Groups most at risk of bullying identified in study

IN a move that has echoes of the film The Breakfast Club, a significant study on school bullying has identified five groups — some victims, others perpetrators.

However, while the 1985 John Hughes film sees the five subcultures resolve their differences in time for a happy ending, the research by a senior lecturer in psychology at Trinity College Dublin revealed that “alternative” subcultures such as “emos”, “moshers” and “goths” are more likely to be bullied and that members of “non-alternative” groups such as ‘chavs’ and ‘D4s’ are more likely to carry out the bullying.

This was revealed in a research paper on alterophobic bullying which involved the views of 820 secondary school students.

The research recommends that schools’ anti-bullying policies should pay closer attention to bullying against people purely on the basis of how they look or the groups they belong to.

The subject of ‘alterophobic’ bullying is recognised in Britain following the beating to death of goth Sophie Lancaster by a group of local youths in the Lancashire town of Bacup in 2007. Two people were given life sentences in the case.

The TCD study — the first of its kind in Ireland — shows that teenagers who identified themselves as being part of a group were more likely to be bullied, and in general ‘chavs’ and ‘D4’s were more likely to carry out bullying.

According to the study:

* 8.3% and 16.7% of participants in the sample as a whole reported that chavs and D4s respectively were more likely to be bullied;

* 44.9%, 80.7% and 87.3% stated that moshers/rockers, goths and emos respectively were more likely to be bullied;

* 88.4% and 44.6% stated that chavs and D4s respectively were more likely to bully others;

* 12.8%, 6.4% and 5.6% stated that moshers/rockers, goths and emos respectively were more likely to bully others.

The survey asked questions of 339 teenage boys and 481 teenage girls across the nine schools. Dr Stephen Minton said the research could be viewed as “initial exploratory findings” and added: “I would argue that these results indicate that those who are members of ‘alternative’ sub-cultures could be considered ‘at risk’ of bullying, and that making specific reference to alterophobia in school anti-bullying policies may also prove to be a sensible course of action.”

Sylvia Lancaster, Sophie Lancaster’s mother, will visit Ireland this week to attend events being held for Anti-Bullying Week. Tonight she will be at Iorras le Cheile Community Development Project in Co Mayo.

Its coordinator, Cllr Rose Conway-Walsh, said its upcoming “Free To Be Me” campaign was based on the idea of respect for individuality at a time when social media facilitated bullying.

“There were more different groups when I was growing up myself, so maybe you are more likely to stand out now because you are different,” she said.

Culture clash

The questionnaire provided students with five groups, based on a school project:

* Chavs: defined as a “rough young person... who repeatedly engages in anti-social behaviour”.

* D4: described as someone with a “posh lifestyle”.

* Moshers and rockers: typically fans of heavy metal music and dark clothing.

* Emos: stereotyped as wearing skinny jeans, t-shirts and viewed as “being particularly emotional, sensitive, shy and introverted”.

* Goths: referring to tastes in music and fashion, dark but varied clothing and make-up. Sophie Lancaster was killed in 2007 in Britain for membership of the goth subculture.