the participants as being targets for being bullied. One participant freely provided advice about how to blend in to the school environment so that bullying could be avoided; his experiences were based on being bullied for wearing glasses but being defended by an older brother and his friends. One participant commented that sometimes individuals identify themselves as easy targets to be bullied.
Finally, the participants noted that bullying was a learned behavior from one's parents who often were bullies themselves when they were young.

Quantitative Phase Two
Survey demographics: The combined student population in grades 6 to 12 at both participating schools was 259 students; a total of 180 students completed the surveys.

Understanding bullying
The Rural Youth Violence Questionnaire addressed violence in general and included specific items that focused on bullying. Therefore, the discussion presented here focuses on the findings related to the following specific items from the questionnaire: • 'Bullying gives youth power over others'.
• 'Youth who are different are often targets of bullying'.
• 'Females tend to be bullied due to sexual behaviors'.
• 'Please indicate how often each of the following is a factor in youth being targeted for violence: skin color, the way youth speak, the way youth dress, hair style, the groups youth associate with'.
Examining frequencies related to the above statements generated the following findings. Fifty-two percent (n = 93) of the participants agreed that bullying gives youth power over others. The majority of the participants (88.2%, n = 156) agreed that youth who are different are targets of bullying. In addition, 69.3% (n = 122) agreed that female students were bullied due to sexual behaviors. The participants were also asked to respond to possible specific factors that identify students as targets of violence, not just bullying, by choosing often, sometimes, rarely or never. In addition, the findings from our study reinforce the need for schools to continue to implement a curriculum that helps youth accept diversity among their peers. However, implementing this curriculum in isolation from community involvement and commitment will decrease its effectiveness.
Therefore, we recommend working with youth, parents and community residents to develop and implement programs that celebrate diversity in rural communities.
In the qualitative phase, behavior demonstrating sexual activity among female youth that was beyond defined group norms was noted by the respondents as significant for being

Conclusion
In conclusion, rural communities will benefit as a whole if bullying, an important societal concern, is addressed.
Building on the social structure of rural communities is a first step, but listening to rural youth is the key if true change is to be implemented. Replicating studies on rural youth violence using the survey instrument described here will assess the reliability and validity of the instrument, while simultaneously generating further data on this important topic.