Peer violence is defined as a complex phenomenon with aggressive, manipulative and exclusionary behaviour which is recurring or present for a longer time period in peer relationships. It is accompanied by an imbalanced power between perpetrators and victims.
Risk factors, identifiable at various stages of peer relationships, can intertwine and consequently increase the risk of either experiencing or inflicting peer violence. Many risk factors also include less developed social skills. All students can be victims of peer violence, including students with specific learning disabilities (hereinafter SLDs). Primary and secondary consequences of their deficits increase the risk of experiencing and inflicting violence.
The aim of this thesis was to conduct a research among students with SLDs, aged 12 to 14, and study their experiences related to witnessing, experiencing and inflicting peer violence. Furthermore, the thesis explores the relation between students’ development of social skills and their involvement in peer violence, either as perpetrators or victims.
Based on descriptive and non-experimental causal method, the research used both quantitative and qualitative strategies. The study used survey questionnaires for students with SLDs and school professionals which included School Bullying Scales and a Tool for Social Skills Assessment with Assistance Planning Guidelines. The collected information was further explored through semi-structured interviews with some of the participating students. The research sample includes students with SLDs (n = 22); each student was assessed by two school professionals (n = 44), namely special education teacher and class or subject teacher.
The results have shown that 81.8 % of students with SLDs had witnessed peer violence in school at least once in the last six months; 13.6 % of students were victims of peer violence two to three times per month, while 9 % of them report they have perpetrated peer violence on a weekly basis. Students’ self-assessment results reveal that they are most likely to witness, experience and inflict verbal aggression, followed by physical and relational types of aggression; online aggression is the least present form of peer violence according to the students. Information gathered from school professionals support with these findings, although they believe that students with SLDs mostly experience relational aggression, followed by verbal, physical and online types of aggression. There were no statistically significant differences in students’ and professionals’ assessments of peer violence frequency.
When peer violence occurs, students most often experience feelings of distress, disappointment, fear, pain, danger and guilt; moreover, this may result in lower self-image, loneliness, lack of trust in peers, and school refusal behaviour.
Findings based on assessments provided by school professionals demonstrate statistically significant correlations between the development of social skills in students with SLDs and their experiencing and inflicting peer violence.
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