The Relationship between Emerging Forms of Bullying and SelfEsteem among Secondary Schools Students in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between emerging issues of bullying and selfesteem among Secondary School Students in Bungoma County, Kenya. The Social-Ecological Theory and Psychosocial Theory guided the study. The research population was 29,040 Form 3 students, Deputy Principals and Guidance and Counseling teachers from 360 secondary schools participated in the study. A sample size of 399 students was drawn from boys, girls and co-education schools. Form Three Students were randomly selected from the sampled schools. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design using mixed-method approaches and correlational design. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected concurrently. Stratified random sampling and simple random sampling was used to sample schools and students, respectively. A pilot study was conducted on the 30 Form Three students selected from three categories of secondary schools in Bungoma County. Data was collected using a self-response questionnaire and interview schedule guide. Descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation and percentages were used to analyse and describe data quantitative data. Inferential statistics such as Pearson Correlation statistics, ANOVA was used to test the significance of the stated hypothesis at the alpha level (α = 0.05). The qualitative data was thematically analysed based on the objectives and presented through texts. All analysis was done using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. The findings revealed that there was a relationship between emerging forms of bullying and self-esteem R 2 =.388 (38.8%).