Content of the Peer Relations Questionnaire Package (Long Form)

This manual published in 1998 provides a comprehensive analysis of responses of over 38,000 Australian students responses to the Peer Relations Questionnaire. Ages range from 8 to 18 years. As such it is one of the world’s largest data sets. It is of primary value to researchers into school bullying in Australia, to Australian educational administrators and to those interested in making cross-cultural comparisons.

The responses to the questions are broken down by gender and age group. Age trends in bullying are examined. The questions relate to the following areas:

1. Social well-being

• Happiness at school
• Friendships
• Perceived popularity

2. Student perceptions of their school environment

• Where bullying is seen to occur
• How safe it is at school
• How interested teachers are in stopping bullying

3. Prevalence of bullying

• Frequency of being bullied
• Kinds of bullying experienced
• Gender of perpetrators
• Individual and group bullying
• Within and cross gender bullying
• Regularity of being bullied
• Duration of bullying

4. Reported consequences of being bullied

• Emotional reactions of victims of bullying
• Effects on self-concept
• Absenteeism due to bullying
• Telling others (parents, teachers, friend, counsellor)
• Outcomes after telling
• Readiness to tell if bullied

5. Perceived abilities relating to bullying

• To prevent oneself from being bullied
• To bully others

6. Tendencies to bully others

• Desire to hurt others
• Willingness to join in bullying others
• How often part of a group that bullied
• How often bullied on one’s own
• Reported reasons or justifications for bullying

7. Student beliefs about bullying

• What students and teachers should do about bullying
• Whether the student could ‘use help’ to stop being bullied
• Whether the student was interested in talking about the problem with other students.