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. 2019 Mar 8;14(3):e0211124.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211124. eCollection 2019.

Preadolescent children's perception of power imbalance in bullying: A thematic analysis

Helen J Nelson  1 , Sharyn K Burns  2 , Garth E Kendall  1 , Kimberly A Schonert-Reichl  3   4
Affiliations

Preadolescent children's perception of power imbalance in bullying: A thematic analysis

Helen J Nelson et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Bullying in schools is associated with an extensive public health burden. Bullying is intentional and goal oriented aggressive behavior in which the perpetrator exploits an imbalance of power to repeatedly dominate the victim. To differentiate bullying from aggressive behavior, assessment must include a valid measure of power imbalance as perceived by the victim. And yet, to date, there remains no agreement as to how to most accurately measure power imbalance among preadolescent children. This qualitative study explored children's (age 9 to 11) understanding of power imbalance through thematic analysis of focus group discussions. Subthemes that emerged as influencing power imbalance include: age of victim, peer valued characteristics, and group membership and position. Subthemes of empathy and peer valued characteristics emerged as protecting against the negative impact of power imbalance.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Thematic map of factors that influence and protect against power imbalance.
Two major themes of the thematic analysis emerged: 1) influences on power imbalance, and 2) protects against power imbalance. Subthemes of age, peer valued characteristics, and group membership and belonging were identified as influencing power imbalance. Subthemes of peer valued characteristics, and empathy were identified as protecting against the negative impact of power imbalance. This figure is adapted from [22].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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