Posts Tagged
“bullying schools”

Staying on top of the latest academic research on bullying is important to us. In my research I discovered a study that absolutely startled me.

Although successful bullying programs remain important accomplishments, Ttofi and Farrington (2011) found that few programs specifically target the behavior of bystanders (i.e., an individual who witnesses bullying). As such, prevention programs deemphasize a population that constitutes between 60% and 70% of primary or secondary school students (Glew, Fan, Katon, Rivara, & Kerntic, 2005; Rivers, Poteat, Noret, & Ashurst, 2009).

This program oversight is unfortunate because observational research has found that when bystanders intervene on behalf of the victim, they successfully abate victimization more than 50% of the time. (Craig, Pepler, & Atlas, 2000; O’Connell et al., 1999)

The remainder of the article talks about research they did on bystander behavior. Their conclusions were that bystanders have a crucial role in preventing bullying. They also concluded that it’s not enough to simply define what a bystander is. We need to encourage students to take a stand. (more…)

Recent research indicates that kids who believe in a “Just World” are less likely to engage in bullying behavior.

If you’re not familiar with the “Just World” concept it breaks down into three parts.

First is trust that others will treat you justly now and in the future. With this comes the belief that you’ll be rewarded justly for your actions in the future.

The second part is being able to compensate when you’re presented with an injustice. This can either be done mentally by minimizing its impact on you, or by taking actions that restore justice to your life.

The final part is to personally behave in a way that’s just so you can be part of maintaining balance in a just world. (more…)

After sharing her story via an internet video, Amanda Todd committed suicide.

Bullying has been in the media so much lately that it’s starting to become “old news”. This is something that worries me… That we’ll go back to the way things were… Sweeping it under the rug.

Clearly, bullying is still a very real problem with very real consequences. (more…)

Most of the attention regarding bullying has been directed at schools. While it’s certainly important for every child to have a safe learning environment, an aspect that often gets overlooked is the role parents play.

Recent research published in the North American Journal of Psychology examines this and revealed some interesting findings. (more…)

When people think about cyberbullying, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter come to mind. Many people overlook cell phones and text messages.

The fact is today’s kids have cell phones. As of 2010 around a third of kids ages 10-11 had cell phones. Over 5% of kids aged 6-7 had phones.

These numbers have likely grown since then.

Mobile phones are valuable tools and may be critical in an emergency. With that said kids need to be taught how to use their phones safely. (more…)

We’ve talked about cyber-bullying extensively on this blog. One of our more popular posts discusses how there are 5 million kids under the age of ten on Facebook.

Bullying isn’t confined to Facebook. New research reveals that there are 15,000 bullying related tweets sent daily on Twitter. [Source] (more…)

Cyber bullying is at the heart of the bullying battleground. Social networking sites like Facebook frequently come under fire. With new lines of communication come new channels for bullying and harassment.

What’s less talked about is that these same channels can be used to make a difference and promote a culture of caring.

Enter a recent Huffington Post article about Facebook complement pages. This is a growing trend at many schools. (more…)

We know that bullying may lead to brain damage and even lower test scores, but this one’s new…

According to US News and World Report, a recent study suggests that bullying may raise the risk of suicidal thoughts. (more…)

There’s many frustrating misconceptions about bullying. One of them is the idea that its effects are short lived.

People still tend to treat is as a “right of passage” or a “part of growing up”. There’s plenty of evidence to the contrary. In one study there was even a link found between bullying and brain damage.

Despite this, popular opinion seems to be that the effects of bullying are temporary.

A recent study performed at the Wayne State College in Nebraska reveals that the effects of bullying may last into college: (more…)

Surprised? Don’t be.

This info comes from an article published late last year in Educational Leadership (citation below). From the article…

Educators can easily get the false impression that bullying is not a problem in their school. That’s because teachers and administrators typically see only about 4 percent of bullying incidents.

The bullying problem is a lot bigger than we realize. Why is so little of it observed? Why don’t we see it happening? (more…)