Investigation of the Relationship Between Self-Perception and Peer Bullying Levels in Adolescents

Abstract

Adolescence is a developmentally intense and complex period. With this period, rapid changes can be observed in various development areas. Although the rapid changes experienced in adolescence are an important stage in the process of becoming an adult, the process of change experienced can cause problematic behavior patterns to emerge. One of these problematic behavior patterns is peer bullying. Adolescents who try to get to know themselves with adolescence can shape their self-perceptions by being a victim of bullying or by being bullied. The sum of the adolescent's self-perceptions is expressed as self-perception in the literature. With adolescence, the adolescent begins to recognize himself and to form a self-perception. This formation is affected by the social environment and experiences. Clearly revealing the adolescent's self-perceptions and the effect of peer bullying on the self are important for adolescent mental health and development during adolescence. For this reason, the aim of this study is to determine whether there is a relationship between peer bullying, which is an important problem in adolescence, and self-perception. For this purpose, relational screening model was used in the research. The universe of the research is the province of Malatya. The adolescent group of 411 people determined by the stratified sampling method from the research universe constitutes the research sample. According to the research findings, a low-level significant negative correlation was found between being a victim and a bully and self-perception in the process of peer bullying in adolescence. When the research findings are examined, it is revealed that peer bullying may cause negative effects on the self-perception of adolescents. In this respect, it can be said that peer bullying poses an important risk for the development of adolescents.