Bullying:

1
Bullying What We Know and Can Do Stuart
Green, DMH, LCSW Behavioral Scientist, Overlook
Hospital/Atlantic Health Associate Director,
Overlook Family Medicine NJ Coalition for
Bullying Awareness and Prevention www.njbullying.o
rg
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• Key Points
• Bullying is the most common form of violence in
  children
• Bullying is a serious problem typically a
  traumatic experience with lasting effects.
• Bullying is primarily an ecological/institutional
  problem, related more to characteristics of the
  social environment than to the characteristics of
  individual participants.
• 4. Institutions can effectively prevent and
  address bullying.
• 5. Addressing bullying and especially
  preventing bullying requires assessing and
  changing the culture/climate of the institution.
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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Olweus
4
Traditional view 'boys will be boys', 'girls are
mean' its a dog-eat-dog world life is cruel
rite of passage people are like that you
have to get tough competition builds character
you can handle it life isnt always fair
inevitable, the nature of children/people, growth
experience, strengthening S. Green,
www.njbullying.org
5

• Modern view bullying is created
• (by)
• modeling of bullying behavior
• acceptance of bullying as normal
• inaction when bullying occurs
• exposing persons to social systems in which
  bullying is rewarded or implicitly accepted.
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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• DEFINITION OF BULLYING
• A person is being bullied when
• he or she is exposed repeatedly to negative acts
  by a peer or peers
• there is intent to harm
• there is an imbalance of power so that the
  person who is being bullied has a difficult time
  defending himself or herself.
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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• Bullying may involve either
• direct actions (e.g., hitting, name-calling,
  texting)
• indirect actions (e.g., avoiding, social
  exclusion, spreading rumors, texting others,
  altering a website)
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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Teasing/Normal Conflict Bullying
Variability in roles (negative acts in both directions) Always the same target
Primary goal is not to harm. Intent to harm
Playful or limited in extent, because participants equal in power Harmful, directed at vulnerabilities, negative acts increase with targets distress
Relationship valued for mutual benefit, concern for other Seeking power, control or material gain as primary motive for relationship
Remorseful, takes responsibility, makes effort to address problem No remorse, blames victim, discounts targets point of view

Modified from schwablearning.org orig. Bullying at School, D. Olweus





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• Prevalence
• most common serious problem of the school-age
  child, and common in involuntary institutional
  settings and among adults
• wide world occurrence
• middle school years peak period (adult settings
  less studied)
• impact 100
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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2006
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• All persons affected (the Bullying Circle)
• as bullying or bullied
• as bystanders (active, passive, activated)
• feel afraid, powerless, guilty, diminished
  empathy
• tension, numbing, fears of openness and
  self-expression
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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• Gender differences
• males more likely to bully (males, females)
• males more likely to be bullied by males than
  females.
• in females, 'relational aggression' more common
  (manipulating relationships for negative effects
  on a peer) (males also engage in this)
• female victimization more likely to persist,
  perhaps more harmful effects
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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• Those who bully are more likely to
• use alcohol, tobacco and other drugs
• have lower academic or workplace achievement
• have aggressive and anti-social behavior,
  including criminality
• be less empathic and more impulsive
• have individual or family problems
• have authoritarian parents/family backgrounds
• BUT
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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• But most persons who bully
• have good self-esteem
• adequate academic and work performance
• good social skills
• and are often popular
• Bully/Victims
• A small number of children both bully and are
  bullied
• And tend to have more problems
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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Characteristics targeted for bullying 1.
looks (e.g., obesity/shortness/) 2. race 3.
gender identify and expression 4. poverty
(family income) 5. religion 6. disability
(e.g., learning differences, special health
needs) 7. other characteristics (shyness,
emotional expressiveness, less strength/athleticis
m, family conflict) Stan Davis, Charisse Nixon,
Youth Voices Project, Spring 2010 Any perceived
difference. Any child may be bullied. S. Green,
www.njbullying.org
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• Evidence that being bullied is harmful
• increases suffering (decreases quality of life)
• problems may not have developed or developed as
  severely
• indicates other serious problems are present
• academic performance, abdominal pain, alcohol/
  tobacco and other drug use, animal abuse,
  anxiety, Asperger's (and other PDD), body
  dysmorphic disorder, cancer-related quality of
  life, cleft lip and palate, binge eating
  disorder, depression, depression, poor diabetes
  self-management, encopresis, engagement in
  school, illness complaints, lack of help-seeking
  and self-identification of problems, learning
  differences, low self-esteem, obesity, suicide,
  stuttering, Tourettes, weapon-carrying and school
  shootings
• HARM SPECULATIONSteen pregnancy as a
  'side-effect (Garbarino)
• xenophobia ('white flight)
• inhibited adult-risk-taking
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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• Strategies summary
• accessing support from peers and adults the most
  helpful strategy
• actions victimized youth are often advised by
  adults to use (e.g., tell the person how you
  feel) make things worse much more often than
  they make things better
• telling an adult at school makes things better
  only slightly more often than making things worse
• youth in special education, youth of color
  (except for Asian American) and males told not to
  tattle twice as often
• Stan Davis, Charisse Nixon, Youth Voices Project,
  Spring 2010

