A Phenomenological Study of Middle School Bullying in the Texas Rio Grande Valley

School bullying is a worldwide phenomenon that occurs in both developed and developing nations. The increase in aggressive behaviors in teenagers usually coincides with the beginning of their middle school years as young students enter the developmental phase of identity formation, physical maturation, and attachment separation from parents in. This qualitative study examined the bullying experiences of 25 Hispanic middle school students in the special education program in a predominantly Mexican-American school district located in southern Texas, USA. The average age of the participants was 13.12 years old (sd = 1.09, range = 11–15). An open-ended, semi-structured interview format was chosen for the qualitative study to allow the participants to share descriptions of authentic private experiences. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to decipher the data obtained from the interviews. Four major themes emerged from the investigation: (1) agony, (2) perspicacity, (3) transformation, and (4) retribution. Consistent with past research, this study found that the participants experienced anxiety and depression. However, they were also forgiving and showed sympathy toward the perpetrators. Findings suggest that character education and social skills training are key to preventing bullying. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG part of Springer Nature.