Presentation Topic:
Bullying and Violence (essay)

Is Bullying Just Kid Stuff ?

Dr. Glenn DiPasquale, Chief Psychologist
York Region District School Board

A version of this article was published in “Orbit: OISE/UT’s Magazine for Schools” (Vol. 34, No.2, 2004, pgs. 6-10).

Introduction

Most adults have childhood memories of bullying. We may have been involved directly, or just indirectly as a witness or a bystander, but very few of us have completed the journey into adulthood without experiencing bullies, victims and the interaction between them. But research examining this area over almost three decades reveals that much of our understanding of bullying is distorted or just flat out wrong. It's almost as though we've matured, but our perception of bullying is still mired in the observations, experiences and interpretations of childhood.

In the pages that follow, bullying will be defined and described in empirical terms. We will look at current knowledge about bullying in school and community settings, and how adults tend to react to it. We will touch on causes, to the extent that they are understood, and finally we will discuss controlling bullying in ways that are appropriate and effective.

Bullying Defined

Often when bullying is discussed, the topic is really violence or aggression. While these are related concepts, they aren't identical. Below is one definition of bullying:

“Bullying occurs when a victim is exposed to serious 'negative experiences' created by or due to another individual or group, the bully or bullies. These negative experiences often involve physical discomfort or pain, but can also be social or emotional in nature and involve psychological pain. In bullying, these negative experiences occur repeatedly over a period of time. There is always an imbalance of power between the victim and the bully, and this power imbalance can also be physical, psychological or social.”
(Adapted from Olweus, 1993).

By this definition then, not every fight in the schoolyard is bullying. If the children involved are of equal power and the altercation is a one-time event, it's a fight. We don't ignore it, but it's probably not bullying. On the other hand, the little girl who is isolated and teased by other children repeatedly over a long period of time probably is a victim of bullying, and the intervention in this case should be quite different, as we will see below.

The Nature and Extent of Bullying

One of the most experienced researchers in this field, Dr. Dan Olweus, a professor of Psychology at the University of Bergen in Norway, has been studying bullying for almost three decades. Using both student and teacher questionnaires, his early studies in Norway and Sweden found that about 15% of the population in an average school was involved in ongoing bullying, 7% as a bully and 8% as a victim (though some children occasionally played both roles). Of course, 15% is approximately one in seven, meaning four children would be involved in a typical class of 28 students. Given the disruptive potential of bullying behaviour, this clearly would have a significant effect on the classroom climate, and eventually on behaviour and academic achievement.

But that incidence rate was in Scandinavia. In light of the differences in cultures, one might expect higher numbers in North America. In a study conducted in three randomly chosen schools in a southern Ontario school board in the early 1990s, the number of children who bullied others was about the same as in Scandinavia, but a higher percentage of children, almost 12%, complained of being victimized. The result was an overall rate of about 18%. A similar study conducted in Toronto area schools suggested 21% of children were involved in some way, while comparable numbers have been reported in other studies in Canada, the U.K., Australia and the United States.

In many countries then, bullying appears to be a pervasive phenomenon. And it does not co-vary with any demographic variable. That is, the frequency of bullying behaviour is not consistently different in schools or neighbourhoods that are urban versus rural, more versus less populated, or more versus less affluent. It appears instead to relate to broader societal factors, possibly involving child rearing traditions, supervision standards and tolerance for competition and conflict.

Gender Differences

Gender differences are apparent in both the extent and the nature of bullying behaviour. Most researchers find significantly more boys than girls involved, both as bullies and as victims. In many studies, boys are the perpetrators about 80% to 90% of the time, while girls or groups of boys and girls are responsible for the rest. As victims however, boys and girls appear in a ratio closer to 60/40 respectively.

However, some recent research suggests that this might be an underestimate of girls’ involvement, partly because there are differences in how boys and girls bully. In general, male bullying tends to be physical, especially prior to age twelve, although taunting and harassment are also common. In the case of girls, however, the preferred bullying strategy more often involves social isolation of the victim, followed by teasing, harassment and passing rumours, often with a sexual promiscuity theme. This is not to suggest that girls aren’t also capable of physical bullying. It’s simply used considerably less often by girls than by boys.

