Prospective teachers' attitudes toward bullying and victimization

In the present study, the effects of both contextual and individual factors on attitudes toward bullying among prospective teachers were examined. Con textual factors included type of aggression and the condition of having wit nessed bullying. Individual factors included sex, age, empathy, sex role or ientation and belief in a just world. A MANCOVA revealed no sex differences , but there was a significant main effect of the contextual factors on (a) the extent to which acts were labelled as bullying, (b) the perceived serio usness of bullying and (c) the likelihood of intervention. Physical types o f aggression were labelled more often as bullying, were viewed more serious ly and were more likely to warrant intervention than verbal aggression. Mul tiple regression analysis revealed that type of aggression, witnessing the interaction, empathy, masculinity and femininity predicted intolerant attit udes toward bullying. The results are discussed with reference to interveni ng in the problem of bullying.