Bully Prevention

Victims with a genetic variant have more emotional problems.

By Bruce Bower, Science News

There’s nothing fair about getting bullied at school. To add insult to injury, a new study finds that bullied kids who happen to have inherited one form of a stress-related gene develop the most emotional problems. 

Symptoms of anxiety, depression and social withdrawal appeared most often in regularly bullied kids who possessed two copies of a short version of the 5-HTT gene, says a team led by psychologist Karen Sugden of Duke University in Durham, N.C.

One-third of bullied children who had two shorter copies of the gene displayed emotional problems severe enough to merit mental health treatment, the researchers say. That figure fell to 29 percent for regularly bullied kids carrying one short copy of the gene and 15 percent for those with two long copies.

By tracking pairs of twins, Sugden and her colleagues ruled out the possibility that pre-existing emotional problems led genetically vulnerable children to be victimized by bullies. In cases where each twin carried two short copies of the 5-HTT gene but only one got repeatedly bullied, emotional difficulties were observed only in the bullied twin, the researchers report in a paper scheduled to appear in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

The experiment can’t directly pin the kids’ emotional problems on the gene-bullying combo, “but it is about as close as it is possible to get, given that it’s not ethical to bully a child deliberately for research purposes,” says Duke psychologist and study coauthor Terrie Moffitt.

Other evidence suggests that the short form of the gene, which is involved in transporting the chemical serotonin in the brain, intensifies emotional reactions to various kinds of stress, possibly by triggering the release of high levels of stress hormones, remarks Stanford University psychologist Ian Gotlib, who was not part of the study team.

Gotlib’s team has reported that teenage girls who were socially excluded or lied about by peers showed signs of depression, but only if they had two copies of the short 5-HTT gene. And medical interns with at least one copy of the critical gene variant are particularly prone to depression, a group led by psychiatrist Srijan Sen of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has found.

Other studies have failed to link the serotonin transporter gene to stress-related emotional problems (SN: 7/18/09, p. 10). But most of those studies collected data via phone or questionnaires, not in thorough interviews, Moffitt says.

She and her colleagues monitored 1,116 pairs of same-sex twins age 5 to 12 in England and Wales. Identical twins made up just over half of the sample.

Parents and teachers assessed children’s emotional condition at ages 5, 7, 10 and 12. At the final assessment, 230 kids told experimenters that they had been bullied “a lot” by other children and described what had happened.

Frequent bullying victims with two copies of the short gene displayed emotional problems by age 12. They accumulated an average of six or seven new symptoms of anxiety, depression and social withdrawal during the study.

Children who had one long and one short 5-HTT gene had fewer emotional problems than kids with two short copies. Bullied children with two long genes exhibited relatively few emotional difficulties, but still slightly more than never-bullied or occasionally bullied peers.

Emotional problems stayed at low levels and tended to decline during the study for children who never or rarely got bullied, regardless of their genetic makeup.

School programs to reduce bullying probably provide the greatest emotional benefits to genetically vulnerable children, Moffitt says. But it’s too early to say whether this research will lead to targeting genetically vulnerable children for specific school interventions, she adds.

by Kimberly Ripley

A 14-year old boy in Concord, New Hampshire; a victim of constant bullying, now bears a lewd tattoo on his buttocks as a result of the bullying.

The 14-year old has developmental issues, and was frequently picked on both in school and in his neighborhood. According to the Concord Monitor, the boy was forced by five young men, ranging in age from 15 to 20 years old, to kneel against a weight bench in a dimly lit basement at the home of one of the five boys, while the words “Poop D–K” and a purported drawing of a penis were tattooed on his buttocks. He was threatened with genital assault if he didn’t comply, and told all bullying would stop once the tattoo was completed.

Law enforcement officials in Concord, New Hampshire have charged each of the five boys involved. The older ones, 20-year-old Ryan Fisk and 18-year-old Blake VanNest have been charged with six misdemeanors, including tattooing without a license, criminal threatening and breach of bail for a separate incident. Fisk has also been charged with indecent exposure. Travis Johnston, 18, and Donald Wyman, 20, have both been charged with endangering the welfare of a child. The 15-year old involved will be charged in juvenile court.

Of the five young men involved, only Travis Johnston has come forward and apologized for his role in the crime.

School officials warned students that any bullying with regard to this case would be dealt with harshly. Upon returning to school on Monday, however, the 14-year old was once again bullied. Students taunted him, using the words that were tattooted on his buttocks. His parents have now removed him from Concord High School for the remainder of the school year and are requesting school officials provide a tutor.