Causes of Bullying Behaviour

While there are no definitive answers regarding the causes of bullying behaviour, several factors are known to be involved. There is a small but significant correlation between parental aggression and children’s bullying. That is, parents who have aggressive personalities are more likely to have children with aggressive personalities. Furthermore, parents who model aggressiveness or who use harsh methods of discipline are significantly more likely to have children who engage in bullying or other forms of aggression.

But parental influences are only part of the story. Bullying behaviour can also develop as a result of peer modeling, independent of parental influences. This is most commonly seen in gang related situations, but also occurs in less dramatic peer environments.

And there is another major causative factor that should not be overlooked. In many cases, independent of parental or peer modeling, bullying is a learned behaviour that develops in children because it works. From toddler age onward, some children discover that aggressive, harassing, intimidating or violent behaviours are highly successful in acquiring desired objects or manipulating the environment. The more this kind of behaviour is reinforced by success, the more often it occurs, and the more difficult it becomes to eliminate. This fact alone emphasizes the need for very early intervention if prevention of bullying behaviour is taken seriously.

Long Term Effects of Bullying

Bully-victim relationships can last a long time, even several years. Furthermore, follow-up studies have shown that the effects of the experience can persist into adulthood, for victims and for bullies. In the case of victims, there is some good news. As adults victims appear to outgrow the victim role. That is, they are no longer victims in their social or work settings. However, it appears that lower levels of self-esteem and increased frequency of both depression and suicide constitute one legacy of significant childhood victimization.

In the case of bullies, the long-term consequences also appear to be quite serious. A number of studies show that children identified as bullies in their elementary school years are at risk for a wide variety of social problems as adults. For example, studies have reported much higher rates of divorce, spousal abuse, job loss, and criminal conviction.

Other long-term studies have clearly shown that youth who are incarcerated for offences involving violence are significantly more likely to have been identified as bullies in elementary school than those incarcerated for non-violent crimes. Therefore, some of the children who bully their peers in the early school years will go on to perpetrate violent crimes in their teens and twenties. Young people do not suddenly become violent when they reach adolescence, and prevention is not a task that should be left to secondary schools. By then it is very likely too late. It is especially critical to share these findings with parents of bullies, since they sometimes won’t accept that a problem exists, perhaps because the situation seems less detrimental to their children than to their children's victims.

The Role of Adults

When children are asked what teachers, parents or other adults do to stop bullying, the most likely response is "nothing". Typically, adults are unaware, or they avoid involvement, or they intervene but only superficially. For example, when a child is being bullied in the schoolyard the vast majority of teachers fail to notice. If a teacher does notice, however, and attempts to intervene, he/she usually is assured by the aggressor and the bystanders that the altercation is just "play fighting" or some other harmless activity. If the teacher persists and asks the victim, the response usually confirms what the other children have said. The victim then, helps to hide the problem. There is a "conspiracy of silence" and the victim is complicit, keeping adults in the dark.

Why doesn’t the victim reveal that he/she is being mistreated? The answer is, of course, fear of retaliation by the bullies. But if we analyze that reasoning, it really says that the victim does not believe that adults can or will provide protection. And why would a victim fear that we can't or won't provide protection? Because we don't. And we don't, in part at least, because our culture has steeped bullying in a mythology saying that if a child is being bullied, especially a boy, adult intervention will make matters worse. In fact the conventional wisdom says, the only solution is for the victim to fight back, at which time the bully will decide to find a new victim since, we are assured, bullies are really cowards. In our culture this reasoning is reinforced in selective memories, and in every movie or television program where children are featured characters.

Unfortunately, the research literature indicates that bullying scenarios rarely play out in this fashion. First of all, victims are usually not chosen at random, but instead tend to be children who are introverted, sensitive, small, and highly unlikely to fight back even with encouragement. Secondly, when these children do attempt to fight back, sometimes at the urging of well-meaning adults, they are easily defeated and sometimes even hurt. Bullies do not behave as depicted in the media. They tend to strive for control and seldom tolerate resistance from the victim.

