Bullying Across Borders: Comparing Hungarian and Dutch Students

 

Bullying is a complex phenomenon that reaches far beyond playground disputes and classroom quarrels. Recent studies show that bullying is too often committed by adults within a child’s close environment, such as parents or teachers, sometimes taking forms described as child maltreatment or teacher violence.Studies also show that children who have been bullied by teachers or family members become bullies more often, thus providing evidence for the assumption that bullying is a learned behaviour, something learned from adults.

In light of this wider context, our recent comparison of Hungarian and Dutch students produced striking and thought-provoking figures, highlighting that bullying experiences can vary not only in frequency but also depending on who is involved, underlying the importance of looking beyond peer dynamics to completely understand the roots and impact of bullying.

How we studied it 

Our sample consisted of students 11 – 14 years old from Hungary and the Netherlands. Specifically, we tested whether exposure to adult bullying (family or teacher) is linked to higher peer bullying perpetration. We also explored whether children who are exposed to or witnessed any form of adult bullying (verbal, emotional, physical, cyberbullying) differ in bullying perpetration with children who were not. We also investigated whether there is a difference in experiences of adult bullying between children who are both bullies and victims and children who are only victims or perpetrators. Finally, we were interested in the difference in cyberbullying perpetration between children who bully offline and those who do not.

We focused on the prevalence rates of 4 sections (peer victimisation, teacher bullying, family bullying and peer perpetration). Since no existing tools measured all the above dimensions simultaneously, we developed our own holistic questionnaire. We were especially interested in the prevalence of different response ranges, to distinguish between occasional (at least one), regular (three times or more) and witnessing bullying.

Key Findings at a Glance

The results provided striking evidence that bullying by adults both from the family and the school is not only real and widely experienced by students, but it also significantly influences children’s bullying perpetration.

Hungary: Hypotheses Confirmed

In Hungary, our hypotheses were proven; Children who reported witnessing adults bully children, or were bullied by adults  were more likely to bully their peers, both online and offline. Those who were both victims and bullies (“bully-victims”) were more likely to report being bullied by adults compared to children who were only victims or only bullies. Furthermore, children who engaged in face-to-face bullying were also more likely to bully online.

Family bullying stands out in the Netherlands 

Family bullying emerged as a prevalent pattern in the Netherlands. Nearly every Dutch participant (96.2%) reported at least one instance of family bullying and over two thirds (67.1%)  were shown to experience it three times or more. In contrast, Hungarian students declared lower rates (31.8% and 9.2% respectively).

Teacher bullying is a strong pattern in both countries

Teacher bullying was also frequent across both samples. A significant amount of Hungarian students (75.5%) reported having at least one experience of teacher bullying while over two thirds (70.1%) of Dutch students stated that they experienced it repeatedly. The above prevalence rates prove that teacher bullying is not only frequently present but also widely noticed by students.

Peer victimization and perpetration remain a constant pattern 

Peer bullying continues to be a persistent concern. A significant amount of Hungarian participants indicated that they have experienced peer victimization at least once or twice (90.8%) or more than three times (71.5%).

Peer perpetration rates were notably higher in the Netherlands, with most students reporting having been involved in bullying perpetration at least once or twice (94.1%). Hungarian students were also largely involved in perpetration (79.5%), indicating that involvement as a bully is far from rare.

Low frequency in Dutch responses

A striking finding in the Dutch data was the complete absence of responses reporting bullying victimization and perpetration happening more regularly than a few times across all sections, as Dutch students reported either low frequency or went straight to witnessing, something that raises questions about how Dutch students interpret and report moderate victimization.

Conclusion

From the above prevalence rates, it is evident that adult bullying is prevalent in both countries, and it is also widely recognised by students. Most importantly, exposure to, or witnessing bullying by parents or teachers, strongly affects the children’s own bullying behaviour. These findings highlight the need to adopt a holistic framework when studying bullying – one that also considers the dynamics between adults and children.

Luca Janka Laszlo

Kyveli Koutouzi