How to Help a Bully: Strategies for Counseling the Proactive Aggressor

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How to Help a Bully Strategies for
Counseling the Proactive Aggressor

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Bullying

• The actual or attempted infliction of injury or
  discomfort by one student on another student that
  is intentional, abusive, and based on an
  imbalance of power between bully Victim (Cleary
  Sullivan, 2004).

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Current Scope
-- Occurs daily in 1/3 of U.S. public schools
(Hall, 2006) -- Over half of todays
students will be bullied during their
education (Sanders, 2004) -- One in five
students grades 6-10 admit bullying their
classmates (Cole, Cornell, Sheras, 2006) --
School climates have been dramatically
altered by the actions of bullies (Hall, 2006)
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Impact

• Victims restricted learning, physical injury,
  
• increased absenteeism, lowered
  self-
• esteem, etc. (Limber, 2006)
• Bystanders fear of victimization, guilt for not
  helping victims, peer ridicule for
• snitching (Clark, 2002)
• Bullies risk of escalation, further emotional
• injury, punishment

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Prognosis for Bullies

• --Middle school students who bully are up to four
  times more likely to be involved in later
  criminal activity than those who do not
  (Cole et al., 2006)
• --Left unchecked, bullying attitudes and
  behaviors become
• 1. more serious
• 2. more difficult to prevent
• 3. more likely to be carried into adulthood
• (McAdams Lambie, 2003)

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Current Responses

• --Serious incidents national emphasis on
• bullying prevention (Pichler, Urban
  Bockewitz, 2006)
• --Have resulted in
• 1. more accurate identification
• 2. more frequent reporting
• 3. more severe punishment (Davis, 2006)
• --Have not resulted in standards of best
• practice for addressing the bullys
• aggression (McAdams Schmidt, In Press)

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Reactive v. Proactive Aggression
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Their Antecedents
Reactive generalized anger and insecurity from
perceived past rejections have rendered them
vulnerable to excessive and forceful responses to
minor stressors (Vitaro, Brendgen,
Tremblay, 2002) Proactive perceived absence of
sufficient affirmation from caregivers has
resulted in an internalized need for affirmation
that is derived from their ability to succeed
without and often at the expense of
others (Arsenio Lemerise,
2004)

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A Behavioral Profile

• --Rational excuses for why their aggression was
  justified
• --Verbal proficiency in defending their
  self-supporting logic
• --Emotional control including pressing sensitive
  buttons and
• 
  displaying false emotions
• --Patronization to win favor of those who enhance
  or stand in the
• way of
  personal gain
• --Calculation of times when aggression is least
  likely to be
• recognized
  and deterred

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Goals of Intervention

• --Optimal Empathy development for the
  proactive aggressor to develop a level of empathy
  that restricts his or her willingness to hurt
  others for personal gain
• --Immediate Cessation of aggression
• for the cost aggression to be greater than its
  rewards
• for the aggressor to discover and adopt less
  costly, pro-social, means of affirmation

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To Address Immediate Goals

• Ensure clear behavioral expectations that are
  free from loopholes or ambiguity
• Bullying behavior must be explicitly defined
• There must be no loopholes by which the bully can
  avoid responsibility for violations
• The consequences for violations must consistently
  outweigh the rewards

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• Avoid debates an arguments
• Violations should be determined on the basis of
  direct observation or reasonable suspicion
• Once violation is determined, hold firm to
  consequences, as any compromise may be seen by
  the aggressor as an endorsement of his or her
  control
• Processing for new understanding should occur
  only after the aggressor has complied with
  behavioral directives

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• Avoid repetitious or standardized responses
• Assess each aggressors view of behavioral cost
  and reward
• Determine consequences for aggressive behavior to
  ensure adequate disciplinary currency (James,
  1995)

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• Reinforce positive achievementsbut cautiously
• All students must have opportunities for success
  and self-esteem building
• However, proactive aggressors may have achieved
  success at other expense
• Eliminate all doubt of coercion before
  reinforcing the proactive aggressors achievement
  in the presence of other students who may have
  been victimized

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• Dont let your guard down
• The proactive aggressors behavior is
  internalized--it should be anticipated
• Even the most comprehensive behavioral standards
  will be compromised if not carefully monitored
• Maintining an air of suspicion with known of
  suspected bullies may be unpleasant, but it is
  necessary

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• Focus on feelings rather than facts
• Feelings are an area where proactive aggressors
  may be less experienced, less in control, and
  more vulnerable to suggestion
• There is no rational standard for arguing the
  rightness or wrongness of feelings
• There may be consequences when others feel
  victimized regardless of whether bullying can be
  proven beyond dispute

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To Address Optimal Goal

• There must be coordinated and collaborative
• efforts involving schools, families, and
• communities to promote developmental
• change in children who lack concern for others
• (i.e., a conscience) in their actions.
• (McAdams Schmidt, in press)

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Final Thoughts

• --There are no pure reactive or proactive
• aggressors
• --Failure to address the unique motivations of
• proactive aggressors can limit intervention
• effectiveness and even empower them
• --Working with proactive aggressors requires
• an understanding of the relationship between
• firmness and caring.

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References

• McAdams, C. R. Schmidt, Christopher D. (In
  Press). How to help a bully Strategies for
  counseling the proactive aggressor. Professional
  School Counseling, Spring, 2008
• Slides from this presentation can be
• obtained by contacting me at
• crmcad_at_wm.edu