EPQ and Self-esteem scores of male and female Bullies in Mafikeng Schools, South Africa

Abstract

Bullying is an aggressive behaviour which has become a significant social problem in many secondary schools in South Africa. Previous researches on bullying have focused on trends, patterns and age groups which brings about research gaps. This paper reports personality scores of PEN and self-esteem of bullying behaviour across gender. Results showed that (a) learners with a high P and a high N had high scores on bullying behaviour; (b) that males and females low on P had low scores on bullying behaviour whereas the higher scores on P, the higher scores on bullying behaviour with high P females scoring higher on bullying behaviours; (c) that the high the N scores, the higher the bullying behaviours for both males and females: High N scorers also have high scores on bullying behaviours (d) male and female extroverts (E), tend to have high scores on bullying behaviours with females scoring higher than men and (e) that learners with high-self-esteem score low on bullying behaviour for males and females. Based on the results, some recommendations were made including mandatory psychological check-up for suspected violent learners and employing full-time clinical psychologists in secondary schools in South Africa and the need to have programmes that help boost the self-esteem of secondary school learners.