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BULLYING AND BULLYING PREVENTION: INFORMATION FOR EDUCATORS

By Russell Skiba, PhD Indiana University

^NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS

In the last few years our awareness of the extent and seriousness of bullying and peer harassment has increased dramatically. We have learned that harassment and intimidation among children are not simply rites of passage but can pose a serious threat to student mental health and increase the risk of deadly violence.

Many of the perpetrators of the highly publicized school shootings of recent years saw themselves as victims of repeated harassment. Fortunately, effective programs have been developed to address bullying and peer harassment in school. Bullying prevention programs are school-wide efforts designed to send a message that bullying will not be accepted in school. Programs that are carefully designed and implemented can improve school climate by educating staff and students to recognize and respond to instances of bullying.

Characteristics and Development of Bullying

How we define it. Peer harassment or bullying is most commonly defined as a student being exposed, repeatedly and over time, to intentional injury or discomfort inflicted by one or more other students. Bullying behaviors include physical and/or verbal assault, obscene gestures or facial expressions, and intentional exclusion. Bullying implies an imbalance in power or strength in which one child is victimized by either one or more other children. It may occur at all ages, among both boys and girls

What we know about bullying. Surprisingly large numbers of students are bullied in school. In a recent national survey in the United States (see Nansel et al., 2001, in "Resources"), 30% of students reported some involvement with moderate or frequent bullying. These figures are so high that some experts have suggested that any school should anticipate bullying to occur at some level of severity. Of those students who reported involvement with bullying, 13% reported involvement as bullies, 12% were victims, and 6% reported being both bullies and victims. Bullying is most frequent from grades 6-8. Some studies have found that minority students tend to be bullied more, although these results have been inconsistent.

Observational studies in schools have found that bullying may occur on playgrounds as frequently as once every 7 minutes. Most incidents of peer harassment occur in places with little adult supervision (e.g., playgrounds, hallways), although one study found bullying in classrooms at a rate of one to two incidents per hour.

Characteristics of bullies and victims. Bullies who are physically aggressive are typically larger than their victims and have more positive attitudes toward the use of violence than do other students. Victims of bullying and their aggressors tend to be more socially rejected. Aggressors can wield power socially; that is, they often gain social support more readily than victims. Other students may ally themselves with the bully to protect themselves from being bullied. Bullying victims tend to be more anxious and insecure than other students and often react by crying, withdrawal, and avoidance when attacked. Unfortunately, such reactions may only reinforce the bullies' sense of power over the victims. Over time, a surprising number of students who have been bullied begin to engage in bullying behavior themselves.

Although boys are more often reported as both the victims and perpetrators of bullying, awareness of bullying among girls has increased in recent years, and the effects of harassment on boys and girls are equally serious. Harassment appears to take different forms among genders. Boys engage in more overt and physical forms of bullying. Girls engage in higher rates of what has come to be called relational aggression, such as spreading rumors, making suggestive sexual comments, and verbal aggression and intimidation.

Helping Children at Home and School Ii: Handouts for Families and Educators l_i  S4-25

Effects of bullying. Deadly violence in our schools in recent years has shattered the myth that bullying is just a schoolyard ritual about which nothing can be done. Bullying has serious consequences, not only for victims and perpetrators but also for the safety within our nation's schools. In the most extensive analysis to date of school shootings in the United States, the Secret Service found that over two thirds of those students who had engaged in a shooting viewed their act as revenge for continuing and long-term harassment and intimidation by peers (Vossekuil, Fein, Reddy, Borum, & Modzeleski, 2ooz).

The experience of being harassed appears to have important effects on both the short- and long-term adjustment of victims and perpetrators. Victims report feelings of vengefulness, anger, and self-pity after a bullying incident. Left untreated, these reactions can lead to feelings of rejection and loneliness, depression, physical illness, and even suicide.

The effects are no less important for relational aggression. Boys report more feelings of peer rejection and loneliness. Girls report feeling less peer acceptance, more rejection, and more impulsive behaviors.

In addition, students who engage in aggressive and bullying behaviors during their school years are more likely to engage in criminal activities and aggressive behavior after adolescence. In classrooms where there are high numbers of bullying problems, students tend to feel less safe and are less satisfied with school life in general.

