Bully Prevention

By: Jeff Muise

(HealthDay News) — The adolescent victims of cyber bullying report higher levels of depression than do the bullies themselves or bully-victims, but this is not the case with traditional forms of bullying, according to a study published online Sept. 22 in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Jing Wang, Ph.D., of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues analyzed data from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children 2005 Survey that was administered to a nationally-representative sample of 7,313 students in grades six to 10. The researchers compared the incidence of depression among children who were bullies, victims, or bully-victims by the traditional definitions (physical, verbal, and relational bullying) and cyber bullying.

The investigators found the prevalence of physical, verbal, relational, and cyber bullying to be 21.2, 53.7, 51.6, and 13.8 percent, respectively. Depression was associated with all four forms of bullying, but the victims of cyber bullying reported higher depression than did the bullies or bully-victims, a result the researchers did not find with the traditional forms of bullying. For the three traditional types of bullying, frequently-involved victims and bully-victims had significantly higher depression levels than occasionally-involved victims and bully-victims. For cyber bullying, however, differences were found between occasional and frequent victims only.

“Notably, cyber victims reported higher depression than bullies or bully-victims, which was not found in any other form of bullying. This may be explained by some distinct characteristics of cyber bullying. For example, unlike traditional victims, cyber victims may experience an anonymous attacker who instantly disperses fabricated photos throughout a large social network; as such, cyber victims may be more likely to feel isolated, dehumanized or helpless at the time of the attack,” the authors write.

Sydney, Sep 19 (IANS) It’s not just the victim of bullying who faces psychological problems. Being a childhood bully can lead to relationship issue later in life.

‘Bullies go onto have lots of relationship issues. They have difficulty in romantic relationships,’ says Associate Professor Marilyn Campbell from the Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

‘Only people who are scared of them are their companions, their henchmen, in primary school,’ adds Campbell.

A 2006 study said that ‘bullies in primary school have been shown to be more likely to be convicted of a criminal offence before they reach their 20s than children who are not involved in bullying.’

‘They also often have drug and alcohol misuse problems because they self-medicate as they haven’t figured out how to have good relationships,’ it said.

Campbell said bullying was a learnt behaviour and that children learned from their families how to be bullies, said a Queensland release.

Punishing bullies has been shown not to decrease their bullying behaviour. The best way to stop bullying behaviour is by talking with bullies.

A second method is restorative justice where the bully must face the victim and the damage they have done.

‘These methods aim to elicit or teach the empathy that bullies lack,’ the release said.

Campbell said schools told children through their anti-bullying programmes that it was a bad thing to do.

However, if parents themselves bullied then this was not enough to change their children’s behaviour.

‘Bullying can only be stopped when the whole family is assisted to understand their behaviour and develop good social relationships,’ she said.

‘When children see domestic violence, which can be both physical and emotional abuse, they see that unequal power can be used to get your own way.

‘Parents may talk at the dinner table about their own bullying behaviour in the workplace and children pick that up as a method of getting what you want. On top of this, lots of media show that bullies win. Bullying is a deeply embedded social relationship problem.’

Hundreds gathered outside the Greensburg Courthouse for a candlelight vigil to remember 15-year-old Billy Lucas.

By Tisha Lewis Fox59

Hundreds gathered outside the Greensburg Courthouse for a candlelight vigil to remember 15-year-old Billy Lucas.

Lucas reportedly hung himself last week after friends say he was the target of continual bullying at Greensburg High School.

“They called him dumb, they called him gay and what else I’ve said.  They pushed him into lockers and hit him and pulled his hair and tripped him all the time, ” said best friend Bryce Thacker in an interview with Fox 59’s Tisha Lewis.

Thacker said he was constantly defending Lucas, until he too was threatened for defending what Thacker says bullies described as “the gay boy.”

“He came here in fourth grade and he was harassed from the time he was in fourth grade and on…” said former classmate Bobbi Guinlan.

Friends and complete strangers held fliers reading, “It’s because of people in school who pretended they knew nothing and did nothing to help stop it.”

According to Guinlan, “We organized this to show how important it is because we don’t feel like our school corporations are doing anything about bullying really.”

Several parents describe a “culture of bullying” within the Greensburg School District.

The principal at Greensburg High School where Lucas attended says the school was not aware the 15 year old was a victim, though several parents dispute that assertion.

Fox 59 News has learned the school is “looking to establish a committee to address bullying” concerns, according to administrators.

By WALT BELCHER | The Tampa Tribune

Jaylen Arnold, of Lakeland, started an anti-bullying campaign that is inspiring people across the country. One of his biggest fans is actor and musician Dash Mihok.

Jaylen Arnold has turned his personal battle with Tourette’s syndrome into a public battle against bullying.

