THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGIOUSNESS AND BULLYING AMONG PAROCHIAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE SOUTHEAST By Matthew Adam Willis Liberty University A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education Liberty University April, 2015 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGIOUSNESS AND BULLYING AMONG PAROCHIAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE SOUTHEAST By Matthew Adam Willis A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA April, 2015 APPROVED BY: Ellen Lowrie Black, EdD, Committee Chair Melissa R. Tucker, EdD, Committee Member Andrew T. Alexson, Committee Member Scott B. Watson, Associate Dean, Advanced Programs ABSTRACT Bullying and peer abuses are persistent problems in the educational community. Many studies have been undertaken that focus on the aftermath of bullying or prevention of abuse, but few have focused on social variables and their relationship to bullying and peer abuses. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is any relationship between an individual’s self-reported levels of religiousness and their perspectives on bullying. The study used a correlational design. This design analyzed students who have taken the Olweus bullying scale and a religious commitment survey. The surveys were analyzed using the Stepwise regression model. Understanding the correlation between religiousness and bullying perspectives could help build a knowledge base for all social factors affecting bullying. The model expressing the relationship between females who self-report as bullies and the religious variable of Extrinsic(personal) was found to have a statistically significant relationship. Keywords: Bullying, middle school, high school, gender, faith, religiousness Dedication To Dr. Ellen Black for teaching me awareness and how to be a better student. To my grandfather who taught me to love knowledge. To my wife for her undying support and patience. To my children, who although too young to understand, their love and smiles sustained me. To my sister, my very best friend. To my mother, my greatest cheerleader and mentor To my father, without his instillation of work ethic this work would never have been completed. To my brother, who often absent from sight, is never absent from heart. To my grandmother, whose nurturing spirit taught me to love others. iii Acknowledgments I want to thank the school who allowed me unfettered access to their students in order to complete this research. May God bless them and their students. I want to thank my dissertation committee for the constructive criticism and their faith in me even when I lost faith in myself. iv Table of Contents List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 Background ..............................................................................................................8 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................9 Purpose Statement ..................................................................................................10 Significance of the Study .......................................................................................11 Research Questions ................................................................................................14 Hypothesis………………………………………………………………………..17 Identification of Variables……………………………………………………….21 Definitions..............................................................................................................24 Research Summary ................................................................................................25 Assumptions and Limitations ................................................................................27 Validity ..................................................................................................................29 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .................................................... 32 Introduction ............................................................................................................32 Conceptual or Theoretical Framework ..................................................................33 Definitions..............................................................................................................35 Recognition of Abuse ............................................................................................35 Reasons for Abuse .................................................................................................39 Frequency of Abuse ...............................................................................................42 Effects of Peer Abuse.............................................................................................45 Gender and Abuses ................................................................................................48 Religion as a Social Construct ...............................................................................53 v Summary ................................................................................................................58 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 62 Introduction ............................................................................................................62 Design ....................................................................................................................65 Research Questions and Hypotheses .....................................................................66 Participants……………………………………………………………………….70 Setting ....................................................................................................................71 Instrumentation ......................................................................................................72 Procedures ..............................................................................................................76 Data Analysis .........................................................................................................76 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS ........................................................................................ 81 Introduction ............................................................................................................81 Assumption Testing……………………………………………………………...81 Results ....................................................................................................................87 Summary ................................................................................................................96 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 98 Summary ................................................................................................................98 Discussion ..............................................................................................................98 Limitations ...........................................................................................................104 Implications……………………………………………………………………..107 Future Research ...................................................................................................108 References ....................................................................................................................... 111 Appendix A: Olweus Bullying Survey ........................................................................... 126 Appendix B: I-E(r) Questionnaire .................................................................................. 127 vi List of Tables Table 1…………………………………………………………………………………..87 Table 2. …………………………………………………………………………………88 Table 3. ………………………………………………………………………………...88 Table 4. ……………………………………………………...........................................89 Table 5. …………………………………………………………………………………90 Table 6. …………………………………………………………………………………96 Table 7. …………………………………………………………………………………97 Table 8. …………………………………………………………………………………98 Table 9. …………………………………………………………………………………99 vii 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Bullying is a relevant and pervasive problem across the nation. Research shows that between 45% and 77% of all sixth to 12th grade students report an act of bullying during the school year (Carran & Kellner, 2009). As technology becomes more prevalent, the number of students who suffer from bullying increases (Willard, 2011). Bullying comes in a variety of forms, all of which cause harm to a student (Perkins, Craig, & Perkins, 2011). The need for understanding the causes and effects of bullying is paramount. With the number of students resorting to violence among themselves or others growing, understanding bullying has become more urgent. There is a gap in literature dealing with bullying, itself a social construct, as it relates to other social constructs. Dr. Olweus, a world-renowned expert in bullying and bullying tendencies, has been studying the phenomenon since the early 1970s when he began to question the abuses suffered by the children in his community (Espelage & Swearer, 2003). The problem has existed for decades, but it was not until the early 1980s that researchers and schools began to take the problem seriously and devoted