Cette étude vise à explorer les réactions et stratégies mises en place par les victimes et par leur entourage (pairs, enseignants, parents) pour faire face au harcèlement scolaire, en combinant deux perspectives théoriques distinctes mais complémentaires : les stratégies de coping et la Participant Role Approach (Salmivalli, 2010). L'analyse de 32 entretiens rétrospectifs montre que loin de rester passives, les victimes tentent généralement une diversité de réponses face au harcèlement. Si certaines stratégies peuvent améliorer leur état émotionnel, la plupart n’ont toutefois pas d’impact sur le harcèlement lui-même. Par ailleurs, les réactions des adultes sont souvent jugées inadéquates. Il semble néanmoins primordial de ne pas laisser les victimes seules face au problème, car elles sont prises dans un cycle d’impuissance qui les épuise. Une série d’implications pratiques sont présentées au sujet du soutien et de l’accompagnement des victimes ainsi que des interventions concrètes visant à mettre fin au harcèlement.

The negative consequences faced by students who are victims of school bullying are clearly documented. Nevertheless, few studies have examined victim's reactions and strategies to cope with bullying. Yet a better understanding of these reactions would allow a better support from health professionals and to improved prevention actions. This study aims to explore the victim's coping strategies through the content-analysis of 32 interviews conducted with former victims. Given their decisive influence on the bullying's situation, spontaneous or requested reactions of peers, teachers and parents are examined as well. To include these two aspects in a common theoretical framework, this research proposes to combine two distinct approaches: the coping strategies and the Participant Role Approach (Salmivalli, 2010; Salmivalli et al., 1996). The efficiency of each highlighted strategy is analysed and discussed regarding current scientific knowledge. Results suggest that victims generally experiment a large panel of reactions and strategies to cope with bullying. Nevertheless, few of these strategies seem to have an effect on bullying itself, but some can improve the emotional well-being of the victims. Victims who attempted to be liked by their bullies by changing their own behaviour reported no improvement of their relations with the bullies, neither did the ones who used humour in order to get closer to bullies. Bullies didn’t get tired when victims passively endured the bullying, hoping that it would stop by itself. Stand up (verbally or physically) to the bully led to increased bullying (one situation excepted). Physical avoidance of bullies (e.g. staying in classroom during playtimes) allowed some victims to temporarily reduce their emotional distress. Several victims experimented positive interactions with peers in extra-curricular activities (e.g. sport, art, scouting) that helped them recovering confidence in their social skills. Most of victims sought social support at one point of the bullying time. The efficiency of this strategy entirely belongs to the warned person's reaction and is thus highly variable. Based on participants’ report, only increased connectedness with a peer could have an impact on the bullying behaviour through a better integration in the peer-group. On the contrary, parents and teachers’ reactions are often perceived by the victims as not appropriate and as leading to a worse situation. In terms of practical implications, these results highlight the importance of raising teachers and parents’ awareness of the bullying, as well as the significance of the peers group dynamic. Following-up any bullying situation observed or reported in the school would probably help ensuring relevant interventions.