I enjoy hurting my classmates: On the relation of boredom and sadism in schools. (February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pfattheicher, Stefan; Lazarević, Ljiljana B.; Nielsen, Yngwie Asbjørn; Westgate, Erin C.; Krstić, Ksenija; Schindler, Simon
• Is Part Of: Journal of school psychology. Volume 96(2023)
• Page Start: 41
• Page End: 56
• Publication Date: 2023-02
• Subjects: Boredom -- Sadism -- Schools -- Multitrait-multimethod -- HEXACO -- Aggression -- Bullying; School psychologists -- Periodicals; School psychology -- Periodicals; Psychology -- Periodicals; School Health Services -- Periodicals; Psychologues scolaires -- Périodiques; Child psychology -- Periodicals; Psychologie scolaire -- Périodiques; Onderwijspsychologie; School psychologists; School psychology; Periodicals; 155.405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsp.2022.10.008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-4405

Abstract

Abstract: Schools can be a place of both love and of cruelty. We examined one type of cruelty that occurs in the school context: sadism, that is, harming others for pleasure. Primarily, we proposed and tested whether boredom plays a crucial role in the emergence of sadistic actions at school. In two well-powered studies ( N = 1038; student age range = 10–18 years) using both self- and peer-reports of students' boredom levels and their sadistic tendencies, we first document that sadistic behavior occurs at school, although at a low level. We further show that those students who are more often bored at school are more likely to engage in sadistic actions (overall r = .36, 95% CI [0.24, 0.49]). In sum, the present work contributes to a better understanding of sadism in schools and points to boredom as one potential motivator. We discuss how reducing boredom might help to prevent sadistic tendencies at schools.