Original studyPsychreg Journal of Psychology, 2018Read the paper →
Being picked on by classmates can leave lasting marks, and for children from migrant families it can add to the strain of fitting into a new country. Not every child who is bullied suffers in the same way. A small study of Indian pupils in New Zealand suggests that the wider social picture at school shapes how much harm bullying does.
A researcher at the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development in India followed 10 Indian pupils in their seventh year at two middle schools in New Zealand. The findings appear in Psychreg Journal of Psychology. The pupils were about 12 years old, and they were assessed twice, six months apart.
Classmates named peers who showed certain behaviours, such as aggression, withdrawal, anxiety or physical weakness, and who were picked on. Pupils also named who they liked, who they disliked, and who their friends and enemies were.
Peer victimisation means being repeatedly targeted by other children through hitting, name calling, mocking or being left out. Peer rejection means being actively disliked by classmates, while peer acceptance means being liked.
Social context made a clear difference. Being victimised was linked to a rise in anxiety, low mood and withdrawal only when pupils were also highly rejected, had more mutual enemies, or were less accepted by peers.
The pattern worked in both directions. Pupils who showed anxiety or low mood became more likely to be picked on over time, but again only when they faced high levels of rejection or hostility. This suggests a cycle in which distress and bullying feed each other.
The findings suggest that a single strong, well-liked friend may help protect a child. The researcher argues that the friends and wider social circle of bullied children deserve closer study, and that bullying should be tackled among both migrant and native pupils.
The study has clear limits. With only 10 pupils, the results are very tentative and cannot be applied to all migrant children. The data were observational, so they cannot prove that bullying caused the changes.
Earlier long-term research has linked being bullied in adolescence to a higher risk of depression in adulthood. This study adds a small but focused look at migrant pupils, and supports efforts to reduce bullying in secondary schools.