Intervention

Typical reactions to bullying. Despite these serious effects, bullying is very often tolerated and ignored by school personnel. Teachers appear to detect only a small number of bullying incidents, and intervene in only a small percentage of those incidents. The highest estimates show teachers intervening in only a quarter of bullying incidents; others estimate that teacher intervention occurs fewer than 5% of the time.

Students are even less likely than teachers to intervene in harassment, and this may be due to widely held attitudes among students about bullying. Students interviewed about bullying say that bullied students are at least partly to blame for their victimization, that bullying makes the victims tougher, and that teasing is simply done in fun. It is also true that students do not intervene because they are afraid of becoming targets themselves.

Preventing and reducing bullying. In many schools, intervention consists of little more than an administrator talking with the bully, the victim, or both. This does not appear to be sufficient to reduce overall bullying behavior.

The most effective bullying prevention programs are comprehensive in scope, addressing harassment at all levels: school-wide (e.g., formulating and publicizing new school policy, school assemblies), classroom (e.g., class discussions, enforcing classroom rules against bullying), and individual (e.g., individual and family counseling). These programs have been implemented and evaluated in many countries, and the results have been encouraging.

Other promising interventions include assertiveness training for the victims, family counseling for the bully's family, and the Shared Concern method, in which the bully and victim are brought together to resolve the problem.

Effective programs have two key components required for success: increasing awareness and adult in­volvement. School staff and parents must become aware of the extent of bully/victim problems in their own school to create a school climate that discourages bullying. Reducing peer harassment also requires a commitment on the part of all adults in the school community that bullying is not acceptable behavior among students and should be reduced or eliminated. Program coordination and awareness building. ALL bullying prevention programs recommend designating a coordinator of bullying prevention activities and convening a bullying prevention committee at the school level that will consist of teachers, administrators, students, and parents. The typical first step for the committee is to assess the extent of the problem by administering an anonymous student survey. These surveys are readily available as part of most bullying prevention programs (see "Resources" below). By increasing student and staff awareness, the school can create increased awareness about the extent of bullying and the need to address it. By using the data from the survey committee members can identify the program that is right for their school and then acquire the needed materials for implementation.

Training. The amount of training time necessary for school staff depends on the scope of an individual school's program. Most bullying prevention programs recommend a half day to one-day training session for all staff members. A new school-wide policy regarding bullying behavior and expectations of staff and students should be developed and presented as part of the staff training. Brief follow-up meetings can be held when necessary to address difficulties that may emerge and to provide continuing support and education.

Components of effective programs. Effective prevention programs rely on a number of components to reduce and prevent bullying problems while developing an environment characterized by warmth and positive.

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adult involvement. These components include improved supervision, classroom rules against bullying, positive and negative consequences for following and violating rules, and serious talks with the bullies and victims. Other aspects of effective programs include a school conference day to discuss bullying, meetings with parents of bullies and victims, and regular classroom meetings along with buttons, posters, and mailings to maintain awareness and student interest in the program. At the elementary level, worksheets, role plays, and relevant literature may be incorporated into existing curricula. Such activities send the message that Bullying is not accepted in our school, and we will see to it that it comes to an end.

Evaluating bullying prevention. It is important to evaluate the effects of a bullying prevention program to determine how well it is working. Questionnaires,

surveys, and checklists are easily assessable (see "Resources") and can be used by school administrators or the bullying prevention committee to measure the effectiveness of the program, identify problem areas, and fine tune policies and procedures. Other methods of evaluation include open-ended interviews with students, analyzing attendance records, and tracking documented incidents and behavioral reports. Collecting and sharing ongoing data with teachers and students encourages staff to continue to follow through on stricter bullying policies.

Outcomes of bullying prevention programs. Extensive research has shown that well-designed bullying prevention programs can reduce, eliminate, and prevent bully/victim problems, and significantly improve overall school climate. In the year following implement­ation of a comprehensive intervention program, Daniel Olweus and colleagues reported a 50% decrease in the numbers of bullying incidents and reductions in the intensity of bullying and the number of new victims. In addition, fighting, vandalism, and truancy all decreased, while general student satisfaction with school increased.

By using a similar whole-school approach, the Sheffield Anti-Bullying Project found that, as victims became more likely to report harassment, there was a decrease over time in both the number of students bullied and the number of identified bullies in partici­pating schools. The Safer Schools-Safer Cities Project, using a community-wide violence reduction program, reported significant reductions in the Levels of bullying over a 2-year period in g out of 14 participating schools.

