Bullying is a multifaceted phenomenon requiring a wide-angle view considering the social, institutional, and cultural factors. The primary objective of the present study is to acquire in-depth insights into the narratives of former bullying victims, identify important contextual factors, and gain a better understanding of their influence on the formation of a comprehensive lived experience. Thus, this study employed the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The research sample comprised of nine polish women (21–34) who had experienced bullying during their education for more than six months. Results offer empirical insights into the underlying factors beyond bullying behavior, rooted in social reality (e.g., interpersonal relationships within social networks, understanding of intentionality, social support) and in perceived outcomes (e.g., suffered harm, unpleasant emotions, secondary losses). We identified the shared characteristics of bullying experiences and coded and themed them into the following categories: exclusion, double-dealing, intimate humiliation, self-image attack, and aggressive self-defense.
Mróz et al. (Sat,) studied this question.