Parents' definitions of children's bullying in a five-country comparison

This study was carried out with 30- to 55-year-old parents of children ages 6 to 13 years in five different countries: Italy, Spain, Portugal, England, and Japan. It aimed at analyzing similarities and differences between words in five languages used to describe different types of bullying and social exclusion and identifying which terms are more appropriate to use in comparisons across cultures and languages. Target terms were selected using focus groups of children. Participants were presented with 25 stick figure cartoons showing different types and contexts of bullying and related behaviors. They were asked to evaluate whether the cartoons could be described or not by one of the target terms. Cluster analysis identified six clusters of cartoons characterized by specific behaviors: nonaggression, fighting, severe physical aggression, verbal aggression, exclusion, and severe exclusion. On the basis of these clusters, there were clear differences across terms and countries regarding both the width of the semantic area of a term and its closeness to the usual scientific definition of bullying.