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• WHAT TO DO
• Dan Olweus (Whole School Model)
• school the most common site
• change the culture of schools
• adult-initiated and led (involve children)
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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• What Schools Can Do
• Strengthen School Culture and Climate
• positive relations and shared understanding
  between staff
• increase positive staff-student interactions
• welcoming students to school
• support diversity
• character education (social-emotional learning)
• clear/consensus expectations ('how we do things
  here')
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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• Bullying Prevention Program
• School-Wide
• Administrative support
• Coordinating group/staff discussions/training
• Surveys, reporting system, multiple assessments
• Proactive effort to identify all
  incidents/relationships
• Supervise high-risk areas (schoolyard, lunchroom,
  school bus, team activities, locker room,
  cyberspace)
• Consistent rules and sanctions
• (well-known to students, staff, parents,
  community)
• Proactively identifying aggressive and vulnerable
  groups, proactive education, strengthening
  support
• Activate peer bystanders (upstanders)

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Bullying Prevention Program Classroom Clear,
consistent rules Regular meetings Collaborative
learning (jigsaw Aronson) Curriculum
integration (all subjects) Proactive work on
relationships Parent involvement S. Green,
www.njbullying.org
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Bullying Prevention Program Individual Proactive
information-gathering on vulnerability and
relations Meeting with each child bullied and
parent (regret/apology, take responsibility,
absolve) Meeting with each child who bullied (4
questions what you did, harm it did, your
problem, next time?) and call parent Consequences
(reasonable, invariable, escalating) for the
bullying child. Assure and arrange increased
support for the bullied child. Active monitoring
after incidents to ensure the bullied childs
safety. S. Green, www.njbullying.org
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• Key adult actions
• statements, rules, modeling and consequences
  which clearly convey to children, especially at
  school, that bullying is wrong, and that
  alternative behaviors are noticed and rewarded
• an atmosphere of warmth, acceptance and support
  for diverse individual strengths.
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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• Systemic approach works
• reduces bullying incidents dramatically in 1st
  year
• improvements in subsequent years, if ongoing
• shown to reduce bullying substantially in
  well-done intervention studies in many different
  countries, including the U.S.
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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Be clear about what doesnt work Zero tolerance
or 3 strikes Social skills training/psychothera
py as primary modalities Peer mediation and
conflict resolution One-shot (e.g., assemblies)
or short-term interventions S. Green,
www.njbullying.org
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What can parents do about bullying? (1)

• Good relations/communication with children.
• Inform yourself.
• Expect/ ask/ demand adequate school action.
• Expect/ ask/ demand that owners of social
  networking sites and internet providers address
  bullying.
• Ask your child how children treat other
  children at school (and how your child is
  treated) listening is more important than
  advice.
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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What can parents do about bullying? (2)

• When you hear children speak badly of another
  child, gently express discomfort, and empathy
  for the scorned child.
• Be present at your child's school don't wait to
  be invited, ask to volunteer.
• Take action with other concerned parents.
• Meet (as a group) with school leaders ask
  specifically about schools approach.
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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What can parents do about bullying? (3)

• Never ignore bullying, don't walk by if you
  can't intervene directly, report it.
• Support bullied kids in every possible way.
• Seek legal advice and government support.
• Don't accept leaders who bully, including
  teachers speak out, insist on change.
• Consider changing schools, if possible, as a
  last resort.
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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What Can Counselors Do?

• Screen for bullying involvement, consider
  bullying as a factor or even cause of presenting
  problems.
• Proactive identification of at-risk children,
  creative support through school culture and
  preventive counseling.
• Call on the school for corrective action,
  emphasize support for child/family.
• Have a bullying-aware office/school.
• Address negative leaders.
• Creatively support at-risk kids.
• As community leaders, expect schools to address
  bullying, raise parental expectations.
• Be clear about what works and doesnt work
• S. Green, www.njbullying.org

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There is powerful evidence that school climate
affects students self-esteem and self-concept.
School climate also colors school-based
risk-prevention efforts. Effective
risk-prevention and health-promotion efforts are
correlated with a nurturing school climate. It
also promotes academic achievement. As a result
of these findings, fostering socially,
emotionally, and physically safer schools has
become a primary focus of the U.S. Department of
Justice and virtually all state education
departments. Cohen, J. (2006). Social,
Emotional, Ethical, and Academic Education
Creating a Climate for Learning, Participation
in Democracy, and Well-Being. Harvard
Educational Review, 76 (2), 201-237.
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OLWEUS Our moral obligation to help bullied
children.

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• NJ Coalition for Bullying Awareness and
  Prevention
• www.njbullying.org, [phone]
• Stan Davis Schools Where Everyone Belongs
  www.stopbullyingnow.com)
• www.bullyinginfo.gov
• www.stopbullyingnow.org (HRSA)
• www.cyberbullying.us