Besides the mythology described above, there is another cultural factor that mitigates against adults taking action: we tend to dislike victims. A consequence of this dislike is that adults who discover a bullying situation first tend to look for evidence that the victim caused the problem, justifying the bully's behaviour. This is often clear from the "interrogation" that greets children who approach adults for help: "What did you do?"; "Did you say something to those bigger boys?"; "Why were you playing in that area when you know that's where the big boys play?"; "Why did you wear your new shoes when you must have known they would tease you if you wore them?". Such questions are unsettling in the context of serious bullying. They are downright disturbing when compared to questions posed to other victims subjected to blame, such as women reporting harassment or even rape: "Did you know the man or talk to him?"; "Why were you in that part of town at night?"; "What were you wearing?"; "Were you drinking?".

This behaviour on the part of authority figures communicates to the victim that instead of protection they might well get blamed for the very problem they are reporting. The message is clear. Victims should find a way to solve the problem themselves, or simply live with it.

Are victims never involved then, in causing their own problems? Do they never deserve what they get? In my view just asking such questions is tantamount to suggesting that vigilantism is justified. It says that if we feel an individual deserves to be punished, and if we have the physical ability to do so, then we have society's permission. In a civilized society, a person who is vulnerable, annoying or unusual should not be subjected to vigilante justice, where those who are stronger are allowed to mete out any level of retribution they feel is justified. Yet with children this is common, and adults are often tacitly complicit, using terms such as “tattling” or “squealing” to discourage those who want to report abusive behaviour.

Reducing Bullying Behaviour

There are now a number programs available that effectively reduce bullying behaviour. Generally, they share most of the following components.

1. Community Component: Many effective anti-bullying programs involve a variety of stakeholders besides teachers and parents. Community members such as retailers, police, and residents without children are invited to get involved with the school. One reason for this is the knowledge that bullying may begin as a school problem, but as bullies mature they either reduce their aggressiveness or they intensify it and expand it into the community, often as violence. The community then must reinforce the message that bullying will not be tolerated, and that bullies will be held accountable for their behaviour. Olweus' program is probably the most ambitious in this regard, with community members recruited to sit on school committees assembled specifically to deal with aggressive behaviour.
   
   Community involvement is also a way to inform parents about how their children behave when they are out of sight. When neighbours feel invited to help with child supervision by serving as extra eyes and ears, or by reinforcing parental expectations throughout the neighbourhood, then children are more accountable and they lose the cloak of anonymity that facilitates unacceptable or even criminal behaviour. The bottom line is that raising children is hard, and doing it in isolation is even harder. When community members co-operate and assist parents with the very vital role of monitoring, the entire community benefits.
   
   One common example of ways to bring the community together is an information evening at the school featuring a speaker followed by discussion groups led by police officers, local agency staff, local business people, parent counsel members and other community leaders. The goal of such events is not just to inform, but also to begin to establish trust among parents and other community members, and to establish common understandings and expectations around issues of bullying, violence, vandalism and other inappropriate behaviour.
   
   A second example might be as simple as widening the distribution within the community of school newsletters designed to keep everyone informed about anti-bullying initiatives at the school. People who live and work in the community often find such newsletters extremely informative, especially if they invite readers to contact the school for further information, or even direct them as to how they can be involved.
   
2. School Component: The school has the largest, most complex and varied role in reducing bullying. Since the bulk of the problems occur at or on the way to or from school, it isn't surprising that some of the best opportunities for intervention also occur there. Both research and front line experience have shown that all staff in the school must be part of the solution, establishing a school-wide culture that is intolerant of bullying behaviour, from put-downs to physical assault. Schools have used posters, assemblies and morning announcements as vehicles to promote the anti-bullying message to students. School staff need to carefully planned how to reinforce the message, in both their interactions with students and their disciplinary strategies.
   
   As well, schools need to clearly communicate our expectations of bystanders and witnesses. All students have a role to play in making the school safe, and part of that responsibility includes caring about the safety of fellow students. No student should be expected to put him or her self in danger of course, but all students should report it immediately if they are concerned about violent or intimidating behaviour.
   
