Bullying Today: What To Do About It

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Bullying Today What To Do About It

• John Rosiak
• Childrens Initiatives TeamNational Crime
  Prevention Council1000 Connecticut Ave NW
• 13th FloorWashington, DC 20036202-466-6272
• www.weprevent.orgwww.mcgruff.org

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Welcome Introduction
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Who Are You?

• Where are you from?

• Why are you here?

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QUIZ
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Bullying Today Overview

• What is Bullying?
• Who Does It?
• What are the Effects of Bullying?
• What to Do About It?

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Action Items
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Action Items

• Make Them
• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-Dimensional

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Example

• I will copy the Dear Parent letter from
  Helping Kids Handle Conflict and send it home
  with the children during the July summer camp
  program at the Rec Center.

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Processing Your Experiences With Bullies
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What is Bullying?
? ? ? ? ?
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What is Bullying?

• An imbalance of both power and victimization
• Repeated and systematic harassment and attacks on
  others
• Perpetrated by individuals or groups
• Widmeyer Communications Environmental Scan for
  the National Bullying Prevention Campaign, 2002

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What is Bullying?Takes many forms

• -Physical violence
• -Verbal taunts, name-calling, and put-downs
• -Threats and intimidation
• -Extortion or stealing of money and possessions
• -Exclusion from the peer group
• -Technological harassment (via email, text
  messaging, etc.)
• Source London Family Court Clinic, London,
• Ontario, Canada

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Who Bullies?

• Someone who
• Wants power
• Is willing to use others to get what he wants
• Is concerned with his own desires rather than
  thinking about anyone else
• Finds it difficult to see things from someone
  elses perspective
• Can come from any economic, cultural, religious
  background.
• Is often in middle school grades.

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Who Bullies?(cont.)

• Someone who
• Has average/above average self-esteem
• Has a positive attitude toward violence
• A quick temper and difficulty conforming to rules
• Gains satisfaction from inflicting injury and
  perceives rewards (prestige, etc.) from their
  behavior
• Source Widmeyer Communications Environmental
  Scan for the National Bullying Prevention
  Campaign, 2002

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According to Kids, Who Bullies?

• Someone who 
• is bigger/older than me 
• picks on me 
• pushes me around
• Source NCPCs Talks with Kids

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Who Bullies?

• Do boys and girls bully the same way?

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Role Play

• How Do Boys Bully?

How Do Girls Bully?
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Boys usually

• Intimidate
• Extort
• Attack physically or verbally

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Girls usually

• Exclude socially
• Manipulate
• Spread rumors
• Set up a victim to look stupid

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Girls and Bullying

• Relational bullying is easy to overlook by
  design. Girl aggression is covertIts easy to
  ignore.
• Source Susan Wellman,
• Founder of the Ophelia Project

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Girls and Bullying

• Girls usually become more involved in this type
  of social bullying, or relational aggression,
  in middle school and continue through high
  school.
• Source University of Nevada Reno,
• Cooperative Extension

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Girls

• Seem to be more physical (12 in Tx)
• May try to be one of the boys in their displays
  of aggression if social manipulation doesnt
  benefit them.
• Source Kenneth Goldberg, Executive Director of
  the
• Earlscourt Child and Family Centre, Ottowa

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As viewed by their peers

• Boys who bully are often popular among their
  peers
• Girls who are disruptive and physically
  aggressive rank near the bottom of the social
  pecking order

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Boys aggression/Girls passivity

• Passivity is much more socially acceptable in
  girls than in boys.
• Aggression is less acceptable in girls.

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Boys aggression/Girls passivity

• The consequences of being aggressive and
  disruptive are much more negative for girls than
  for boys.
• This may explain why girls learn to be covert in
  their aggression.
• Source Laura Hess, Purdue University

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Girls Boys the Similarities

• Direct physical bullying declines with age while
  verbal abuse remains constant.1
• Both use bullying as a strategy to gain dominance
  in new peer groups, perhaps due to times of
  transition.2
• Sources 1.University of Nevada Reno,
  Cooperative Extension,
• 2. Dr. Anthony Pellegrini, Ph.D., Univ. of
  Minnesota

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Who Is Bullied?

• Often it is kids that are stand out as
  different in some way due to
• Appearance (weight, clothes, disability, etc.)
• Sexual orientation
• Intellect
• Socio-economic background
• Cultural background

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Who Is Bullied (cont.)

• National Mental Health Assoc. states that
  students labeled as gay (whether perception or
  fact) are the population most likely to be
  targeted
• 90 of students say they hear gay epithets
  regularly

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What Are the Effects of Bullying?

