The Childhood Bullying/Victimization Experience

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The Childhood Bullying/Victimization Experience
Tom Tarshis M.D., M.P.H. Bay Area Childrens
Association
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Introduction I

• What is bullying?
• Historically Overt aggression (hitting,
  kicking, pushing) in males.
• More recently, recognition of other forms of
  bullying
• Relational aggression harming others through
  purposeful manipulation and damage of peer
  relationships.
• Direct and Indirect Bullying

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Introduction - II

• Quick Definition The systematic abuse of
  power
• Standard definition (3 key criteria)
• The bully exhibits behavior directed towards the
  victim that is designed to hurt, harm, or damage
  the victim physically, socially or emotionally.
• 2) The behavior only occurs when there is an
  imbalance of power between the bully and the
  victim (bully having more)
• 3) The bullying behavior happens repeatedly over
  time

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How do we Measure Bullying?

• Self-Report
• Peer Nomination
• Teacher Report
• Parent Report
• School Reports

Issue in United States Stricter Policy on
Conducting School Research
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Prevalence I

• United States Data
• (Nansel et al, 2001)
• In 1998, Survey completed by 15,686 students
• in 6th through 10th grades
• 29.9 with moderate or frequent involvement in
  bullying
• 13.0 identified as bullies
• 10.6 as victims
• 6.3 both bully and victim
• Weekly involvement
• Bullies 8.8
• Victims 8.4

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Prevalence II International Data
Involvement in bullying more than twice during
the current school term in 25 countries
Nansel, T. R. et al. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med
2004158730-736.
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Prevalence III Younger Children

• N 264, Data collected from 1 public and 1
  private school in CA, 1 public school in AZ
• Grades 3-6, Spring 2004 In the past week..
• Bullied Victimized
• Teased 11.0 34.9
• Push, Hit 7.2 23.9
• Mean Things 11.1 37.1

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Mental Health Correlations - I

• Being Victimized
• Depression
• Generalized Anxiety
• Social Anxiety
• Loneliness
• Low Self-esteem
• Suicidal Ideation

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Mental Health Correlations - II

• Being a Bully
• Depression
• Suicidal Ideation
• ADHD
• Predictive of future
• adult criminal activity

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Mental Health Correlations - III
Younger Kids (4th-6th graders)
N95 Bullies Victims Bully-Victims
Anxiety (MASC) R 0.28 R 0.32 R 0.35
Depression (CDI) R 0.49 R 0.49 R 0.57
P lt 0.01 for all associations
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Interventions I

• True or False

There are over 300 published violence-prevention
school-based programs
True
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Interventions II

• True or False

None of the 300 interventions meet full criteria
for being an effective evidence-based program
True
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Interventions - III

• There are 5 interventions that ALMOST meet
  criteria (possibly efficacious), just lacking
  replication by an independent study group.

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Role of Child Psychiatrist - I

• Rate of Bullying in Child Psychiatry Clinics?
• No data published - Suspect Very High
• What to do when a patient tells you they are
  being bullied?

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Role of Child Psychiatrist - II

• Assessment
• Child Parent School
• Intervention
• Child Parent School

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Take Home Message

• Being a bully or being victimized is associated
  with serious mental health consequences,
  especially for children who are Bully-Victims
• Future research should include finding reliable,
  valid measures of bullying (direct and indirect)
  and victimization and manualized and empirically
  tested school-based interventions.
• We need prospective studies beginning from very
  young (pre-school/kindergarten) ages to track
  patterns of bullying, victimization and mental
  health problems over time

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Resources

• Excellent Website
• www.StopBullyingNow.hrsa.gov

Recent Book Bullying in American Schools Edited
by Dorothy Espelage and Susan Swearer
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• Thank you for your time!