The Help Restraint Factors of the Third Party toward the Victim of Bullying in a Physical Education Class

Abstract

The first purpose of this study was to clarify the factors that restrain the help behavior of the third party toward the victim of bullying in a physical education class. The second purpose was to examine the influences that these factors have on the help attitude.
The questionnaire survey about the reasons for not helping the victim in spite of having recognized bulling in physical education class and about the help attitude was conducted on the third grader (139 children) in an elementary school, the fifth grader (149 children) in an elementary school, and the second grader (213 students) in junior high school.
The results of a factor analysis were as follows:
1) Avoidance from the danger of a retaliation (“Factor 1”)
2) Refusal of involvement in fear of negative evaluation from peers (“Factor 2”)
3) Denial of the help duty by blame attribution to the victim (“Factor 3”)
Each factor was compared in terms of the grade difference and sex.
Furthermore, the following results were shown about the influences that these factors have on the help attitudes of each grade.
1) Third grader in an elementary school: “Factor 2”>“Factor 3”
2) Fifth grader in an elementary school: “Factor 2”
3) Second grader in junior high school: “Factor 3”>“Factor 1”>“Factor 2”