Bully-victims have not been studied extensively in the South African context and studies regarding cyber bullying are not keeping up with this widespread of ICTs. There is a large scale of research that focuses on bullying and victimisation, but not much on bully-victims in general which makes it difficult to identify this group of individuals for better intervention measures. The term bully-victims refers to those individuals that are bullies but also experience bullying as well. An obstacle in the development of interventions suitable for this phenomenon is the inability of researchers, teachers as well as learners to differentiate between the different forms of bullying. Failure to understand the distinctions in the forms of bullying may result in a domino effect of not understanding individuals' behavioural differences as well as bullies' risk profiles. Therefore, it would be very important to try and get an understanding of this behaviour and the possible causes which will help in developing tools that can assist in preventing the cycle of mobile bullying, and mobile bully-victimisation as well as raise awareness on the issue. This study will therefore target the category of mobile bully-victims, this class has not been studied extensively but recent developments show that it has extreme consequences for young people. This study identified different factors that impact on bully-victim behaviour and the evolution thereof. Following literature review, the researcher developed a conceptual framework illustrating the evolution of mobile bully-victim behaviour. The framework proposed that there are relationships between previous traditional bullying experience and (1) the school environment, (2) self-control/self-esteem, (3) age/grade, (4) retaliation and (5) technology which result in the evolution of mobile bully-victim behaviour. The conceptual framework was tested using a questionnaire which was distributed to grade 8 and 9 learners in four schools in the Mpumalanga province where 817 responses were obtained. A Frequency distribution test was run on factors of mobile bullying that are significantly associated with factors of mobile victimisation and it was found that a total of 121 learners scored high on both these factors thus making them mobile bully-victims. It was also found through the execution of a Spearman rank order correlation that learners that currently use their mobile phones to bully others are those that were victims of previous traditional bullying. The results revealed, for example, that learners tend to threaten, spread rumours, share content online and create groups solely for the purpose of excluding others because they have been bullied in the past. Studies explain that this reaction is as a result of impulsivity, a characteristic of low self-esteem or lack of self-control, after experiencing bullying. Structural Equation modelling was run to analyse how bully-victim behaviour evolves and how the bully-victim pathways are formed. The results revealed that schools located in rural or less advantaged communities engage in bullying activities more than those in urban or suburban communities. It was also found that only 14% of learners were aware or knew of exiting anti-bullying policies in their schools and 40% indicated that they know of other mobile bullying reporting mechanisms, with most of these learners being from urban and suburban schools. Studies found that this may be due to the high social capital provided by well off communities which provide a safer environment. The findings also proved that learners are more involved in mobile bullying activities at a younger age, this contradicting previous studies which found that mobile bullying is more prevalent as children mature. Also, younger learners lack self-control/self-esteem due to previous traditional bullying experience whereas for older learners it is due to mobile bullying experience. This is despite the fact that studies show that self-control improves with age.

Bullying in American schools has increased to what some have considered an epidemic and is a major problem among youth. Bullied youth experience poorer mental health and lower school performance, in comparison to those who are not bullied, and the growth of bullying has raised concerns from parents, schools, policy makers, and human-services professionals interested in prevention and intervention of bullying behaviors. The purpose of this study was to explore how parents whose children experienced school bullying perceived school administrators, teachers, antibullying school policies or programs, and their family's dynamics, to better understand the parents' internal experiences. The theoretical framework for this study was the symbolic interactionism theory, which posits that individuals develop subject meanings of themselves and their world, based on their experiences. A phenomenological study design was employed, using purposeful semistructured interviews of 7 parents of different schools, all of whom had witnessed bullying in their children's lives. Data were open coded and analyzed for emergent themes. The study showed that these 7 parents were not satisfied with their respective school's approach to handling bullying, especially when their home environments were adversely impacted. One recommendation that stemmed from these findings was to establish sanctions for schools failing to adhere to bullying policies. This study may provoke positive social change in the area of school safety and in areas concerning improved understanding and communication among parents, teachers, school administrators, and other professionals. Along with this notion, students may have the opportunity to thrive in a more secure atmosphere, which may lead to positive social and emotional achievements that may promote higher societal achievements.