Conclusion

Bullying is a serious matter involving a substantial number of students. Most bullying occurrences are undetected or ignored, leading to detrimental effects for

victims, bullies, and school climate. Yet given the widespread prevalence of bullying, and the potentially deadly consequences of allowing peer harassment in schools, schools today are beginning to take action to prevent peer harassment.

Wett-conducted, comprehensive bullying prevention programs can be effective in reducing the number of bullying incidents and creating a climate thatdiscourages bullying behavior.

Resources

Atlas, R. S., & Pepler, D. J. (igg8). Observations of bullying in the classroom. journal of Educational Research, 92, 86-6g.

Borg, M. G. (lgg8). The emotional reactions of school bullies and their victims. Educational Psychology, 18,433^-444.

Craig, W. M., & Pepler, D. J. 1999 Observations of bullying and victimization in the school yard. Canadian Journal of School Psychology 13, 41-60. Crick, N. R., & Bigbee, M. A. 1998 Relational and overt forms of peer victimization: A multi-informant approach. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 66, 337^-347.

Elsea, M., & Smith, P. K. 1998 The long-term effectiveness of anti-bullying work in primary schools. Educational Research, 40, 203-218. Nansel, T. R., Overpeck, M., Pilla, R. S., Ruan, W. J., Simons-Morton, B., & Scheidt, P. (2001). Bullying behaviors among U.S. youth: Prevalence and

association with psychosocial adjustment. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285, 2094-2100 Olweus, D., & Limber, S. 1999 Bullying prevention program. In D. S. Elliot (Ed.), Blueprintsfor violence prevention (vol. g). Denver: C&M Press. Available: www.co(orado.edu/cspv/pub(ications/b(ueprints/ BP-009.htm

Smith, P. K., & Brain, P. (2000). Bullying in schools: Lessons from two decades of research. Aggressive Behavior, 26, 1-9.

Vossekuil, B., Fein, R. A., Reddy, M., Borum, R., & Modzeleski, W. (2002). Final report and findings of the Safe Schools Initiative: Implications for the prevention of school attacks in the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education.

Websites

Committee for Child ren-www.cfchi(dren.org/bu((y.htm( Provides information on bullying and bullying prevention.

Safe and Responsive Schools: Indiana-www.indiana.edu/-safeschl/resources bullying.htmL; Nebraska-www.unl.edu/srs/links.htm(

Provides listings of resources and links on bullying prevention and other topics related to school violence prevention.

and realities of schoolyard bullying and changing attitudes about its seriousness. Examines the characteristics of bullies and victims, and provides strategies for educators, parents, and students to better prevent and respond to schoolyard bullying.

Russell Skiba, PhD, is on the faculty of the school psychology program at Indiana University and is Co­Director of the Safe and Responsive Schools Project.

Programs

Olweus, D., & Limber, S. (1999). Blueprint for Violence Prevention: Bullying Prevention Program (Book g). Boulder: University of Colorado, Center for School Violence Prevention. Ordering information: www.Colorado.EDU/cspv/b(ueprints/order/order.htm Provides empirical evidence on its effectiveness and timelines for implementation and includes program evaluation procedures. Supplemental lesson plans for the Bullying Prevention Program (targeted at middle school students) may be obtained at nominal cost by contacting Dr. Susan Limber, Institute for Families in Society, University of South Carolina, Carolina Plaza, Columbia, SC 29208. Phone: (803) 777^-152g; fax: (803) 777-1120.

Hoover, J. H., & Oliver, R. (l996). The Bully Prevention Handbook: A Guide for Principals, Teachers, and Counselors. Bloomington, IN: National Education Service. Ordering information: Phone: (888) 763­9045 or (812) 336^-7700; fax: (812) 336^-7790; www.nesonline.com/new/bu((yingbook.htm( Provides instructions, materials, evaluation tools, and checklists.

Garrity, C., Jens, K., Porter, W., Sager, N., & Short­Camilli, C. (l994). Bully Proofing Your School: A Comprehensive Approach for Elementary Schools. Longmont, CO: Sopris West. Ordering information: Phone: (303) 651-2829; fax: (303) 776^-5934; www.sopriswest.com