What Leads to Aggression / Victimization among Argentine Schoolchildren at State Primary Schools in Socially Vulnerable Contexts? The Importance of this Issue for the Promotion of Mental Health

DRA. MIRTA ISON.; CAROLINA GRECO

Vilnius, Lithuania

Congreso; The 24th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development - Vilnius, Lithuania; 2016

ISSBD and MYKOLAS ROMERIS UNIVERSITY

Bullying is not restricted to a simple interaction between victims and victimizers. Rather, it needs to be understood in the light of the group and sociocultural processes that originate it and that sustain situations of school violence. Most of the instruments that evaluate bullying do not record the causal explanations that schoolchildren offer for aggression / victimization. So the AIMS of this study were: (a)To identify the schoolchildren involved in the bullying dynamics ? aggressor / victimizer and (b) To explore the attributions reported by children as causes of victimization / aggression.This study is in line with research focusing on the analysis of children´s and adolescents´ conceptions and appreciations about the nature of peer relationships (Almeida, Lisboa & Caurcel, 2007; Potocnjak, Berger and Tomicic, 2011), and is based on the social cognitive paradigm (Lewis and Carpendale, 2002). It is relevant in that it may allow to identify factors, perceptions, conceptions and beliefs involved in the group dynamics that originate aggression / victimization. It also offers information regarding the subjectivity of school children in connection with these issues, which may help in the development of intervention guidelines for mental health prevention and promotion programs that may adequately respond to the needs and requirements voiced by the relevant social actors.