Social responsibility at school and peer aggression

Authors

María-Ángeles de la Caba-ColladoSalto de línea Rafael López-AtxurraSalto de línea Magdalena Bobowik Salto de línea Universidad del País Vasco

DOI

10.4438/1988-592X-RE-2016-374-331

Abstract

Within the framework of the effort to educate young people to become citizens who are sensitive to what happens around them and are capable of exercising their rights in a responsible way, the aim of this study was twofold. Firstly, the objective was to define responsibilities in the school environment and analyze their relationship with educational stage and gender. Secondly, the study aimed to explore the relationship between responsibilities and coping strategies in situations of peer aggression. Participants were 1018 students aged between 10 and 14 from 12 schools in the Autonomous Region of the Basque Country, Spain. The study design was descriptive and cross-cutting, and two instruments were used: a Likert-type scale of responsibilities and a questionnaire outlining different scenarios involving different types of aggression. The statistical analyses were conducted with SPSS and revealed two responsibility factors. Significant differences were found between Primary and Secondary school students (participation: p<.001; civic response: p<.01) and between boys and girls, with girls scoring higher in both participation ( p<.001) and civic response ( p<.001). A significant relationship was found between participation in the classroom and response to direct aggression (H1: p<.001; H2: p< .001; H5: p<.001), relational aggression (H4: p<.05; H6: p<.001) and cyber-aggression (H3: p<.05; H6: p<.001). A significant relationship was observed also between the civic response factor and direct aggression (H1: p<.001; H2: p< .001; H5: p<.001), relational aggression (H4: p<.001; H6: p<.001) and cyber-aggression: H3: p<.01; H8: p<.001). The results suggest that engaging in tasks designed to promote responsibility at school encourages children to opt for strategies that show more solidarity with the victims of aggression, thus fostering the development of more supportive, ethical citizens. In this sense the data indicate that the implication in participatory activities in the classroom (establishing rules together, proposing improvements, etc.) is related to more positive attitudes in situations of aggression between peers and is a key element in preventing bullying in schools.

Keywords

Responsibility, participation, citizenship, aggression, coping, primary education, secondary education.