How far will our society allow bullying to go? What kind of message does this send to people? If the young men involved in this crime receive mere slaps on their wrists, this kind of criminal activity will certainly escalate.

It pains me to think of any child being bullied, but those with any kind of developmental delay adds even more insult to injury. Those who take advantage of children with lesser or differing abilities are no different than grown men and women who prey on innocent children. I hope they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and if that isn’t enough I hope legislators will work to intensify the penalties for those who participate in any form of bullying.

Police Going to School Where Celina Okwuone Wrote She Was Bullied

by CLEOPATRA ANDREADIS

Florida police investigating the death of a fifth grader who hanged herself are scheduled to go to the girl’s school this week after finding a diary detailing how she was apparently tormented by bullies.

The diary entries are expected to be made public later this week, Port St. Lucie Police spokesman Tom Nichols told ABC News.

“Detectives are going to the school this week to talk to students and teachers,” Nichols said. “We need to determine why this 11 year old took her own life.”

Celina Okwuone, 11, was found by her parents a little before midnight on Thursday night. “They went to check on her and the door was locked,” said Nichols. “When they were finally able to get into the room, they found her hanging in her closet with a belt wrapped around her neck.”

The belt was wrapped around a metal shelf which her mother tore from the wall while her father lifted her body.

Shortly after calling police, her parents found her diary with what Nichols were entries about being bullied.

“Inside the diary there were some entries made of her being bullied at school,” Nichols said. “To the extent of what she was being bullied about is unknown at this time.”

A letter from St. Anastasia Catholic School, where Oswuone attended, was sent home with students informing parents about the incident. School officials wouldn’t comment, and referred all inquiries to the Diocese of Palm Beach.

A statement from the Diocese of Palm Beach said it was “saddened to learn of the untimely death of one of our students from St. Anastasia School in Ft. Pierce. We grieve with the school community of St. Anastasia and ask for prayers for the student’s family as well as the school community.”

Posted by Barbara F. Meltz

Barbara:

How do you know when someone is bullying you? Is it possible that you may be perceiving their actions wrong? Is it bullying or just rude behavior? How can you tell if the person claiming to of been bullied is just insecure or an overly sensitive type?

I have been wondering about this for my own children and at a loss for words.

Thanks,
Bergette, Bellingham, MA

Hi Bergette,

You raise a good question, of course: if a child is overly sensitive, how can we be sure his description of what’s happening is accurate?

The answer is, it doesn’t matter. It’s the child’s perception that counts.

If a child insists there’s a monster under the bed, do you tell him there’s no such thing as a monster and leave him screaming and terrified in his room? Or do you check for the monster in all the places he thinks it may be hiding until he’s satisfied that it’s safe to sleep?

It’s true that he may be blowing something out of proportion; kids often do that, anyway, because they are, well, kids; they lack experience, maturity and a sense of context. It’s also true that some kids will do anything for attention from their parents, including saying things that aren’t true.

Here’s the bottom line: It’s our job as parents to keep our children safe.

If your child is frightened of another child, he’s frightened of that child. Period. Doesn’t matter if the child is teasing or actually mean, or if the behavior was accidental or intentional.

You can help some children by giving them rules or guidelines: If the person is smiling, he’s probably joking. If he’s angry looking, he’s probably mad. But kids who have trouble reading social cues (and a child doesn’t need to be on the Autistic Spectrum to have trouble with this; many kids do) often need professional guidance around this. Ask your guidance department for some suggestions.

Meanwhile, Have you noticed changes in your child’s behavior? In sleep or eating patterns, in moods, or ability to concentrate on homework? Has he lost interest in something he typically likes? Is he withdrawn instead of outgoing at home? Any of these, but especially a combination of them, can be a tip-off that something is upsetting.

And don’t discount this: If he’s complained about a bully and you question his credibility, your skepticism alone can be upsetting: “Not even mom believes me.”

Talk to the teachers and to the principal for thoughts and suggestions; with the new state law, teachers and faculty are receiving training and getting better at being able to recognize bullying, and know what to do about it. Talk more to your child. Just don’t ignore it. Even if what he describes as bullying only turns out to be teasing, you will have a basis for helping him in the future.

May 18, 2010|By Liz Bowie, The Baltimore Sun

Sometimes people can spot an issue before it emerges in the public discourse.

