Predicting bullying based on Thrill-seeking, school Atmosphere, students’ self-concept

Introduction: Bullying is widely considered as a serious personal, social and educational issue influencing a significant part of the students. The object of the study is to foretell bullying based on thrill-seeking and the atmosphere of the school together with self-concept mediation in students. Methods: The research is conducted through a descriptive methodology while using solidarity schemes and structural equations modeling. The population consisted of Tehran high school second graders in the school year of 2018-19. The sample individuals are a total of 290 students chosen through cluster sampling. The research tools include the Zuckerman’s thrill-seeking scale (1992), Ojaghi school atmosphere questionnaire (1998) quoted Saatchi (2010), Rogers’ self-concept questionnaire (1977) and Illinois bullying scale (2001). The structural equations modeling has been exercised for data analysis. Results: The results of the statistical test showed that the curve fitting indices are normal. The variable of thrill-seeking influences bullying directly and also indirectly (due to the self-concept) (p<0.05). Furthermore, the self-concept played a mediatory role in relation between school atmosphere and bullying (p<0.05). Conclusions: The results of the current study verify the necessity of the attention to the thrill-seeking and school atmosphere as the two individual and social variables in predicting bullying behaviors of the students across the schools of the State.