Do bullies and victims reside in the 'here and now'? A correlational analysis of the relationship between mindfulness and bullying

The purpose of this study was to examine relations between mindfulness and frequency of bullying behaviors, and between mindfulness and frequency of victimization experiences in a sample of high school students. The participants were 66 students from a high school in northern Ontario. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument (APRI) were used to collect data. Data was analyzed using Spearman rank order correlation coefficients (rho). Nine significant negative associations were found between the total and subscale scores of the FFMQ and the APRI, with r values ranging from -.245 to -.314, indicating that a negative relationship does exist between certain facets of mindfulness and frequency of certain types of bullying behaviors and victimization experiences.