• Academic
• Behavioral
• Emotional
• School Violence

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Bullying Can Lead To

• Shyness
• Low self-esteem
• Poor academic achievement 

• Isolation
• Depression
• Threatened or attempted suicide

• Source London Family Court Clinic, London,
  Ontario, Canada

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Stats Bullying and School Violence

• Almost three-fourths of attackers felt
  persecuted, bullied, threatened prior to
  engaging in an incident of school violence. 1
• Students in grades 7-12 say revenge is the
  strongest motivation for school shootings- 86
  percent said "other kids picking on them, making
  fun of them or bullying them" causes teenagers to
  turn to lethal violence in the schools. 2
• 1. U.S. Secret Service and Department of
  Education. (May 2002). The Final Report and
  Findings of the Safe School Initiative
  Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks
  in The U.S.
• 2. Cerio, Ph.D., Jay, Edward Gaughan, Ph.D.,
  Robert Myers, Ph.D. Lethal Violence In Schools
  A National Study, Final Report. Alfred
  University Alfred, NY. 2001.

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Stats Bullying and School Violence

• Bullying is probably the most frequently
  occurring form of violence in American schools
  today and its really the engine thats driving
  the majority of violence. Its a huge problem.
• Source Glenn Stutzky, School Violence
  Specialist, Michigan State University

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What to Do About It?

• Take the problem seriously
• Learn to identify potential bullies
• Learn to identify potential victims
• Learn to identify and address risk factors
• Support prevention programs

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Taking the Problem Seriously A Few Stats About
Kids and Bullies

• More than of middle school students
  (grades 6-8) have threatened to harm another
  student.
• One in every middle school students
  has been regularly harassed or attacked by a
  bully, twice the rate for high school students.
• The National Association of School Psychologists
  estimates that every day
• children miss school because
  of fear of bullying.

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A Few Stats Kids and Bullies

• More than of middle school students
  (grades 6-8) have threatened to harm another
  student.
• One in every middle school students
  has been regularly harassed or attacked by a
  bully, twice the rate for high school students.
• The National Association of School Psychologists
  estimates that every day
• children miss school because
  of fear of bullying.

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eight
160,000
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More Stats Kids and Bullies

• of parents see bullying as no problem
  even though recent studies show that as many as
  75 of children have been victims of bullying.
• Children who are bullies by age eight have a one
  in chance of having a criminal record
  by age thirty.

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More Stats Kids and Bullies

• of parents see bullying as no problem
  even though recent studies show that as many as
  75 of children have been victims of bullying.
• Children who are bullies by age eight have a one
  in chance of having a criminal record
  by age thirty.

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four
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Stats Youth and Bullies

• Nearly ____ of teens (12-17 y.o.) witness at
  least one bullying or taunting incident in school
  every day.
• About ____ of teens witness bullying or
  taunting at school at least once a week.

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Stats Youth and Bullies
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• Nearly ____ of teens (12-17 y.o.) witness at
  least one bullying or taunting incident in school
  every day.
• About ____ of teens witness bullying or
  taunting at school at least once a week.

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Reactions of Victims

• Surveyed children grades 5-12 say they are more
  fearful of emotional abuse than physical
  bullying.
• Two-thirds of kids surveyed said they had been
  teased or gossiped about in a mean way in the
  past month.
• Source CNN.com - What Are Kids Saying About
  Violence? - July 30, 2002

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What are some local statistics?
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Identifying Bullies
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Bullies Have Many FacesExtrovert Bullies

• Are outgoing, aggressive, and active
• Use force to get their way
• Are angry and mean on the surface
• Have feelings of inferiority and insecurity

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Bullies Have Many FacesExtrovert Bullies

• Rebel to achieve a feeling of superiority and
  security
• Reject rules
• Source Helping Kids Handle Conflict, NCPC

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Bullies Have Many Faces Introvert Bullies

• Are reluctant to rebel
• May not want to be recognized
• Conform to society
• Control by smooth-talking, saying the right
  thing, lying, just to get their way

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Bullies Have Many Faces Introvert Bullies (cont.)

