Under Construction @ Keele 2017 Under Construction @ Keele Vol. III (3) | Page 26

understandings of what constitutes bullying. Consequently, the handful of studies
that have conducted research on bullying within HE, must be appraised critically in
terms of the definitions (if any) used.
Types of Bullying Behaviour
Alongside the definition of bullying, it is also not clear as to what types of behaviour
are classified as bullying at HE level. The types of behaviour identified when
studying school populations are direct physical aggression (for example: hitting,
kicking, punching) and verbal bullying (for example: name calling and threats). 25 Kaj
Björkqvist, Kirsti Lagerspetz, and Ari Kaukiainen later added ‘indirect aggression’, 26
which is bullying through a third party, for example by spreading rumours; and Nicki
Crick and Jennifer Grotpeter further coined the term ‘relational aggression’, in which
the aim is to damage social relationships. 27 Alongside these types of behaviours,
there is bias-bullying, whereby the above methods may be adopted and directed
towards individuals based on group characteristics, such as race, disability, and
gender identity. 25
Most researchers interested in HE bullying have questioned students about
the same types of bullying as those found in schools. This approach may lead the
students to answer questions from within a school bullying frame of reference. For
example, they may think of playground fights, compare that directly to their university
experience and find that nothing of the sort has occurred. However, at university,
physical-type bullying may still exist, but it will present in a different form. Hanna-
Maija Sinkkonen addressed this issue by asking students: ‘How do you get bullied?’
This lead to more inclusive data gathering. 28 Students indicated experiencing a
range of aggressive behaviours such as discrimination, exclusion, pressure, name
calling, gossip, being made fun of, belittling, and intimidation. Again, the problem
arising could be establishing which of these behaviours are classed as bullying, and
25
Smith, Understanding School Bullying.
Kaj Björkqvist, Kirsti Lagerspetz and Ari Kaukiainen, “Do Girls Manipulate and Boys Fight?
Developmental Trends in Regard to Direct and Indirect Aggression,” Aggressive Behavior 18 (2)
(1992): 117-127.
27
Nicki Crick and Jennifer Grotpeter, “Relational Aggression, Gender, and Social-Psychological
Adjustment,” Child Development 66 (3) (1995): 710-722.
28
Sinkkonen, Puhakka and Meriläinen, “Bullying at a University.”
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