Such was the case for a group of middle-schoolers from the Bluford Drew Jemison Academy in West Baltimore who began writing a play about bullying and gangs long before reports emerged this month about bullying in city schools.

When the puppet show “Live Hard or Die Hard” opened to the rousing applause of third-, fourth- and fifth-graders at Fort Washington Elementary School on Tuesday, the Bluford students had plenty of attention from adults as well.

They call themselves the Peace Champions because they are working to persuade their classmates and elementary students to stop bullying and stay away from gangs. Their puppets are animals and insects that confront more than the usual playground problems.

The play’s straightforward plot is not a cliff hanger: The spider is recruited by gang members and nearly enticed to join before his friends convince him otherwise. For elementary students let out of class for half an hour, it was a delight.

The students from Bluford, who were assisted in their puppetry by students from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, said they haven’t had problems with bullying or gangs at their school. Administrators and teachers there, they said, deal quickly with any discipline issues that arise. However, some family members, they said, are involved in gangs or drugs.

Sixth-grader Kobe McCoy, who played the rabbit, said the point is “to show people that basically it leads to a graveyard or jail.”

The narrator, Idialyon Helm, 13, said he knows gang members and although he has never been recruited he understands the harm gangs can do. “You are trapped in a box. You can’t get out. It is almost impossible,” the Bluford eighth-grader said.

Two out of three young carers are bullied at school and more than half feel unsupported by their teachers. These are the findings of research carried out by The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and The Children’s Society.

The study of 700 young carers, some as young as six, found that many suffer taunts about their parents appearance or disabilities. Nearly half of the young carers questioned said there was not a single teacher at their school who knew they were a young carer and of those whose teachers did know, more than half did not feel supported by them.

Danielle is 12 years old and cares for both her mother, who has fibromyalgia, and her father, who is epileptic. She explained the impact that being a young carer has on her while at school:

“I’ve missed homework deadlines because I’ve been looking after my mum and dad. When I’m in class I worry that my parents are ok, especially my mum as I keep thinking she might fall over if she tries to walk and will hurt herself. If the class has been naughty and we are all kept after school for detention, I worry that I’ll be late. I get a lump in my throat when I think my mum might be worried waiting for me. It makes me feel sad.”

Like Danielle, a third of young carers worry about the person they care for while they are at school. A quarter suffer from the stress of juggling school work and caring responsibilities.

Alex Fox, Director of Policy and Communications at The Princess Royal Trust for Carers said: “Almost half the young carers we surveyed said they had not told a single teacher at school. For those that had told someone, more than half of those said that they were not getting any support despite that, so there are still too many young people going throughtout their whole childhoods without getting any kind of support.

“We know that young carers drop out of school or that they miss lessons or that they are late all the time but with a little extra help and understanding they can actually take full advantage of their education.”

To address these issues, The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and The Children’s Society will be launching Supporting Young Carers, a resource for schools, as well as a poster campaign to run in all secondary schools across the UK in May.

Bob Reitemeier, Chief Executive of The Children’s Society says: “This resource will support schools to ensure that young carers are helped to achieve their full potential and to have the same access to education as their peers.”

“The resource will also encourage vital partnership working with other agencies in order to provide support for the whole family. We want to protect children from excessive inappropriate caring roles; enabling them to be children first and to have good childhoods.”

By JAY REEVES (AP)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A 15-year-old high school student who jumped to her death from an interstate overpass complained of bullying at school and never got over the death of her sister in a freak accident, factors the coroner said Thursday likely played a role in her suicide.

Chilton County Coroner Randall Yeargan said Alex Moore of Jemison left her rural home early Wednesday and walked to an overpass above Interstate 65. Several drivers on the highway saw her plunge, Yeargan said.

The death was ruled a suicide, Yeargan said, and investigators are trying to determine how much of a role bullying played. The teen’s father said the girl expressed anger and grief over her sister’s death in a suicide note, but did not mention bullying.

The coroner said Moore clearly was having a hard time at Jemison High School, located in a farming community in central Alabama about 40 miles south of Birmingham.

“The word we’re getting is that she had been harassed or bullied by other kids. You know, kids are cruel. She wasn’t in the ‘in’ crowd,” he said. “And, she was having considerable problems with the loss of her sister. That may have played as much a role in it as the bullying.”

The teen’s father, Jim Moore, said in an interview with The Associated Press that relatives didn’t know the extent of the bullying and teasing Alex had endured until after messages from classmates began appearing on Facebook pages following her death. She talked of teasing, bullying on the school bus and some boys “messing with her stuff” recently, he said, but it didn’t seem to be a major problem.

