Bullying Among Children

1
Bullying Among Children Youth

• Trinity County Office of Education After School
  Programs
• Gloria Halley, Regional Lead Butte County
  Office of Education

2
Overview of the Workshop

• Participants will
• Understand what bullying behavior is and is not.
• Understand what is known about the nature and
  prevalence of bullying.
• Understand what bullying behavior may look like.
• Explore ideas for responding to bullying.
• Learn how schools/after school programs are
  addressing bullying.

3
Video Dont Laugh at Me http//www.youtube.com/w
atch?vE6lH_SPD2gk
4
Bullying

• Is an aggressive behavior that involves unwanted,
  negative actions that cause harm or distress.
• Involves a pattern of behavior repeated over
  time.
• Occurs where there is a real or perceived
  imbalance of power or strength.

5
Four Types of Bullying
6
Verbal Bullying

• Teasing
• Name calling
• Inappropriate sexual comments
• Taunting
• Threatening to cause harm

7
Social Bullying (Relational Bullying)

• Leaving someone out on purpose
• Telling other children not to be friends with
  someone
• Spreading rumors about someone
• Embarrassing someone in public

8
Physical Bullying

• Hitting, kicking, or punching
• Spitting
• Tripping or Pushing
• Taking or breaking someones things
• Making mean or rude hand gestures

9
Cyber Bullying
Involves the use of email, social network sites,
cell phones, webcams, text messages, internet
sites http//teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video
_id249685titleStudents_Take_on_Cyberbullyingre
fNotinourtown
10
How common is bullying?

• Of students ages 12 through 18 surveyed in the
  200607 school year
• A total of 31.7 percent report being bullied
• Of those, 8 percent say they were bullied on the
  bus

11
Longitudinal Study of Children who Bullied
(Olweus, 1993)

• 60 of boys who were bullies in middle school had
  at least one conviction by age 24.
• 40 had three or more convictions.
• Bullies were 4 times as likely as peers to have
  multiple convictions.

12
Gender Differences in Bullying

• Most studies find that boys bully more than do
  girls
• Boys report being bullied by boys girls report
  being bullied by boys and girls
• Boys are more likely than girls to be physically
  bullied by their peers
• Girls are more likely to be bullied through
  rumor-spreading, sexual comments, social
  exclusion

13
Conditions Surrounding Bullying

• Children usually are bullied by one child or a
  small group
• Common locations playground, classroom,
  lunchroom, halls, bathrooms
• Bullying is more common at school than on the way
  to/from school

14
Effects of Bullying
15
Children Who Bully are More Likely to

• Get into frequent fights
• Be injured in a fight
• Steal and vandalize property
• Drink alcohol and smoke
• Be truant, drop out of school
• Report poorer academic achievement
• Perceive a negative climate at school
• Carry a weapon

16
Children who are bullied have

• Lower self esteem
• Higher rates of depression and other related
  health problems
• Higher absenteeism rates
• More suicidal thoughts

17
Health Consequences of Bullying (Fekkes et al.,
2003)

• Bullied Not bullied
• Headache 16 6
• Sleep problems 42 23
• Abdominal pain 17 9
• Feeling tense 20 9
• Anxiety 28 10
• Feeling unhappy 23 5
• Depression scale
• moderate indication 49 16
• strong indication 16 2

18
Reporting of Bullying to School Staff

• Many do not report being bullied.
• Older children and boys are less likely to report
  victimization.
• Why dont children report?
• 2/3 of victims felt that staff responded poorly
• 6 believed that staff responded very well.
  (Hoover et al., 1992)

19
Kids Who Observe

• What do you usually do when you see a student
  being bullied?
• 38 Nothing, because its none of my business
• 27 I dont do anything, but I think I should
  help
• 35 I try to help him or her

20
What Are Schools Doing To Address Bullying?

• Awareness-raising efforts
• Reporting, tracking
• Zero tolerance (student exclusion)
• Social skills training for victims of bullying
• Individual group treatment for children who
  bully/children who are bullied
• Mediation, conflict resolution programs
• Curricular approaches to bullying prevention
• Comprehensive approaches

21
Common Misdirections in Bullying Prevention and
Intervention

• Zero tolerance (student exclusion)
• Conflict Resolution/Peer Mediation
• Group treatment for children who bully
• Simple, short-term solutions

22
Change in Perspective

• From To
• Bully ? Student who bullies
• Victim ? Student who
• was bullied
• Behavior is a ? Behavior can be
• permanent characteristic replaced or
  changed

23
What works in bullying prevention?

• What is required to reduce bullying in schools is
  nothing less than a change in the school climate
  and in norms for behavior.
• This requires a comprehensive, school-wide effort
  involving the entire school community

24
What DOES Work

1. Ensure a safe and orderly environment school wide
   including the after school program.
2. Enforce your schools Student Code of Conduct.
3. Establish simple guidelines - heres two ideas
   The Five Rs and The Four As

25
What DOES Work

• The Five Rs
• Respond Intervene immediately.
• Research Obtain info from as many sources as
  possible (including bystanders).
• Record Write accurate documentation.
• Report File a formal report guided by your
  schools policies.
• Revisit Follow up with the students involved to
  check how things are going.

26
What DOES Work

• The Four As
• Affirm the young persons feelings.
• Ask questions Who, What, When, Where
• Assess the childs safety.
• Act file a report, tell the child what will
  happen next, engage others, follow up.

27
October - National Bullying Prevention Month
Being an Ally Step 1 Get the bullys
attention. Step 2 Keep it calm. Step 3 Call
it out. Step 4 Say how you feel. Step 5 Tell
them what you want. Step 6 Put a price on
it. http//groundspark.org/our-films-and-campaign
s/lets-get-real/lgr_clips http//learning.blogs.
nytimes.com/2012/10/17/in-honor-of-national-bullyi
ng-prevention-month/
28
Resources

• California After School Resource Center
• http//californiaafterschool.org/index
• Groundspark.org Igniting Change Through Film
• Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Clemson
  University

29
Interactive Website

• www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov
• Animated Serial Comic
• Games, polls for tweens
• Advice for tweens
• Resource Kit for adults
• Links to partner groups and activities

30
Resource Kit

• More than 20 tip sheets/fact sheets
• Database of existing bullying prevention
  resources
• Bullying prevention programs
• Books, videos, other resources
• Available on the web (stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov)
  or in hard copy via HRSA Helpline (1-888-ASK-HRSA)

31
www.StopBullyingNow.hrsa.gov