Social competition in school

Relationships with bullying, Machiavellianism and personality

Bibliographic Data

ID5266151
AuthorsJon Sutton (Glasgow Caledonian University, corresponding author), Edmund Keogh (0000-0002-4188-3968, University of London)
Year2000
Volume70
Issue3
Pages443-456
Publication date2000-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Educational Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-0998 • E-ISSN: 2044-8279
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1348/000709900158227
PMID11059121
OpenAlexW2139126932
LanguageEN
Citations received33

Background. Bullying is investigated as part of the individual's general framework of attitudes towards interpersonal relationships, social competition and motivation in school. Aims. It was hypothesised that bullying behaviour and pro-bullying attitudes would be associated with socially competitive attitudes in the classroom, Machiavellianism, and the personality constructs of Psychoticism and Extraversion. Samples. 198 9- to 12-year-old children from two Glasgow primary schools. Methods. Children completed several measures: a newly developed questionnaire assessing motivations behind social competition and effort in class, the Kiddie-Mach scale, the Pro-Victim scale, items from the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire, and the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Results. A ' Desire for social success' factor (incorporating a deliberate lack of effort) was negatively correlated with support for victims of bullying, even after partialling out Machiavellianism, Psychoticism, and social desirability. Pro-victim attitudes were in turn negatively correlated with Machiavellianism and Psychoticism, and positively correlated with Lie score. Finally, children categorised as bullies scored significantly higher than controls on Machiavellianism, and significantly lower in terms of pro-victim attitudes. Conclusions. Results are discussed in terms of further study and implications for classroom practice and anti-bullying policy

Big Five personality traits · Developmental psychology · Extraversion and introversion · Eysenck Personality Questionnaire · Machiavellianism · Personality · Psychoticism · Scale (ratio) · Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression · Communication in Education and Healthcare · Education, Achievement, and Giftedness · Psychology · Social Psychology

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