“She was a good kid, a Christian girl. She loved animals,” he said. “(But) she was overweight, she didn’t have a lot of friends and wasn’t in the ‘in’ clique.”

The Chilton County school superintendent’s office referred questions to Jemison High School Principal Alan Thompson, who didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.

Jim Moore said Alex’s older sister, 25-year-old Lesley Anne Moore, died about two years ago after stepping into live electrical wires that had been knocked down in an automobile accident. Alex believed the driver should have been held accountable and was upset when he wasn’t, Moore said.

Because of that experience, Alex didn’t trust authorities and may not have been willing to tell administrators about bullying at school, Moore said. She complained to an assistant principal recently about harassment from male students, he said, but she let the matter drop after an administrator talked to the youths.

“She told her to come back to her if it happened again, and she never did,” Moore said.

Moore said neither he nor Alex’s mother realized what was happening at school until classmates and friends created Facebook postings and groups talking about all the bullying and harassment she endured. In some postings, students apologize for being mean to her.

One student began a group that said the teen “was made fun of daily.”

In describing the group, the student forming it said, “Heartless people, our peers, teased her because she was not up to their standards. Well, not a lot of people are.”

School bullying has gained new attention after two students in Massachusetts hanged themselves separately in recent months after suffering repeated harassment from classmates. In one of the cases, six students are criminally charged in connection with the student’s death. A new Massachusetts law enacted last week bans bullying on school property and cyberbullying.

The Canadian Press

ASSINIBOIA, Sask. — A five-year-old Saskatchewan boy who lost a leg in a lawn mower accident is being bullied on the school bus and school officials aren’t helping, argues the boy’s father.

Robert Coomber says his son, Ryan, got a black eye after being hit by an older student on the bus ride between the school in Assiniboia and the family home in Willow Bunch, about two hours southwest of Regina.

“I asked him why. He said it was because he was singing,” said Coomber.

Coomber said he called the older student’s parents but they were unwilling to help. The next call was to the RCMP.

“The RCMP came and took photos of Ryan’s face and said that we were in full rights to press charges, but we decided not to, that we would let the school handle it instead of putting this kid through the justice system,” said Coomber. “Instead of handling it, they removed Ryan from the bus because they said it was unsafe for him.”

Coomber said there was no co-operation from staff at Ryan’s school or at the older student’s school, which he said “refused outright to discipline the child in any way.” Ryan’s school goes up to Grade 4 and the older student’s school covers Grades 5 to 8, but they share a bus.

Coomber said an official with the Prairie South School Division told him that it would be best if he drove Ryan the 50 kilometres each way to kindergarten.

The frustrated father says it’s not the first time Ryan has been bullied on the bus and he’s just one of many victims.

“It’s usually pushing, shoving, taking his bag, taking his winter clothes. The first kid actually tried to pull his prosthetic leg from him. And this is a joke to everyone … in the system,” said Coomber.

“All my boy’s trying to do is to have his right to an education and to a safe environment.”

“He was singing on the bus. They tell children from the youngest of ages about singing and singing about buses, ‘The wheels on the bus go round and round.’ So you start singing on the bus and that gives a person the right to belt you in the face hard enough to give you a black eye. That doesn’t seem right. So when we complained, we were just trying to make right by Ryan and unfortunately it was completely ignored.”

The Prairie South School Division said it couldn’t talk about specific student issues because of privacy laws, but a spokeswoman said there are anti-bullying policies in place and a process to resolve disputes.

Saskatchewan Education Minister Ken Krawetz said an investigation is underway to find out what happened.

“Until that is complete, I don’t think the board of education will be jumping to any conclusions. The short-term solution, I guess, was to ensure that there be no further antagonism between students and to ensure that the parents were able to drive the student to school,” said Krawetz.

Krawetz said school boards have policies to ensure safe environments and that extends to school buses.

Ryan was run over by a riding lawn mower in May 2008. His left leg needed to be amputated below the knee as well as four toes on his right foot. His thigh bone was broken on his right side and his pelvis was shattered. The spinning blade cut out a portion of his liver, some muscle on his chest and muscle on his buttocks.

Ryan spent a year and thousands of hours learning to walk with the prosthetic limb. Coomber said now his son is struggling to understand this situation.

“Mentally he’s OK. He’s a little confused about why he’s not allowed on the bus any more and he’s kind of bummed out that he doesn’t get to see his friends on the bus,” said Coomber.