The aim of this study is to examine if bullying affects health differently among boys and girls and if bullying has more negative effects on the health of girls than of boys. The study will examine Swedish schoolchildren in elementary school and upper secondary school who has been victims of bullying. In relation to the aim of the study, the hypothesises is that bullying has negative effects on the health of girls and boys and that bullying affects girls health more than boys. The quantitative data material and analysis is based on a survey which was created by the Swedish authority Ungdomsstyrelsen. The findings in this study shows in accordance with previous research that bullying has a negative effect on the health of young girls and boys, that there are differences between the genders when it comes to being a victim of bullying (girls tend to be more bullied than boys) and that being a victim of bullying has a negative impact on the health of an individual. This indicates that being a victim of bullying is having a harmful effect on the health of young girls and boys. The first hypothesis was that bullying has negative effects on the health of girls and boys and it seemed to be correct. The second hypothesis was that bullying affects girls health more than boys but it seemed not be correct. Bullying is a problem which harms the individual, it is relevant and important to examine since it harms the individual and its surroundings. It is also important to examine since bullying can lead to health issues or at worst, successful or unsuccessful suicide attempts.

Bullying is a phenomenon occurring all over the world. Previous research shows that youthswho are being physically punished by their parents are at higher risk for being involved inbullying. There are four groups when it comes to bullying, the neutrals, bullies, victims, andbully-victims. A limitation of previous research was that no one has examined why youthswho are being exposed to physical punishment by their parents often become a part ofbullying. Our focus was on the four bullying groups of youths in the ages 13 to 15. Weproposed that in order to understand how parents’ use of physical punishment against theiryouths is connected with being a bully or a victim at school, we need to take the personalitytraits self-esteem and impulsivity under consideration. The results showed that when parentsused physical punishment against their youths and the youths had certain personality traits,the risk for being a part of bullying increased. In conclusion, the youths were at higher risk ofbeing victims of bullying if they had low self-esteem, they were at higher risk of being bulliesif they were impulsive, and they were at higher risk of being bully-victims if they were bothimpulsive and had low self-esteem, meaning that we need to investigate further differentpersonality traits and their effect on youths bullying involvement in school. / Mobbning är ett fenomen som inträffar över hela världen. Tidigare forskning visar att närungdomar blir fysiskt bestraffade av sina föräldrar ökar risken för inblandning i mobbning.Det finns fyra grupper när det kommer till mobbning, de neutrala, mobbare, offer och bullyvictims.En svaghet med tidigare forskning var att ingen har undersökt hur inblandning imobbning ser ut för dem som blir utsatta för fysisk bestraffning av sina föräldrar. Vårt fokusvar på de fyra grupperna inom mobbning för ungdomar mellan åldrarna 13 till 15. Viföreslår att för att förstå hur föräldrars fysiska bestraffning på sina ungdomar hängersamman med att vara mobbare eller offer i skolan, behöver man ta hänsyn till ungdomarnassjälvkänsla och impulsivitet. Resultaten visade att om föräldrar slår sina ungdomar samt omungdomarna besitter en viss typ av personlighetsdrag, ökar risken för att de blir inblandade imobbning. Sammanfattningsvis, ungdomarna riskerade att bli offer för mobbning om de hadedåligt självförtroende, de riskerade att bli mobbare om de var impulsiva, och de riskerade attbli bully-victims om de samtidigt hade dåligt självförtroende och var impulsiva. Detta innebäratt vi behöver fortsätta undersöka olika personlighetsdrag och deras påverkan på ungdomarsinblandning inom mobbning i skolan.

