BULLYING BEHAVIOR IN IRISH SCHOOLS - A NATIONWIDE STUDY

Most of our knowledge of bullying behaviour in Irish schools has been gained from empirical studies carried out in Dublin (Byrne, 1994a; O'M oore & Hillery, 1989). The present paper, reports results from the fir st nationwide study of bullying behaviour in primary and post-primary schools in Ireland carried out during 1993-94. The results presented i nclude data on the incidence of being bullied and bullying others, yea r differences, gender differences, types of bullying, where bullying o ccurs, whether teachers or parents are aware and pupils attitudes to b ullying. Some correlations of bullying are also examined, in particula r school size, class size, ability groupings and the social compositio n of school. Finally implications for intervention against bullying ar e discussed.