The 10-year-old Lakeland boy has been dealing with the disorder since he was diagnosed as a toddler.

Tourette’s affects its victims differently. For Jaylen it causes uncontrollable tics and twitches. He has also been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism.

“When I see myself, I see this twisty boy who is going crazy and then I look at other people and I feel like I am the only one who has this. … There’s something inside of me and I want it out,” he says in a touching and inspiring documentary debuting at 9 tonight on the Discovery Health cable network.

Jaylen is one of four children profiled in “Tourette’s Uncovered.” The program shows what parents and children face when their lives are dominated by a condition often misunderstood by the public.

In addition to being mocked and sometimes tormented by classmates, these children also must deal with physical pain and depression.

Jaylen’s mother, Robin, says that her son has “a lot of sensory issues,” such as being unable to stand the touch of rough fabrics. He can only wear soft cotton. He can’t stand to eat soft foods. He struggles to walk on grass in bare feet.

In addition to an uncontrollable desire at times to contort his body, he must wipe off any area that has been “tapped on” by someone’s fingers.

Cameras record his despair over the inability to go to bed at night because every inch of his body can’t stand to lay still.

As he pleads just to be a normal kid and have some happiness, his mother tries to comfort him.

His mother says they try everything possible from massage therapy to monitoring his diet to using vitamin supplements. “I want to do everything I can to make him more comfortable and protect him,” she says.

“What Tourette’s puts me through makes me like really sad,” Jaylen says. “It puts me in pain and literally hurts me. It makes life a lot … harder.”

Two years ago, Jaylen found a new purpose when he started an anti-bullying campaign. He had seen and experienced first-hand what it can be like to be teased because you’re different.

He started speaking out against it in schools in an effort to explain to other children the effects of Tourette’s syndrome. He began passing out “Bullying No Way” bracelets and anti-bullying booklets.

Jaylen, who was profiled on the “CBS Evening News” last year, started a website www.jaylenschallenge.org that is devoted to ending bullying.

Yesterday, Governor Paterson signed the Dignity for All Students bill into law. The law requires school districts to make their environments harassment- and discrimination-free (by way of codes of conduct and policies) as well as reporting instances of bullying to the State Department of Education. Paterson said, “Bullying and harassment have disrupted the education of too many young people, and we in government have a responsibility to do our part to create learning environments that help our children prosper. I am proud to sign this bill into law as it will help ensure that students are protected from harassment, discrimination and bullying at school grounds and at school functions.”

According to the governor’s office, “The bill explicitly prohibits harassment and discrimination of students with respect to certain non-exclusive protected classes, including, but not limited to, the student’s actual or perceived ‘race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex.'” Paterson also shared an anecdote about his experience with bullying, “As one of the first legally blind students that was allowed into public school … I was a victim of that [bullying] many times… One day I got so upset, I took a metal lunch box… walked right into a classroom, right past the teacher who refused to do anything about it and hit this kid in the face.”

NYC adopted an anti-bullying act in 2008, but earlier this year, a student at a Queens high school was allegedly stabbed by another student (it was suggested that it was spurred by the victim’s bullying).

By Jen Chung in News on September 9, 2010 9:42 AM

Posted by James Alan Fox, Crime and Punishment August 31, 2010 11:15 AM

Damali Keith, Reporter

HOUSTON – How was your child’s first day back to the books?

Did you get details when you asked him or her that question?

One reason knowing the answer is so important is to help stop or avoid bullying.

Thirty percent of teenagers are estimated to be bullied or are bullies themselves.

Experts say one way to help keep your child from being a victim of bullying is to simply have a good conversation with them everyday after school.

Really listen to your kids. If they come home that first day, that first week and you’re asking ‘how was your day?’ They’re going to say ‘oh fine’ and dart off to play video games,” says cyber bullying expert Akilah Willery.

“So be a little more specific: ‘tell me about your English class. Tell me what your routine is going to be’.”

Willery says that opens the door for kids to be more specific about their day.

Liquindella Clark , an 8th grade math teacher at Dundee Ridge Middle School leads the class in an anti bullying rap in her classroom in Dundee , Fl. , Wednesday August 25, 2010.

DUNDEE | Liquindella Clark stayed up late Tuesday night, thinking of ways to make an impression on her eighth-grade math class.

Her focus was not about numbers – it is about bullying.

So Wednesday, Clark arrived at Dundee Ridge Middle School wearing a ripped t-shirt, a sign on her back that read “bullying hurts” and big bandages on her face.

She got her students’ attention.

“Sometimes when you hand paper to kids, they don’t get it,” Clark said. “But if you can show them a real world example of how it looks, it will impact them more.”

