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Preventing Bullying. ERIC Digest.

School is supposed to be a place where students feel safe and secure and where they can count on being treated with respect. The reality, however, is that a significant number of students are the target of bullying episodes that result in serious, long-term academic, physical, and emotional consequences. Unfortunately, school personnel often minimize or underestimate the extent of bullying and the harm it can cause. In many cases, bullying is tolerated or ignored (Barone 1997; Colvin and others 1998).

When teachers and administrators fail to intervene, some victims ultimately take things into their own hands, often with grievous results. In its recent analysis of 37 school shooting incidents, the U.S. Secret Service learned that a majority of the shooters had suffered "bullying and harassment that was longstanding and severe" (U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center 2000).

This Digest examines the problem of bullying and some of its effects, discusses steps schools are taking, looks at ways peers can discourage bullying, and identifies other strategies that are being pursued.

WHAT IS BULLYING AND HOW PREVALENT IS THE PROBLEM?

In a recent survey of more than 15,000 sixth- through tenth-graders at public and private schools in the U.S., "30 percent of the students reported bullying others, being the target of bullies, or both" (Bowman 2001). The information, gathered in 1998 as part of the World Health Organization's Health Behavior in School-Aged Children Survey and released in April 2001, is "the first nationally representative research on the frequency of bullying among students in the United States" (Bowman).

Although the WHO survey queried only students in grades 6 through 10, younger students are also victims of bullying. In a study of fourth- through eighth-graders, about 15 percent reported being severely distressed by bullying and 22 percent reported academic difficulties stemming from mistreatment by peers (Hoover and Oliver 1996).

According to research done by Janice Gallagher, one out of four children is bullied, and one out of five defines themselves as a bully (Schmitt 1999). Approximately 282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools every month (Schmitt).

Many avoid public areas of the school such as the cafeteria and restrooms in an attempt to elude bullies. For some students, the fear is so great that they avoid school altogether. Every day approximately 160,000 students stay home from school because they are afraid of being bullied (Vail 1999).

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF BULLYING ON TARGETED STUDENTS?

Students who are targeted by bullies often have difficulty concentrating on their school work, and their academic performance tends to be "marginal to poor" (Ballard and others 1999). Typically, bullied students feel anxious, and this anxiety may in turn produce a variety of physical or emotional ailments.

As noted above, rates of absenteeism are higher among victimized students than rates among their nonbullied peers, as are dropout rates. According to Nansel and colleagues (2001), "youth who are bullied generally show higher levels of insecurity, anxiety, depression, loneliness, unhappiness, physical and mental symptoms, and low self-esteem." When students are bullied on a regular basis, they may become depressed and despondent, even suicidal or homicidal. As a report by the National Association of Attorneys General notes, bullying "is a precursor to physical violence by its perpetrators and can trigger violence in its victims."

The psychological scars left by bullying often endure for years. Evidence indicates that "the feelings of isolation and the loss of self-esteem that victims experience seem to last into adulthood" (Clarke and Kiselica 1997). Studies have found a higher level of depression and lower self-esteem among formerly bullied individuals at age twenty-three, even though as adults these individuals were no more harassed or socially isolated than a control group (Nansel and others).

WHAT CAN SCHOOLS DO TO COUNTERACT BULLYING?

To discern the nature and extent of the bullying problem in their school, administrators can distribute surveys to students, school personnel, and parents (Colvin and others). Once baseline data are collected, school personnel will be better able to judge whether any subsequent changes are actually making a difference.

Debra Pepler, director of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution at York University in Toronto, suggests mapping a school's "hot spots" for bullying incidents (Ruth Walker 2001). Once problematic locations have been pinpointed through survey responses or a review of disciplinary records, supervision can be concentrated where it is most needed.

Barone points out that providing better supervision is not necessarily costly. For example, principals can ask teachers to stand in the doorways of their classrooms during passing time so that the halls are well supervised.

To achieve permanent changes in how students interact, Colvin and others recommend not only delivering negative consequences to those who bully, but teaching positive behavior through modeling, coaching, prompting, praise, and other forms of reinforcement. Similarly, Ballard and others encourage schools to take a proactive stance by implementing programs that teach students "social skills, conflict resolution, anger management, and character education."

One 15-year-old girl said, "I don't know how you do this, but we need to make acceptance cool" (National Association of Attorneys General).

At Central York Middle School in Pennsylvania, all students sign anti-teasing pledges and are taught how to appropriately manager their anger. Since this practice was started, the school reports a reduction in fistfights. At Laurel Elementary in Fort Collins, Colorado, students undergo "Be Cool" training in which counselors present them with provocative situations and help them recognize the difference between a "hot response" and a "cool response" (Labi 2001).

