Investigation of preschool children's bullying perceptions and bullying coping strategies

It is known that bullying behaviors that children are exposed to during the preschool period may negatively affect children's lives.Because of this, this study aims to reveal whether there is a significant relationship between bullying perceptions and bullying coping strategies and the age and sex of children between 36-66 months.The study group of the researchers between 36-48 months, 48-60 months and 60-66 months of age, which continues to the preschool of Ege University Medical Faculty, has formed.A total of 60 children, 20 children in each group, were selected and included in the study group.In this study, phenomenology was used as a qualitative research pattern.Based on the interview form (Reunamo, Sajaniemi, Suhonen and Kontu, 2012) developed by Reunamo et al. For the data collection tool, a 16-question interview form was developed to determine the bullying perceptions and coping strategies of children.The prepared interview form was applied with interviews made individually with children.The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed by content analysis method.As a result of the analyzes made, strategies for coping with children's bullying situations; "Participanting", "Withdrawn", "Dominanting", "Adapting" and "Uncertain".There was no significant difference between the strategies of children coping with bullying situations and their sex, but there was a significant difference between their ages.As children aged, they were found to give more "participanting" answers.At the same time, it has been found that young children can not prefer for effective coping strategies against bullying situations due to their developmental characteristics. Keywords: bullying, coping strategies