Clark joined other teachers Wednesday for the school district’s first simultaneous one-day attack on bullying, said Nancy Woolcock, assistant superintendent of learning support.

“As a part of the Jeffrey Johnston law, students are required to report and receive prevention instruction,” Woolcock said. “So we decided to do one day at the beginning of the year to inform students about anti-bullying.”

In 2005, Jeffrey Johnston, of Cape Coral, committed suicide at age 15 after being harassed, sometimes via the Internet, for about two years. His death prompted his mother to launch a campaign for the statewide anti-bullying law.

Students at Dundee Ridge Middle learned how to use a hot spot map to make the school safer from bullying, the types of behaviors that characterize targets for bullying, how bystanders can respond and what can be done to decrease bullying schoolwide. Students also received an anti-bullying pledge to sign.

Sixth-graders in one of the reading classes designed posters showing physical and social bullying.
Luis Benabe, 13, said he now knows how to walk away from a bully and to tell an administrator. He also said Clark’s approach to the subject made the discussion fun.

As a requirement from the state’s Department of Education, the school district began tracking bullying statistics last year, Woolcock said. The figures won’t be available until the end of September when they have to be submitted to DOE.

Sherrie Nickell, associate superintendent of learning and incoming district superintendent, said the daylong sessions will show students the district is serious about eliminating bully behavior.

Dundee Ridge Principal Stacy Gideons said her staff talks to students about how they should conduct themselves and because of it, bullying isn’t a major problem at her school.

Psychologists find that students who are bullied regularly do substantially worse in school.

By Stuart Wolpert, University of California, Los Angeles

Students who are bullied regularly do substantially worse in school, UCLA psychologists report in a special issue of the Journal of Early Adolescence devoted to academic performance and peer relationships.

The UCLA study was conducted with 2,300 students in 11 Los Angeles–area public middle schools and their teachers. Researchers asked the students to rate whether or not they get bullied on a four-point scale and to list which of their fellow students were bullied the most—physically, verbally and as the subject of nasty rumors.

A high level of bullying was consistently associated with lower grades across the three years of middle school. The students who were rated the most-bullied performed substantially worse academically than their peers. Projecting the findings on grade-point average across all three years of middle school, a one-point increase on the four-point bullying scale was associated with a 1.5-point decrease in GPA for one academic subject (e.g., math)—a very large drop.

Teachers provided ratings on how engaged the students were academically, including whether they were participating in class discussions, showing interest in class and completing their homework. The researchers collected data on the students twice a year throughout the three years of middle school and examined the students’ grades.

The study is published Aug. 19 in the journal’s online edition; the print edition will be published at a later date.

“We cannot address low achievement in school while ignoring bullying, because the two are frequently linked,” said Jaana Juvonen, a UCLA professor of psychology and lead author of the study. “Students who are repeatedly bullied receive poorer grades and participate less in class discussions. Some students may get mislabeled as low achievers because they do not want to speak up in class for fear of getting bullied. Teachers can misinterpret their silence, thinking that these students are not motivated to learn.

“Students who get bullied run the risk of not coming to school, not liking school, perceiving school more negatively and now — based on this study—doing less well academically,” said Juvonen, who is also a professor in UCLA’s developmental psychology program. “But the link between bullying and achievement can work both ways. The students who are doing poorly are at higher risk for getting bullied, and any student who gets bullied may become a low achiever. Whether bullying happens on school grounds or after school hours on the Internet, it can paralyze students from concentrating on academics.”

The research is part of a long-term UCLA bullying project led by UCLA education professor Sandra Graham (who is not a co-author on this study) and Juvonen, which is funded federally by the National Science Foundation and privately by the William T. Grant Foundation.

“Instruction cannot be effective unless the students are ready to learn, and that includes not being fearful of raising your hand in class and speaking up,” said Juvonen, who has been studying bullying for more than a decade. “Once students get labeled as ‘dumb,’ they get picked on and perform even worse; there’s a downward cycle that we need to stop.

“If the academically low-performing students are at higher risk for getting bullied, that suggests one way to reduce bullying is to help those students academically,” she added. “Once they get into the cycle of being bullied because of their poor academic performance, their chances of doing better academically are worse.”

Reducing bullying is a “collective challenge,” she said, and not just a matter of dealing with a few aggressive students. The UCLA team’s prior findings show that in middle school, bullies are considered “cool’ by their classmates. The high social status of bullies promotes a “norm of meanness that needs to be addressed.” Bullying affects millions of students, Juvonen said.

Of the students in the study, approximately 44 percent were Latino, 26 percent were African American, 10 percent were Asian American, 10 percent were white and 10 percent were multi-racial. Fifty-four percent were female and 46 percent were male.