Physical education classes may carry a higher risk of bullying than other classes
due to students perceived freedom, competitive environment, limited teacher supervision,
and visible physical differences. Despite these risks, research on how teachers intervene
is limited, yet this study sheds light on intervention methods perceived by future
teachers who are in a critical period of professional development. Therefore, this
study aimed to translate, adapt, and validate The Handling Bullying Questionnaire
(HBQ) among physical education teacher candidates (PETC) in Hungary. A total 170 PETC
completed the HBQ that measures the likelihood of using the strategies in a hypothetical
bullying scenario. Linguistic adaptation was carried out using the back-translation
technique. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability
analysis are used to examine the structure of the scale. Based on exploratory and
confirmatory factor analysis, a construct with 22 items and 5 factors replicated the
same measurement results with the previous studies. The scale explains 58.82% of the
total variance. Cronbach alpha values ranged from 0.692 to 0.750. The results indicate
that PETCs are not in favor of ignoring bullying but are more inclined toward authority-based
strategies and involve others in the incident, while tending to work less with victim.
It was determined that the strategies varied according to gender, age, and year of
study. Findings indicate that Hungarian version of HBQ is a valid and reliable measurement
tool for PETCS.
