Social-psychological Aspects of Bullying: Interconnection of Aggressiveness and School Anxiety

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Abstract

Bullying is seen as a variant of aggression. Natural interconnections between contents of teenagers’ fears, anxiety and aggression are analyzed. The longitudinal research results are presented, in the framework of which four consecutive measures of anxiety and the following aggressiveness indexes of 70 6th form pupils, and then 7th form ones are compared. It is being clarified, to what extent aggressive behavior risk is related to animosity as a negative notional attitude of an individual. Hostility stably and positively correlates with school, self-esteem, interpersonal and mystical anxiety among teenagers. Social situation of uncertainty, connected to constant transformation of social norms, exerts heavy influence. According to research results, greatly isolated schoolchildren stand out in each class. It is them, who, according to the expert teachers assessment and included to observational results, are victims to aggressors as well as to “onlookers”, who take positions of passive aggressors. Victims are stably overly anxious, possess high level of hostility and are inclined to protective aggression in behavior. Their further transformation into aggressors can be safely assumed. This work was supported by grant RFH № 15-06-00052.

General Information

Keywords: legitimatization of aggression, bullying, social economic inequality, hostility, self-esteem, anxiety, disadaptive perfectionism

Journal rubric: Psychological Safety

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/psyedu.2016080411

For citation: Tarasova S.J., Osnitsky A.K., Enikolopov S.N. Social-psychological Aspects of Bullying: Interconnection of Aggressiveness and School Anxiety [Elektronnyi resurs]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie psyedu.ru [Psychological Science and Education psyedu.ru], 2016. Vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 102–116. DOI: 10.17759/psyedu.2016080411. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Sofya J. Tarasova, PhD in Psychology, senior scientific differential psychology and psychophysiology laboratory worker, Psychological University Russian Education Academy (PU REA), docent of clinical psychology department, International University of Nation, Society and Human “Dubna”, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: syutarasov@yandex.ru

Alexey K. Osnitsky, Doctor of Psychology, professor, major scientific differential psychology and psychophysiology laboratory worker, Psychological University Russian Education Academy (PU REA), professor of general psychology department, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education MSUPE, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: osnizak@mail.ru

Sergey N. Enikolopov, PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor, Head of Department of Clinical Psychology, Mental Health Research Center, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7899-424X, e-mail: enikolopov@mail.ru

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