A study about the frequency of cyber bullying, racist bullying and homophobic bullying in state schools in Gozo

Abstract

This study first gives an outline of school bullying in general. Then it specifically focuses on three types of bullying which have been little researched in the local context: cyber bullying, racist bullying and homophobic bullying. It will try to determine how widespread these forms of bullying are among Form 1 up to Form 5 students in State secondary schools and the effects that these have on the victims. The role of student gender will also be investigated together with their age and parents' occupation. The data has been collected by means of a questionnaire which was distributed to 10 state secondary classes in Gozo. 129 students, of whom 71 males and 58 females, took part in this study during the scholastic year 2011/2012. Results show that almost half of the students were victims while less than one fourth were bullies. Males showed higher percentages in both cases. Further results show that Facebook and mobile phones were mostly used to bully others in all three types of bullying. Moreover, the majority of victims and bullies came from blue collar families. This could be attributed to the fact that the majority of participants come from blue collar families.