Dynamic Model of Bullying Interaction in the Classroom

Bullying is a more general subset of aggression, distinguished by the intention to harm, the repetitive nature of the actions, and the imbalance of power between bully and target (Nansel at al., 2001; Nicolaides, Toda e Smith, 2002; Olweus, 1993, 1995, 2003). Bullying in a classroom context is a seemingly dyadic interaction in which a more dominant individual (the bully) exhibits aggressive behaviour intended to cause distress to a less dominant individual (the victim). We studied it from an ecological perspective taking into account even peer and teacher behaviours, which could influence short-term processes in bullying interaction. To forecast the latter we introduced a dynamical systems model, describing the time evolution of bully, victim, peers and teacher activities. The model is based on four dependent variables, all functions of time. This variable describes the behaviour of each agent as intensity of the action within the interaction. The choice of the equations was based on the dynamic growth theory and the dynamic growth models developed by Van Geert (1994). To check both the applicability and validity of the model we performed an empirical study on a classroom in a primary school. The first findings obtained from this study show that the model fits in an enough satisfactory way the empirical data.