Bullying and School Coexistence in the Return to Class of Primary School Students after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence Collected in Peru

Abstract

Bullying is a public health problem widely discussed by both academics and education professionals. It is a permanent behaviour of violence that could be physical, verbal, psychological and even sexual, which discredits the victim and places him/her in a situation of fragility in his/her environment. The objectives of this research were to determine the levels of bulling (and its dimensions); to determine the levels of school coexistence (and its dimensions); and finally to analyse the relationship between bullying and school coexistence (and its dimensions) in an educational institution located in Cajamarca, Peru in the first year back to school after the pandemic caused by COVID-19. The study presented a quantitative approach, with a descriptive and correlational level, and a non-experimental design. According to the literature explored, bullying has 4 dimensions (physical bullying, verbal bullying, sexual bullying and psychological bullying), while school coexistence has 3 dimensions (inclusive coexistence, democratic coexistence and peaceful coexistence). The population consisted of 120 students in the sixth grade of primary education, of both sexes, from a school located in Cajamarca, in northern Peru. Two instruments were used: the school bullying questionnaire (with 56 items) and the school coexistence questionnaire (with 37 items). Both instruments showed validity and reliability after being tested. Among the results, it was observed that most of the schoolchildren presented bullying at low level (57.5%), followed by medium level (22.5%) and high level (20.0%); on the other hand, regarding the school coexistence variable, the low level was 36.0%, the medium level 53.0% and the high level 11.0%. Finally, it was determined that bullying is significantly related to school coexistence (p. < 0.001); as for the intensity of the correlation, it is negative and moderate (r = -0.551), the greater the bullying in school contexts, the lower the school coexistence in this space.

Received: 11 November 2022 / Accepted: 12 February 2023 / Published: 5 March 2023