| School bullying has received increased attention in the media (Beran & Shapiro, 2005). Methods typically used to measure bullying include self-report questionnaires; however, the consistency between teacher and student reports of bullying has received little attention in the research. The purpose of this study was to compare teacher and student reports of two types of bullying: indirect (e.g., gossiping, exclusion) and physical (e.g., hitting, kicking). Fourteen teachers and 120 of their students in grades four through six completed the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire. After hearing the definition of bullying, the participants read through 10 items, rating the frequency of their occurrence on a Likert scale. Using a principal component analysis of questionnaire items, indirect and physical bullying factors were derived for both teacher and student responses. The correlation between teacher and student reports of physical bullying was .51 (p < .01), and of indirect bullying was .33 (p < .01). Gender differences in reporting were also found, suggesting that physical and indirect bullying are complex constructs that are perceived differently according to the reporting source. These results are discussed from cognitive developmental and ecological theory perspectives. |
