Researchers from the University of Granada in Spain have been looking at what children themselves think about bullying, bullies and their victims and have come up with some surprising results. They studied 1,237 children between 11 and 16. 7.3% were victims, 8.5% were bullies and 84.1% were the uninvolved 'audience' for bullying. The study found that younger children were more approving of the bullying than researchers thought they would be. They saw the victims as passive, socially incompetent, anxious, depressed and insecure and the bullies as strong, brave, outgoing, happy, powerful and self-confident. Girls felt more sympathy towards the victims but boys saw them as vulnerable and morally responsible for their victimisation and said that they should feel 'guilty and ashamed.' As the children got older and took on more adult values they felt more sympathy for the victims and were more likely to reject the bullies.
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