• Deceive others into thinking they mean well
• Try to be the teachers pet
• Get their power through cunning, manipulation,
  and deception
• Source Helping Kids Handle Conflict, NCPC

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Identifying Victims

• Signs of Being Bullied
• Children may
• Be afraid of walking to or from school
• Change their usual route
• Not want to go on the school bus
• Ask you to drive them to school

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Possible Signs of Being Bullied

• Children may (cont.)
• Feel ill in the mornings
• Not want to go to school (you have to)
• Begin doing poorly in school
• Come home with clothes or other items destroyed

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Possible Signs of Being Bullied

• Children may (cont.)
• Need more money than usual/losing money regularly
• Have possessions go missing
• Have unexplained bruises, scratches, or cuts
• Begin to bully other children or siblings

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Possible Signs of Being Bullied

• Children may (cont.)
• Have nightmares
• Become withdrawn
• Become aggressive and unreasonable
• Become anxious or distressed
• Attempt or threaten suicide

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Risk Factors for Bullying Peers

• Individual
• Family
• Peer
• School/Community

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Relation to Drug and Violence Risk Factors

•  Many of the factors that put a child at risk
  for bullying are the same factors that put a
  child at risk of drug use, violence, and/or other
  delinquent behavior. If we address the risk
  factors for bullying we will also address risk
  factors for these problems.

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Individual Risk Factors for Bullying

• Active, impulsive, and hot-tempered
• Dominating personality
• Lack of empathy
• Difficulty conforming to rules

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Individual Risk Factors (cont.)

• Low tolerance for frustration
• Positive attitudes toward violence
• Physical strength (for boys)
• Decreasing interest in school

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Family Risk Factors

• Lack of parental warmth and attention
• Lack of parental supervision
• Overly-permissive parenting
• Modeling of and tolerance for harsh
  discipline/physical punishment

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Peer Risk Factors

• Friends/peers with positive or indifferent
  attitudes toward violence
• Exposure to models of bullying

School/Community Factors

• Lack of supervision in the hallways, lunchroom,
  and/or playground
• Staff have indifferent or accepting attitudes
  towards bullying

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Risk Factors for Being Bullied

• Individual
• Family
• Peer
• School/Community

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Individual Risk Factors for Being Bullied

• Cautious, sensitive, and insecure
• Difficulty asserting themselves among peers
• Lack of self-confidence
• Physical weakness (boys)

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Family Factors

• Overprotection by parents
• Lack of parental supervision
• Overly-permissive parenting
• Modeling of tolerance for harsh
  discipline/physical punishment
•  

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Peer Risk Factors

• Lack of close friends
• Peers have indifferent or accepting attitudes
  toward bullying

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School/Community Factors

• Presence of aggressive students in same or
  slightly higher grade
• Lack of supervision during breaks
• Staff have indifferent or accepting attitudes or
  towards bullying

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What To Do About Bullying

• Theory Application

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Prevention Programming
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Goals of Bullying Prevention Programs

• Reduce bully/victim problems among children
• Prevent development of new bully/victim problems
• Achieve better peer relations

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Goals of Bullying Prevention Programs

• Create conditions that make it possible for all
  children to get along and function better in/out
  of the school setting
• Source Susan P. Limber, PhD, Institute on Family
  and Neighborhood Life, Clemson University

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Bullying Prevention Program Elements

• Establish an environment that
• Is warm
• Is positive
• Has firm limits to unacceptable behavior

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Bullying Prevention Program Elements

• Establish an environment that
• Practices non-hostile, nonphysical sanctions
  consistently applied when behavior is
  unacceptable
• Has adults actively involved as authorities and
  positive role models

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Bullying Prevention Programs

• Its Important to
• Commit to a program for the long-term in order to
  change behavioral norms
• Also use positive consequences to reinforces
  good behavior
• Source Widmeyer Communications Environmental
  Scan for the National Bullying Prevention
  Campaign, 2002

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Crime Prevention Involves

• Lots of people
• Doing lots of things
• Over time

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We All Have To Be There For Our Kids
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Kids Shouldnt Have to Deal With Bullying By
Themselves
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Bullying Prevention Program

• Elements Include
• Individual intervention
• Parental intervention
• Classroom interventions
• School-wide interventions
• Community interventions

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Different Ways Kids Can Deal with Bullies

• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?

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What Children Can Do

• Tell an adult
• Talk it out
• Walk away with your head held high
• Hang with friends
• Avoid the bully
• Dont be a bully
• Stick up for others who are bullied

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Dealing with a Bully

• Role play the bully
• Role play the victim
• Role play the witnesses/bystanders

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Tattling vs. Telling

• Important
• Harmful or dangerous (physically or
  psychologically)
• Need help from an adult to solve
• Purpose is to keep people safe
• Behavior is purposeful

• Unimportant
• Harmless
• Can handle by self
• Purpose is to get someone in trouble
• Behavior is accidental

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Examples of Tattling vs. Telling
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Strategies for Bystanders

• Normalize fears and worries
• Emphasize strength in numbers
• Communicate the expectation to take action
• Teach skills and strategies to take a stand
• Acknowledge and reward caring behaviors
• Source Bully proofing Your School, 2000.

