HOW DO THE VICTIMS RESPOND TO BULLYING

Reactions to harassment of victims of bullying were studied. One issue was, what kind of behavior on the part of the victim is likely to a) make the others start or continue bullying or b) diminish bullying or put an end to it. Altogether 573 pupils (286 girls, 287 boys) from 11 Finnish schools served as subjects: 67 of them (33 girls, 34 boys) wer e identified as victims of bullying. Both peer- and self-evaluations w ere used as methods of the study. Three subscales, describing countera ggressive, helpless, and nonchalant behavioral responses to bullying w ere established on the basis of peer-evaluations of the victims' behav ior. Three different subtypes of victims (the Counteraggressive, the H elpless, and the Nonchalant) were identified. Helplessness and nonchal ance were found to be typical responses of the girl victims, while boy victims tended to react to bullying with counteraggression or nonchal ance. The victims' self-evaluations of their behavior supported these views. Helplessness and counteraggression in the case of girl victims and counteraggression in the case of boy victims were perceived as mak ing the bullying start or continue. The absence of helplessness in the case of girl victims, and nonchalance as well as the absence of count eraggression in the case of boy victims were perceived as making the b ullying diminish or stop. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.