has also increased – this is thought to be likely due to legislation, in which there is an improved acceptance that this harmful behaviour is occurring in the workplace. 4 Consequently, it seems that bullying is not a childhood-specific phenomenon. This poses the question: what factors are facilitating this aggressive behaviour to transpose to other areas of life? If bullying is occurring in school and the workplace, the occurrences need to be investigated in environments previously assumed to be neutral, such as university. This paper will outline the research on bullying within Higher Education( HE) thus far.
Stability of Bullying Roles
One might expect that bullying is a non-entity in the intellectually-driven, noncompulsory institutions of HE, but the stable roles theory suggests otherwise. This theory finds that within bullying interactions, those classed as‘ victims’ may have a different characterological profile to those classed as‘ bullies’. 5 These profiles may govern individuals regardless of the context: whether home, school, work or, inevitably, HE. The stability of roles across time and contexts indicates an increased likelihood that individual factors have a portion of the responsibility for bullying. The findings of Mark Chapell and colleagues enabled them to make a conclusive statement that bullying‘ graduates to college’. 6 They found positive correlations between being a bully in school and college, and between being a victim in school and college. 7 Further, Lindsey Leenars and Christina Rinaldi evidence that aggression, too, continues past high school and into college, 8 and Cynthia Brock and
4 Ken Rigby,“ Bullying at School and in the Workplace,” in Bullying: From Backyard to Boardroom, ed. Paul McCarthy et al.( Sydney: Federation Press, 2001). 5 Peter K. Smith, Understanding School Bullying: Its Nature and Prevention Strategies( London: Sage,
2014). 6 Mark Chapell et al.,“ Bullying in College by Students and Teachers,” Adolescence 39( 153)( 2004): 53. 7 Mark Chapell et al.,“ Bullying in Elementary School, High School, and College,” Adolescence 41( 164)( 2006): 633. 8 Lindsey Leenaars and Christina Rinaldi,“ Male and Female University Students’ Experiences of Indirect Aggression,” Canadian Journal of School Psychology 25( 1)( 2010): 131.
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