   Another specific strategy that has been effective in reducing bullying at school is increased supervision, not just by increasing the adult to student ratio, but also by providing specific knowledge and training for staff around issues of how and when to intervene. This strategy is particularly effective in reducing the opportunity for bullying in the schoolyard, and there are other strategies that have been effective in that key area as well. For example, analyzing the physical layout of the schoolyard, particularly with regard to isolated areas where bullying or intimidation could occur unobserved, can lead to better supervision strategies or even declaring certain areas “off limits” if they are difficult to supervise properly. As well, research has shown that more interesting schoolyards with more engaging play equipment have fewer bullying episodes, and schools often make this a focus for planning and fund-raising.
   
3. Classroom Component: The classroom is the appropriate place for discussion of the moral implications of bullying. It is in classroom discussions that students can talk about human rights and the expectation that in a free, democratic society no one should feel unsafe or be unable to enjoy that freedom. Discussions about "might versus right", and the equality of all people, are ideal vehicles for shaping attitudes and values that will harness positive peer pressure to reject bullying as entertainment or a method for solving problems.
   
   One way to implement this component is with integrated curriculum units that use bullying issues as a vehicle for teaching the regular curriculum. Such materials have become more common in recent years. For example, The Community Alliance for York Region Education (CAYRE), a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the York Region District School Board, has produced a binder featuring several such integrated units for each elementary grade. These units were developed in a partnership with the York Region Catholic District School Board, The York Regional Police Service, The York Region Public Health Department and The LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution at York University. The proceeds from the sale of these binders are used to fund anti-bullying and other initiatives in the schools.
   
   But at least as powerful as such approaches focused on direct instruction, are those situations where the classroom teacher models and demands respect for others. Such situations occur anytime students attempt to humiliate one another by actions such as name-calling, ridicule or public rejection (“We don’t want you in our group!”). Disrespectful behaviour directed toward other students, or even teachers, is the seed from which a wide variety of social and behavioural problems grow. It should always be confronted and seized as a "teachable moment" ripe with the opportunity for change.
   
4. Individual Component: Researchers have found that many of the conventional approaches for dealing with individual bullies and victims are ineffective. In the case of bullies, it has been assumed that part of the problem lies in their low self-esteem and poor social skills. However, studies by Olweus and others have failed to find evidence of this low self-esteem. In fact, many studies have reported the opposite, with bullies expressing pride in their power in the school setting, and reporting that they feel respected, though in fact they are probably sensing fear.
   
   The traditional approach of treating bullies with self-esteem building or social skills programs has seldom yielded positive results as measured by behaviour change. More success, however, has been reported with programs featuring both positive and negative consequences. That is, consistent punishment of bullying behaviour, paired with equally consistent positive feedback, praise and encouragement contingent upon pro-social behaviour. In addition, the use of positive peer pressure, as mentioned above, can be highly effective in helping bullies to adopt more positive and socially acceptable methods for dealing with conflict or in meeting their needs.
   
   In dealing with victims, of course, the paramount need is for protection. It is essential that children who have been victimized not be re-victimized by the adults they approach for help. As well, they must be monitored to assure a safe, secure environment both at school and in the community. This may be time-consuming and require considerable effort and creativity, but in my view it is not optional. Failure to provide protection can lead to legal liability or in very rare circumstances even to extreme consequences such as the victim retaliation shootings seen in Columbine High School, Taber, Alberta, and elsewhere.

Summary and Conclusions

The research literature shows that bullying is a pervasive, significant problem among school-aged children. It can be a highly disruptive influence in the schools, and is clearly linked to serious criminal behaviour in the community. The literature also provides hope, however, in the sense that many programs and strategies to reduce bullying have been shown to be effective.

It may be unrealistic to expect bullying to ever be eradicated. Some would argue that it’s human nature to press one's advantage and take liberties in situations where a power imbalance allows us to exploit those who are weaker. But in a civilized democracy, it is paramount that we expend the effort to create a society that is fair, safe and equitable. Working with children, especially in the school setting, clearly offers the best hope for moving toward that ideal of social justice.

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