Within the majority of learners' years in high school, bullying is one common experience that pervades those years of transitioning to adulthood. The bullying phenomenon has been studied over a few decades and we have basically come to understand that bullying is any situation where a perpetrator, over a period, continually behaves aggressively towards another individual who cannot defend themselves; here an imbalance of power is accentuated. This has been studied in recent years with the increasing reports of fatalities among high school learners who have resorted to suicide and self-harm as a solution. In the current digital age, the extent of bullying is faster and reaches further, and as such, more dynamics seem to be involved in the mix. The role of technology in improving the way we live and do things has also extended to the way crimes and injustice are being meted out in society. Youths and adolescents, particularly high school learners have been noted to have a phenomenal adoption of technology. They are also noted to increasingly acquire the most updated mobile technology devices and are therefore a fit sample for examining mobile bullying. In addition, more studies are finding out distinct classifications such as bully, victim and bully-victims, with the bully-victim studies just beginning to gain attention. As with the more familiar traditional bullying, fundamental psychological, social and economic factors largely predict the exhibiting of bully-victim characteristics. Some studies have found that the consequences are, however, more severe within the group but not without some inconsistencies in findings; hence the need to investigate and begin to proffer the right interventions or solutions. This current study set out to investigate characteristics of female mobile bully-victim behaviours amidst claims that they are a minority and so no special attention need be given to them. A pilot study, conducted by this researcher, examining the bully-victim subgroup from previous cyberbullying research studies (Kabiawu & Kyobe, 2016), found the group exists and is fast gaining more popularity in research. Further examination of literature found the discourse around age factor in prevalence, with gender variances, interventions, and country differences, among others. Many of the past studies on gender variance enquiries were conflicting, interventions were largely not technology-oriented, and studies were mostly from outside the continent of Africa. This stirred up the interest in studying female mobile bully-victims in South African high school students and the exploration of a general (i.e. non-gender-specific) technical intervention. The study followed a pragmatic philosophy and mixed method in collecting and analyzing the data. The study was carried out in Cape Town, South Africa; eight schools agreed to participate in the survey, and 2632 responses were collected from a range of schools (consisting both public and independent schools). Of these, 911 were females and 199 bully-victims, placing the group in a minority position. This maintained the keen interest in understanding the issues that face them rather than overlooking the subgroup as some studies would argue. Additionally, the study vii entailed the development of an IT artefact in the form of a mobile application, called “The BullsEye!” through a Design Science process. The aim of the artefact was to proffer a technical intervention and observe the usefulness of the artefact in dealing with general bullying as well as for addressing, mitigating and providing support for bullying. The study collected information quantitatively to explore the differences in age, school grade, type of school, family type, ethnicity and perceptions of interventions from students. This process was also used to recruit interested students in designing the mobile app intervention to address the secondary aspect of the research. The study predicted that at different ages and school grades, female mobile bullyvictim behaviours would be different. It also proposed that these behaviours exhibited by bully-victims would differ when the school type, ethnicity and family from which students come, are compared. When interventions by teachers, family and friends were compared, the study predicted that the female bully-victim behaviours exhibited would not be same, depending on the perception of the level of intervention the students received. These hypotheses were tested empirically using quantitative methods to check the analysis of the variance of the mean scores of the collected data. The results of the analysis of variance showed findings that resulted in some partial and some strong acceptance of the hypotheses. As expected, there were age and grade differences observed among the behaviours of the female bully-victims surveyed. The younger in age and grade these students were, the more of the behaviours were found to be exhibited by them. Students from conventional families with two parents were expected to exhibit fewer female bully-victim characteristics, but this was not necessarily the finding in the study and inconsistent with most previous studies. The prediction on ethnicity was also partially accepted due to mixed indications according to findings. Establishing the respondents' ethnicity showed a group of students who did not wish to reveal their ethnicity but were rife in bully-victim behaviour via phone calls, email and SMS's. This raised a question of whether their societal status affected their behaviour. The type of school was also found not to accurately predict female bully-victim behaviours in this study as expected or in accordance to majority of existing literature. There was, however, evidence of a distinct social media mechanism of bullying/victimization peculiar to an Independent school in relation to other schools. The prediction on interventions, while being partially supported, provided a useful insight into strengthening the need to appreciate and continually invest in the quality of interventions provided to address mobile bullying. Generally, the findings revealed that female mobile bully victims had significantly higher experience of being victims (i.e. had been bullied) than those who were not. This may be due to failings in the provision for reporting issues or the way reports are being handled, which is another useful insight into interventions. The artefact designed as an intervention in this study also showed high acceptance of the app. This can be attributed to the fact that the design process followed a methodology that is grounded in practice and in the body of knowledge. This was embellished by emerging methodologies of involving the intended users, though schoolchildren, in the evolution of the artefact design. The implication of these findings is that there may be current frameworks addressing female mobile bully-victim behaviour at school and family levels; however, focus of interventions should be on teaching the right culture with regards to mobile phone use. This gives credence to the second objective of this study, which was to design a digital intervention. The artefact was designed to empower victims and bystanders, the purpose of which seemed to have been achieved with a high rate of approval for the app. The knowledge gained from this phase, despite the limitations, points that visual appeal is important when designing for high school students. It also showed that students are interested in learning in an environment free of adult presence or supervision. However, many more strategies and principles can be applied to intervene from different perspectives to create a more wholistic solution. This knowledge is useful for future works that seek to include their input in design process. The understanding of these characteristic mechanisms is important in proffering relevant interventions as the distinct female bully-victim group is newly gaining attention. This is useful in theory development, especially feminist theories on violence as well as where and how to target interventions. This impacts practice in terms of knowledge of how female mobile bully-victims operate and how one can begin to empower them to protect themselves and reflect on their online and mobile phone behaviour. Therefore, for Information Systems practice, this study provides a worthwhile contribution, especially in answering questions such as, what information systems and interventions should be developed and how to maximize such systems for their intended learning purposes. From the lessons learned in this study, the research also contributes by proposing considerations for future and further research.

