The prevalence of school bullying has increased worldwide. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO 2019) reports that 32% of learners worldwide have been victims of bullying. In Jordan (Asia), bullying victimisation is at 7% and being a bully at 7.6% (Dardas et al. 2022). Hong Kong’s prevalence of bullying is at 38.6%, where participants reported having bullied others once or twice in the first wave of testing well-being of victims on bullying perpetration, and 42.4% of the participants reported being involved in bullying behaviour once or twice in the second wave of the study (Luo et al. 2022). The total prevalence of bullying in france is at 19%, while 4.9% of the 19% are bully-victims and pure bullies are at 8.9% (Potard et al. 2022). The prevalence of bullying in the Americas is 26.23%. In Africa, the rates are as follows: Ghana, 56.72%; Kenya, 54.35%; Zimbabwe, 59.15%; and Botswana, 52.20% (Man, Liu & Xue 2022). According to statistics from South Africa (Statistics South Africa 2021), 29.2% of secondary learners experience some form of school violence, while the prevalence of bullying is as follows: KwaZulu-Natal 35.9%, Eastern Cape 18.5%, Gauteng 40.1%, and North West 14.6%. Bullying is a repetitive, negative and unwanted act where intimidation or coercion is displayed by one or more learner/s towards other learner/s to display a power imbalance that causes distress and renders them powerless (Park et al. 2022). Bullying is a broad concept as it can occur in different settings, such as in the workplace or at home.

Thus, this study will focus on school bullying, which only occurs within school premises, perpetuated by learners.

School bullying threatens learners’ safety and increases the level of violence in schools (Varela et al. 2020).

Many learners’ lives have been cut short as a direct consequence of bullying perpetration, and this has become a cause for great concern (Chitsamatanga & Rembe 2020). Unsafe school environments, such as a lack of security, can provide fertile ground for bullying, resulting in poor school attendance and injuries from bullying, thereby severely affecting the quality of education and the well-being of learners (Norman 2020).

The following characteristics have been found to expose victims to bullying tendencies: lack of self-esteem, lack of friends, poor social skills, being less popular, sexual orientation, economic status of family, cultural and physical differences, for example, skin colour, gender and disability (McNicholas, Orpinas & Raczynski 2020). Besides, it is highlighted that being different or unique triggers jealousy and envy in other learners, predisposing that learner to bullying acts by peers at school (McNicholas et al. 2020). Furthermore, negative family dynamics such as being neglected and abused, personality traits, for example, aggressiveness and physical appearance of learners can perpetuate the bullying behaviour of adolescents in schools (Wang et al. 2021).

Bullying perpetration and being a victim increase when there is a decreased level of monitoring of learners’ activities and behaviour during breaks and class sessions by teachers in schools (Johansson 2023). For example, monitoring by teachers during breaks and being observant during class sessions were reported to be effective, as bullying occurs in teachers’ absence (Nyawo & Govender 2022).

Bullying does not discriminate, as gender was not found to have a huge role in one becoming a victim of bullying (UNESCO 2023). Nonetheless, both boys and girls can become bullying perpetrators or victims (Chitsamatanga & Rembe, 2020). Consequently, bullying in schools has become a social problem that warrants action from the police, social workers and health personnel to help fight bullying perpetration in schools.

Bullying causes long-term negative psychological effects such as depression, anxiety and physical challenges, for example, sleep deprivation, thus early detection may improve the well-being of learners until adulthood (Lee, Jeong & Roh 2018). A study conducted by Chukwuere et al. (2022) found that the education of learners is negatively affected by depression, anxiety, physical injuries and poor performance in school as a result of frequent bullying acts. In addition to the above paragraph, depression can lead a learner to feel hopeless, unable to cope, have problems at school and be suicidal (Chukwuere et al. 2022). A study by Addy et al. (2021), which focused on mental health difficulties, coping mechanisms and support systems among school-going adolescents, revealed that bullying triggers mental health problems in learners exposed to bullying.

Bullying also results in victims performing poorly academically (Li & Hesketh 2021). Furthermore, UNESCO (2023) reported that bullying has detrimental effects on school attendance, academic performance, mental and physical well-being of learners. Bullying further deprives learners of one of their fundamental human rights, which is the right to education, as it can result in poor academic performance. Thus, it is crucial to tackle and deal with bullying at early stages before it gets out of hand by increasing awareness and monitoring during breaks, also in the classroom by teachers (UNESCO 2023).

Research into coping mechanisms used by bullied survivors in schools around the world has been done but cannot be generalised because of social differences globally and locally (Sittichai & Smith 2018). For example, the study noted that bullying resulted in victims coping by attending poorly at school, reporting to parents or teachers they trusted, avoiding the bully and some fighting back. McNicholas et al. (2020) noted that coping was influenced by family, peer and school support, therefore reducing the negative effects of bullying.

Furthermore, help-seeking, problem-solving and emotion-focused coping, which are regarded as healthy coping strategies, are reported to help reduce the risk of victimisation by helping learners cope with bullying and respond more effectively to such incidents at school (Williford et al. 2022). Teachers, nurses and parents/guardians should have an understanding of why bullying occurs and how learners cope with bullying to identify specific behaviours and remedy the situation timeously (McNicholas et al. 2020). There is limited research into coping mechanisms in the North West province; hence, the researcher deemed it necessary to explore and describe the coping mechanisms used by learners who are bullying survivors using a qualitative research method.

A qualitative research approach following exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used to explore and describe the coping mechanisms used by bullying survivors in this study. This approach allowed participants to give a detailed and in-depth insight into their experience of being bullied and how they coped.

