In uthny country, peers, parents, and teachers all have important impact on school bullying. In this section, we investigate how these people influence youths’ bullying behavior in a South Korean context.
Peer Relationships
Research findings are mixed on how bullying from peers influence South Koreans’ behaviors, if a victim will become a bully or not. Contrary to most Western psychology findings, literature on the general strain theory showed that South Korean youths who are bullied by peers are less likely to bully others, due to their timidity as victims.
However, other studies have confirmed that South Korean adolescents who are victimized are more likely to bully others. Those who are victimized turn to bullying to protect themselves or to express anger. In addition, association with delinquent peers predicts more bullying behavior (Cho, 2016). The higher adolescents’ association with delinquent peers, the more they are likely to be both the perpetrator and the victim of bullying. In addition, association with delinquency is often linked to lower self-control, so those with lower self-control are more likely to engage in bullying behavior.
Furthermore, bullies’ attitudes and awareness towards bullying also influence their own bullying behavior, and subsequently, their impact on the victims. Some adolescents take bullying to be a normal and accepted form of joking, this type of attitude predicts multiple bullying behaviors among South Korean adolescents (Moon, 2012).
Relationship with Parents and Parenting Style
Close, understanding families can buffer children from strains and harm outside home, while a tense family relationship can exacerbate children’s stress from other settings. Similar to research results found in Western countries, South Korean youths who perceive their parents’ parenting style as overly-controlling, hostile, or rejecting engage in more bullying behaviors than children who perceive their parenting as warm and caring (Moon, 2012).
Moreover, the authoritarian parenting style is more commonly found in Korea, where discipline and conformity to parents are especially emphasized both in traditional Confucian thoughts and in modern society. The authoritiarian style is characterized by high demands and low warmth from the parent. An authoritarian parent has very high expectations for the child, but does not show enough nurturance or responsiveness. This demanding parenting style may lead to more strain in parent-child relationships, which has been found to exacerbate bullying behavior (Moon, 2012). On the other hand, children who have strong ties to their parents are more effectively supervised and engaged and less likely to be victimized.
Teachers’ Response to Bullying and Student-Teacher Relationship
Since the bulk of bullying and victimization occurs in school, it is essential to investigate how teachers play their part in dealing with bullying. Not surprisingly, Marachi, Astor, and Benbenishty (2007) found that teacher inaction or avoidance in response to violent behaviors among students was linked to higher levels of peer victimization. An interesting finding particular to South Korea is that teachers typically perceive covert bullying (such as relational aggression) as less serious than overt bullying and are less likely to intervene in these cases (Bauman & Del Rio, 2006; Yoon & Kerber, 2003). Since victimization from social isolation and exclusion is more commonly found in the Korean classroom, such perception from teachers is likely to worsen bullying.
Relatedly, Kochenderfer-Ladd and Pelletier (2008) found teachers are less likely to intervene when they believe bullying is a normative behavior and are more likely to intervene when they believe victims need to be assertive or victims need to avoid bullies. These studies indicate that teacher responses to bullying may be influenced by their own emotional reactions, cognitive appraisals of bullying situations, and attitude and beliefs about bullying. On a larger context, the school administration’s unwillingness to assume responsibility for treating bullying makes intervention even harder. Schools tend to hush up bullying issues, minimize the occurrences of victimization, and transfer liability to parents, arguing that school bullying is a matter that parents should deal with as a family problem (Lee, 2005).
Finally, a good relationship with the teacher also protects students from engaging in bullying-related behaviors. Students who develop better relationship with teachers are less likely to practice deviant behaviors in stressful situations. Relatedly, the teacher’s physical and emotional punishment is related to bullying behavior, since punishment acts as a strain on the student’s social and emotional wellbeing (Moon, 2012).