The present study consists of two phases. The first phase includes the development of the Turkish Bully Scale to identify bully, victim and bully/victim groups and to describe the incidence of bullying among the elementary school students. The second phase of the study evaluates the effect of the Bullying Management Training Program on reducing bullying behaviours of bully/victim elementary school students. In the development of the Bully Scale a pilot (N=453, sixth grade students) and a main study (N=519, sixth grade students) were conducted to examine the validity evidence and the reliability estimates. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses were used to analyse the validity evidence and the reliability of the Bully Scale, which is used for the selection of the subjects. In the second phase of the study, an experimental 3 x 2 design with one training and two control groups was used to investigate the effectiveness of Bullying Management Training Program. The 19-item Bully Scale including a self-report (N=367) and peer nomination (N= 396) forms were administered to a sample of the 7th grade students. The training program was conducted with the bully/victim group. Contrary to the expectation, the results of repeated measures ANCOVA analyses were not significant, except for the victimization scores of the peer nomination form. The post hoc analyses did not indicate a significant difference for the victimization score between the training and two control groups. The Bullying Management training was not found as an effective technique to reduce bully/victim students&rsquo / bullying and victimization.

Le bullying est un comportement agressif insidieux caractérisé par : sa répétitivité, sa dissymétrie et son intentionnalité, dans lequel on identifie quatre statuts pour chaque individu : agresseur, victime, agresseur/victime, neutre. Si de nombreuses recherches se sont intéressées aux conséquences psychopathologiques du bullying sur les victimes, peu d‟études ont été consacrées aux différences de fonctionnement psychologique des adolescents selon leur statut. Notre recherche se réfère au modèle du traitement de l‟information sociale de Crick et Dodge (1994). Celui-Ci stipule l‟existence de six étapes de traitement en interaction avec des processus centraux tels que la régulation des émotions et la gestion des compétences sociales. Deux expériences ont été conduites. Dans le cadre d‟un entretien individuel et semi-Directif, 717 collégiens ont répondu à différents questionnaires concernant le bullying et le traitement de l‟information sociale. Dans les deux recherches nous avons procédé à des analyses statistiques. Les principaux résultats révèlent l'existence de profils de traitement de l‟information différentiels propres à chaque statut / Bullying is an insidiously aggressive behavior characterized by repetitiveness, asymmetry (a bully dominating his victim) and intent to do harm (Olweus, 1993). Any individual concerned will fall into one of four categories: bully, victim, bully/victim or not involved. If numerous researchers have taken an interest in the psychopathological impact of bullying on its victims, there have been few studies devoted to the differences in the psychology of adolescents depending on their status in bullying. Our research refers to the theoretical pattern of Crick and Dodge (1994) to process social information. They contend the information will be processed in six stages in interaction with the central nervous system which involves the regulation of emotions and the command of social skills. We have carried out two experiments. In the course of semi-Structured individual interviews, seven hundred and seventeen (717) secondary school students answered different sets of questions about bullying and social information processing mechanisms. In both studies we have performed statistical analyses. The main results show different types of information processing depending on the status in bullying