Themes and sub-themes are described in Table 1.

Two main themes emerged, namely, (1) Positive coping mechanisms, and (2) Negative coping mechanisms, under which six sub-themes emerged as presented in Table 1. Extracts from the in-depth individual face-to-face interviews were used to generate the themes presented.

The increasing phenomenon of bullying in schools results in victims finding ways to cope and deal with their bullies. The positive coping mechanisms displayed by victims are resilience, extramural activities, and talking to a trusted person. The finding is affirmed by Riley et al. (2020) that different coping mechanisms used by victims of bullying have different results, which can be positive or negative. Furthermore, the well-being of victims of bullying is affected regardless of the coping mechanisms used. It is also noted that the use of positive coping mechanisms tends to give victims control over the bully and increases confidence in victims. In concurrence, negative coping mechanisms affect victims’ mental health negatively (Kolesnyk et al. 2020).

Farchi and Peled-Avram (2025) affirm that resilience is characterised by personal traits that include personal qualities such as belief in one’s ability, having hope, strength and confidence. Furthermore, it is stated that resilience is shaped by early-life experiences such as safe family environments and unconditional support from family. However, for this study, it was not determined how they came to be resilient, and further research is needed for this concept. Resilience is said to be a supportive factor against mental health problems in victims of bullying (Harrison, Loxton & Somhlaba 2021). As shown by two of the participants reporting that they were not affected by the victimisation and that they just coped well with the bullying they experienced.

Findings further revealed that playing soccer, listening to music and watching TV were used to cope with bullying. A study conducted by McNicholas et al. (2020) established that participating in activities such as sports could boost the confidence of victims of bullying. Shumba, Nyambuya and Khumalo (2023) affirm that music increases feelings of happiness and can help one deal with stressful situations. Furthermore, music heightens feelings of happiness and boosts the self-esteem of victims. Positive coping mechanisms can benefit victims by functioning as a protective factor, reducing bullying and increasing the well-being of affected individuals (Riley et al. 2020). Some participants indicated that they were able to cope with being bullied through the support they received from friends and family. McNicholas et al. (2020) assert that family and peers can help victims cope effectively through the support they give. Participants reported that friends played a huge role in assisting them to cope with the bullying by uttering words of encouragement and making jokes. One participant reported that parents also played a huge role in helping him cope by encouraging and supporting him. According to Zhang et al. (2016), social support shields bullied individuals by providing a feeling of belonging and warmth, therefore improving their mental health.

Negative coping mechanisms result in the inability of victims to effectively deal with bullying perpetration by acting out and ignoring the bully (Riley et al. 2020). In this article, negative coping mechanisms resulted in a poor change of behaviour and worsened the effects of bullying. Participants revealed that they retaliated out of frustration and as a way of protecting themselves or attempting to stop the bully. Most participants reported losing their temper because of the frustration of being constantly bullied and therefore wanting to hurt the bully/ies. Potard et al. (2022) assert that victims of bullying display aggressive behaviour and want to retaliate in order to compensate for feelings of shame and powerlessness they felt when they were bullied. One participant reported fighting back because bullies wanted to turn her into a laughingstock in class. Bitsika and Sharpley (2021) support the findings by asserting that, to protect themselves from imminent danger, victims of bullying would confront the bully or talk back. Learners who are exposed to bullying at school are subjected to some form of bad behaviours (Foody & Samara 2018). According to Kolesnyk et al. (2020), bad habits are behaviours such as smoking, taking part in harmful activities such as fighting and aggression. Victims reported that this whole experience greatly affected their emotions and would get angry and want to stab the bully, while another participant resorted to smoking in an attempt to suppress the negative emotions. These findings are corroborated by Foody and Samara (2018:3), who assert that learners who are exposed to bullying develop emotional and psychological problems. Li and Hesketh (2021) concur with the findings by noting that victims of bullying suffer emotional distress because of continued bullying and the embarrassment they feel from the ordeal.

Participants reported isolating themselves as a way of coping with bullying and to avoid the bully because they feared being hurt or humiliated in public. The findings are supported by Harrison et al. (2021), who assert that victims of bullying self-isolate in order to avoid the bully. Likewise, victims of bullying are said to self-isolate as a way of limiting exposure to bullies and reframing thoughts to try and forget about the bullying experience (Parikh et al. 2019). This form of coping can put victims of bullying in great danger of not reacting well to the demands of that situation, which in turn can exacerbate the problem. Chitsamatanga and Rembe (2020) concur that school bullying is said to cause insecurities in victims of bullying, hence they isolate themselves from others as they believe they are easy targets. One participant said that she would not go out during breaks at school and sit still in class. Varela et al. (2020) highlighted that the quality of life for victims of bullying was very low/poor as a result of experiencing bullying in schools. This is mainly because of fear of being hurt or humiliated by their bullies in public spaces, which may further result in negative coping mechanisms, as indicated by participants who felt sad and scared.

Findings from the study show that bullying affects victims emotionally, psychologically and physically.

Participants in this study coped using positive and negative mechanisms, which affected victims in their respective ways. The findings further suggest that victims who used positive coping mechanisms had improved their mental health and well-being as opposed to those who used negative coping mechanisms. How victims coped with the victimisation determined their psychological and emotional well-being. Therefore, extensive awareness and education on bullying needs to be emphasised in schools for teachers, parents/guardians, nurses, police and the school governing bodies to effectively deal with school bullying and identify the victims early. Furthermore, education on bullying needs to be incorporated into nursing education for nurses to be knowledgeable on risk factors, coping mechanisms used by victims and management.