Coomber taken earlier by Canadian Press

 By James Ihaka and Isaac Davison

A boy who stabbed his teacher four times with a knife had been bullied by other pupils, his family say.

The boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, stabbed Te Puke High School maths teacher Steve Hose in the back of the neck and shoulder on Monday shortly after class began at 11am.

He is in custody at a secure Child, Youth and Family residential placement facility in Auckland.

A close whanau member told the Herald the family were still in shock, saying the attack was “completely out of character” for the Year 9 pupil.

The man said the boy was “little and placid” and a “quiet thinker” who, because of his size, had been a target for bullies.

He had been suspended from school this year for about three days after he apparently fought older students who he claimed had been picking on him.

The man said the school had a culture of bullying and people would write affidavits in support of his claim.

“There were a number of occasions where [the boy] was bullied. I am of the opinion this is what led him to do what he did.

Still, this is completely out of character … we don’t condone what has happened but we need to know what could have triggered him to do something like this.”

The school principal, Alan Liddle, said the school had no formal record or allegations of the boy being bullied.

He said an internal investigation would deal with all circumstances surrounding the attack.

The boy had been in the care of his grandmother at her home in Manoeka on the outskirts of Te Puke after his parents split when he was a few months old.

He apparently had asthma, but enjoyed playing rugby league.

His relative said he was kindhearted and would help prepare his younger cousins for school and could be seen helping his elderly neighbours with their gardens and lawns.

“You could say he has had it pretty rough but things could have been worse if he had stayed with his parents.”

Asked if the boy had any gang affiliations, he said “he did not have a patch…but that does not mean he was not a prospect. It is a possibility.”

Rachael Adams, the boy’s legal representative, said a family group conference would take place within the next few weeks.

Originally published: May 10, 2010 7:50 PM
Updated: May 10, 2010 10:17 PM
By REID J. EPSTEIN  reid.epstein@newsday.com

Suffolk Legis. Jon Cooper said he was spurred to act after hearing one Lake Grove family’s story.

Photo credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara | Jamie Isaacs, 14, of Lake Grove, says she was bullied by classmates in school. (May 10, 2010)

The bullies at school were so mean to Jamie Isaacs for so long, her parents said, that her grades suffered, she fell into depression and her parents tried selling their Lake Grove house.

Isaacs, 14, is at the center of proposed anti-bullying legislation in Suffolk that would hold school administrators responsible for writing up repeated incidents of bullying and punishing children who bully.

“I was scared to walk to the end of my driveway,” Isaacs said Monday while sitting at her dining room table. “If someone tells you they want to kill you, that’s not something you can just let go.”

VIDEO: Click here to hear Jamie Isaacs’s story in her own words

Beginning in the second grade, classmates at Sachem Central School District’s Wenonah Elementary School in Lake Grove hit her with book bags, poked her with sharpened pencils and threatened her on the school bus, in hallways and online, she and her parents said. Books and clothes were stolen from her locker, she said, and in online postings she printed and saved, it was suggested she partake in graphic sexual acts.

Suffolk Legis. Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor), who sponsored the legislation, along with another bill banning cyberbullying in the county, said he was spurred to act after hearing the family’s story.

“My concern is that some school administrators or teachers don’t take the problem of bullying seriously enough,” Cooper said. “For whatever reason, they turn a blind eye to these activities that take place under their watch.”

Jamie’s parents, Anne and Ronald Isaacs, plan to testify on behalf of Cooper’s legislation at Tuesday’s public hearing in Hauppauge. The family Monday described futile meetings with school administrators in which they were told incidents on school buses were not their concern. When their now-12-year-old son, Danny, told school officials a fellow student threatened him with a knife earlier this year, he was suspended for lying, the Isaacses said.

Starting in December 2007, the Isaacses filed four separate notices of claim against the Sachem school district, accusing administrators of failing to stop the bullying of Jamie and her brother Danny and suspending the children from school without cause. The Isaacses claimed damages for medical expenses to treat depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and insomnia, as well as for time they missed from work.

The Isaacs said they called Suffolk police to report harassment incidents, but a police spokeswoman Monday said an investigation into a 2007 harassment incident was found to be noncriminal.

Sachem school officials declined to comment on the Isaacses’ case, citing “student privacy laws and ongoing litigation.” In a statement released by the district’s public relations firm, the district said it has a “zero-tolerance policy” for bullying.