THE NATURE AND PREVALENCE OF BULLYING AMONG BOYS AND GIRLS IN CROATIAN CARE INSTITUTIONS: A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF CHILDREN’S HOMES AND CORRECTIONAL HOMES

No research to date has established reliable estimates of bullying behaviour in Croatian care institutions. Drawing upon conceptualand methodological conclusions from the prison-based research in the UK, the present study aimed to explore the nature and extentof indirect and direct bullying in a national sample of boys and girls from Croatian residential care facilities. The study also aimed toassess whether there were gender differences in the frequency and types of bullying as well as whether bullying was more prevalentand serious in Correctional Homes as opposed to in Children’s Homes. The sample consisted of 601 young people aged 11 – 21 from22 residential institutions in Croatia. Data was collected using an anonymous self-reported questionnaire. Residents were classifi edas bullies or victims if they reported at least one behaviour indicative of bullying others or being bullied two or three times a monthor more often. With this defi nition, approximately three quarters of residents in both Children’s Homes and Correctional Homeswere involved in bullying either as victims (66.8% and 56.3% respectively) or as bullies (45.9% and 50.2% respectively). Indirectvictimisation was more prevalent in Children’s Homes. In both samples, girls were signifi cantly more likely than boys to be involvedin indirect bullying either as victims or as perpetrators. In Correctional Homes, boys were signifi cantly more likely than girls to bullydirectly. Although descriptive in nature, this study is the fi rst to offer a comprehensive insight into bullying behaviour in Croatianresidential care. As such, it should serve as a basis for future research.