The self-concept of school violence victims. Analysis of the negations in narratives

Abstract

The objective. The purpose of the research was to present the self-concept of young
people experiencing school violence that is being disclosed within their narratives.
Methodology. The entries in Internet forums of 33 school violence victims have
been analyzed. 13 of them were related to the recent experiences, the remaining 21
described in the ones from past. The narratives have been analyzed against the negations
included within. The following have been taken into consideration: number of
the negations, their kind, functions and the substance. Basing on their substance the
self-concept of the school violence victims has been reconstructed.
The results. School violence victims characterizes low self-esteem. They fi nd themselves
as helpless and worthless. They can notice only their negative characteristics,
what makes them fi nding themselves as worse than the others. They still search for
the traits that caused they became victims. These persons perceive their situation as
indivertible. They feel strong, negative emotions like anxiety and shame. Persons, who
have experienced violence in the past, can see its impact on their current life.

The fi ndings. In the narratives of persons experiencing school aggression, a specifi c
self-concept of the violence victims is refl ected, especially low self-esteem and negative
thoughts about themselves, lack of life control, lack of faith in the possibility of changing
the current situation, feeling alienated, experiencing anxiety and shame, diffi culties
with communicating own needs. The discourse is a reliable source of information
about the mind of the violence victims, that would be hard to fi nd using other methods.