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Introduction
Olweus (1978) established systematic, psychological research on bullying, since then bullying can be identified as a significant, widespread public health problem (Hellström et al., 2015). The effects of bullying can be associated with: suicide, suicide ideation and planning (Roh et al., 2015; Bell et al., 2014); mental health implications (Busch et al., 2015; Lereya et al., 2015); physical health implications and health risk behaviour (Stuart and Jose, 2014; Azagba, 2016); impact on social functioning (Feldman et al., 2014; Hutzell and Payne, 2012) and self-image (Cho and Choi, 2016); criminality (Decamp and Newby, 2015; Wong and Schonlau, 2013); and impaired cognition (Ponzo, 2013). Successful anti-bullying intervention suggests schools, communities, and parents should take a shared and active role in attending anti-bullying workshops, training, and meetings so that they; understand the definitive features of bullying, collectively enforce rules, and productively supervise behaviour (Olweus, 1993). Although state schools in the UK are required to adopt anti-bullying strategies, research suggests that avoidable pitfalls affect the quality of intervention e.g. some school staff require training to recognise and deal with bullying, and some schools adopt individual anti-bullying policies (Smith et al., 2012). Using multiple interventions in single communities can encourage varied perceptions about bullying, reporting, and auditing bullying behaviour (Thompson and Smith, 2012). Additionally, research also implies that multiple interventions can encourage miscommunication, passive and/or “zero-tolerance” responses from adults that could be detrimental to intervention (Smith et al., 2012). Research suggests that there may be a lack of consistency in a shared understanding of bullying and Hellström et al. (2015) propose that adolescent’s views about bullying are scarcely factored into the definition. Considering the extent of research on bullying, interventional strategy, and the nature of the impact of bullying, the term bullying can be defined in different ways (Smith et al., 2013). The current study intends to investigate potential effects of a varied understanding of bullying from a sample of adolescents.
Research has found a varied understanding of bullying between and within groups associated with traditional school bullying. However, researchers tend to agree the term bullying describes an imbalance of power, in which a perpetrator uses deliberate greater strength to repeatedly cause harm to a more vulnerable other using direct...