HOW CAN PEERS DISCOURAGE BULLYING?

According to Salmivall (1999), bullying is increasingly viewed as a "group phenomenon," and intervention approaches should be directed toward witnesses as well as direct participants. Salmivall encourages the development of anti-bullying attitudes among peers through awareness-raising, the opportunity for self-reflection and awakening feelings of responsibility, and role-playing or rehearsing new behaviors.

To discourage peers from acting as an "audience" to bullying behavior, Seeds University Elementary School (UES) in Los Angeles has a policy of sending bystanders as well as bullies for after-school mediation. Students and their parents sign contracts at the beginning of the school year acknowledging they understand it is unacceptable to ridicule, taunt, or attempt to hurt other students (Labi). If an incident occurs, it can be used as an opportunity to educate students about alternative ways of resolving similar situations in the future.

Teaching respect and nonviolence should start in elementary school. Some suggest that nonviolence training conducted by older peers can be particularly powerful because, as one high school student put it, younger students "don't look up to old people; they look up to teenagers" (National Association of Attorneys General).

A survey administered by Naylor and Cowie (1999) found positive effects of peer-support systems designed to challenge bullying. Students accessing support, offered in the form of mentoring, befriending, mediation, and counseling, as well as their peers who provided the support, both derived benefits.

WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE?

Students who bully often need intensive support or intervention, so it is important for schools and social-service agencies to work together. Perpetrators are frequently from "hostile family environments" (Ballard and others). They may be victims of acts of aggression at home, or witness aggression among other family members.

Parents can play a role in reducing bullying. William Pollack, a psychologist, says, "Research shows that the success of any program is 60% grounded in whether the same kinds of approaches are used at home" (Labi).

If everyone works together to discourage bullying and respond to incidents, fertile conditions are created for students to develop a greater sense of connection to their peers and for seeds of respect and acceptance to grow.

RESOURCES

Barone, Frank J. "Bullying in School: It Doesn't Have to Happen." Phi Delta Kappan (September 1997): 80-82. EA 533 807.

Bowman, Darcia Harris. "Survey of Students Documents the Extent of Bullying." Education Week on the Web (May 2, 2001).

Clarke, E. A., and M. S. Kiselica. "A Systemic Counseling Approach to the Problem of Bullying." Elementary School Guidance and Counseling 31 (1997): 310-24.

Colvin, G.; T. Tobin; K. Beard; S. Hagan; and J. Sprague. "The School Bully: Assessing the Problem, Developing Interventions, and Future Research Directions." Journal of Behavioral Education 8, 3 (1998): 293-319.

Garrity, C.; K. Jens; W. Porter; N. Sager; and C. Short-Camilli. Bully-Proofing Your School. Longmont, Colorado: Sopris West. 1996.

Hoover, J. H.; and R. Oliver. The Bullying Prevention Handbook: A Guidefor Principals, Teachers, and Counselors. Bloomington, Indiana: National Education Service, 1996.

Khosropour, Shirin C., and James Walsh. "The Effectiveness of a Violence Prevention Program: Did It Influence How Children Conceptualize Bullying?" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Seattle, April 2001.

Labi, Nadya. "Let Bullies Beware." Time online, March 25, 2001.

Nansel, Tonja R.; Mary Overpeck; Ramani S. Pilla; W. June Ruan; Bruce Simons-Morton; and Peter Scheidt. "Bullying Behaviors Among U.S. Youth: Prevalence and Association with Psychosocial Adjustment." Journal of the American Medical Association 286, 16 (April 25, 2001).

National Association of Attorneys General. Bruised Inside: What Our Children Say About Youth Violence, What Chauses It, and What We Should Do About It. Author, 2000.

Naylor, Paul, and Helen Cowie "The Effectiveness of Peer Support Systems in Challenging School Bullying: The Perspectives and Experiences of Teachers and Pupils." Journal of Adolescence 22, 4 (August 1999): 467-79. EJ 609 417.

O'Connell, Paul; Debra Pepler, and Wendy Craig. "Peer Involvement in Bullying: Insights and Challenges for Intervention." Journal of Adolescence 22 (1999): 437-52.

Salmivalli, Christina. "Participant Role Approach to School Bullying: Implications for Interventions." Journal of Adolescence 22 (1999): 453-59.

U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center. Safe School Initiative: An Interim Report on the Prevention of Targeted Violence in Schools. Washington, D.C.: Author, October 2000.

Vail, Kathleen. "Words That Wound." American School Board Journal (September 1999): 37-40.

Walker, Ruth. "To Stop Bullying, Involve the Whole School." Christian Science Monitor (March 13, 2001): 19.