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Examples of Bystanders Getting Involved
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What Parents Can Do

• Take complaints of bullying seriously
• Teach children to be assertive and to stand up
  for themselves verbally, not violently
• Ask children how peers treat them. (Children are
  often ashamed or embarrassed.)

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What Parents Can Do

• Increase positive social opportunities for all
  kids - especially kids who are picked on or
  victimized
• Work with the school to make sure effective
  consequences are applied toward bullies and that
  monitoring at school is adequate
• Suggest the school implement a comprehensive
  anti-bullying program

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Dear Parent

• Send home to parents information about bullying
  today

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What Parents Can DoWhat If Your Child is the
Bully?

• Spend time with your child every day.
• Know where your child is (and with whom).
• Make it clear that you do not tolerate this kind
  of behavior.

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What Parents Can DoWhat If Your Child is the
Bully?

• Arrange for an effective non-violent consequence.
• Work with your childs teacher, school principal,
  or counselor to modify your childs behavior.

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What Teachers/Counselors Can Do

• Ensure that students understand what bullying
  means what behaviors it include and how it
  makes people feel
• Develop and post class rules against bullying
• Use appropriate positive and negative consequences

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What Teachers Can Do

• Encourage students to discuss bullying behavior
  and positive ways to interact with others
• Take immediate action when bullying is witnessed
  or reported

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What Schools Can Do

• Form a Bullying Prevention Committee (include
  students!)
• Administer a bully/victim survey
• (HKHC, p 36)

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What Schools Can Do

• Offer training for all school personnel
• Develop and post school rules against bullying

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What Schools Can Do (cont.)

• Have a specific anti-bullying policy distinct
  from a general behavior management plan.
• Have consistent and immediate consequences for
  aggressive behavior
• Give praise for pro-social and helpful behavior
  by students
•  

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What Schools Can Do (cont.)

• Have better supervision during recess, in the
  lunchroom, and in the hallways
• Involve parents through PTA, home-school, and
  other avenues
• Take the problem seriously and investigate any
  incidents

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What Schools Can Do (cont.)

• Interview bullies/victims/witnesses separately
• Hold serious talks with parents of bullies and
  victims

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Teens-What You Can Do

• Learn the Facts
• Brainstorm What People Can Do
• Decide What To Do
• Journal What You Learned
• Take Action

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Bullying Prevention Programs
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Selected NCPC Resources1-800-NCPC-911

• Helping Kids Handle Conflict
• McGruff Comic-Activity Book Volume III
• Keeping Kids Safe Kit
• www.mcgruff.org
• Community Works Intimidation

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Bully Prevention ProjectSouth Carolina
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Bullyproofing Your School ProgramColorado
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Steps To RespectWashington
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Transition Intervention Program (TIP)Utah
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Preventing BullyingA Manual for Schools and
Communities

• U.S. Department of Education

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Coping with BullyingEuropean Community Violence
in Schools Initiative
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Efforts in Ireland

• In-service for teachers
• Theatre Groups- bullying scenes followed by group
  discussions
• Mentor programs
• Childline- voluntary counseling hotline

• Home/school/community Liaison
• Support Groups
• Anti- Bullying Unit- provides advice, awareness,
  resources, conducts research, offers workshops

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Efforts in Italy

• Teacher trainings
• Survey metro areas to improve distribution of
  in the school system
• Increased family involvement to improve community
  relations between levels

• Human forum- establishing safe place to talk
  with students suffering from malaise
• Develop individual pathways for students so that
  they may develop at their rate with an emphasis
  on their interests

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Efforts in Australia

• Restorative Justice Programs bring together
  offenders and victims in a safe forum for
  conflict resolution
• Responsible Citizenship Program based on RCP
  respect, consideration, and participation.
  Includes student workshop on problem solving and
  conflict resolution.

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Local Resources
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Review

• McGruffs Bully Alert
• New York Sate Center School SafetyCD Rom

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Action Items

• Individual Activity
• Small Group Discussion
• Report Out

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Quiz
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Wrap Up
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Unless someone like you cares a whole awful
lot,nothing is going to get better.Its
not.-Theodore Geisel