Bullying: What We Know Now
Stephen Erath, Ph.D.
Department of Human Development
and Family Studies, Auburn University
Bullying: What we know now
• Description and prevalence of bullying
• Correlates of bullying and victimization
• Coping with peer victimization
• Why children bully
• Evidence-based intervention programs
• What parents can do
What is bullying?
• A subset of aggression intended to harm, and
characterized by repetition and imbalance of power
• Types of aggression
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•
•
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Verbal (say mean things or make fun)
Relational (ignore, exclude, lies, rumors)
Physical (hit, push, kick, shove)
Electronic (humiliate with computer/cell phone)
• Types of power imbalance
• Physical, social, emotional
Prevalence of bullying
• Often victimized: 10%
• Often bully: 10%
• Both: 5%
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•
•
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Varies by context
Peaks around middle school
Boys slightly more involved than girls
Occurs around peers, not adults
Correlates of peer victimization
• Predictors
• Disliked by peers, few friends
• Withdrawn, anxious, easily upset, submissive
or reactively aggressive
• Different (behaviors, interests, appearance)
• Possible outcomes
• Loneliness, anxiety, depression, low self
esteem, suicidal ideation
• School avoidance, poor academic performance
Coping with peer victimization
• Worse
• Aggressive/retaliatory strategies
• Submissive/emotionally reactive strategies
• Better
• Behavior change
• Ignoring/nonchalance
• Seeking social support and advice
Correlates of bullying
• Predictors
• Bullying: Proactive aggression, status
concerns, social-cognitive biases, social
intelligence?
• Involvement in bullying and
victimization: Reactive aggression, poor
social skills, internalizing problems, disliked by
peers
• Possible outcomes
• Depression, academic problems, delinquent
behavior
Why do children bully?
• Individual model: children involved in bullying
and victimization exhibit skill deficits or
differences that set the stage for bullying
• Social skills training can remediate social skill
deficits
• Evidence for reductions in bullying and
victimization is mixed
Why do children bully?
• Peer group/ behavioral reinforcement
model: bullying is met with more rewards than
negative consequences
• Consequences
• Adult intervention
• Rewards
• Responses of victimized children
• Peer group reinforcement
Participant roles (Salmivalli, 1999)
• Victimized ( 12%)
• Bullying (8%)
• Assistants (7%) – join bullying
• Reinforcers (20%) – encourage bullying
• Onlookers (24%) – watch bullying
• Defenders (17%) – try to stop bullying
• No clear role (13%)
Defending
• Peers (and adults) defend in only about 10-30%
of bullying incidents, despite . . .
• Prevailing views against bullying
• Effectiveness of defending
• Social status of defenders
Why is defending uncommon?
(Salmivalli, 2010)
• Diffusion of responsibility
• Pluralistic ignorance
• Brief/mild appearance of some bullying incidents
• Fear of children who bully
• Negative perceptions of children who are victimized
Exemplary Programs (Kärnä et al., 2010)
• KiVa (against bullying) program
• Decrease in assisting and reinforcing
• 30% reduction in self-reported victimization
• 17% reduction in self-reported bullying
• Some key features of KiVa
• Raise awareness of participant roles
• Increase empathy toward victimized children
• Promote strategies for supporting victimized
children
• Prosocial, high-status peers help lead
defending efforts
Exemplary Programs (Olweus et al., 1999)
• Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
• Up to 50% reduction in bullying and victimization
• School level components
• Raise awareness among students and teachers
• Broad-based participation
• Increased adult supervision
• Classroom level components
• Classroom rules
• Parent involvement
• Individual level components
• Talks with children involved in bullying/victimization
• Consistent rewards and consequences
Summary of evidence
• Meta-analyses
• School-based programs tend to produce modest
positive effects on bullying and victimization
• Programs are more likely to influence knowledge
and attitudes than bullying behaviors
• Review of 48 studies (Craig et al., 2010)
• 48% resulted in reductions in bullying
• 33% resulted in reductions in victimization
Evidence-based practices
• Remediate social-emotional skills deficits
• Raise awareness of bullying and understanding of
participant roles
• Increase adult monitoring
• Provide training and reinforcement for prosocial,
anti-bullying behavior
• Provide consistent consequences for bullying
behavior
• Comprehensive, including all school staff, students,
and parents
• Sustained, lasting years rather than days or months
• Evaluated, including implementation and effects
What can parents do?
(Kazdin & Rotella, 2009)
• Open lines of communication, provide
support
• Problem-solve
• Identify the problem as specifically as possible
• Generate a range of solutions
• Discuss the pros and cons of various solutions
• Make a plan to implement
• Encourage broader efforts
References
Craig, W. M., Pepler, D. J., Murphy, A., McCuaig-Edge, H. (2010). What
works in prevention? In E. M. Vernberg & B. K. Biggs (Eds.), Preventing
and treating bullying and victimization (pp. 215-241). New York, NY:
Oxford University Press.
Hawker, D. S. J., & Boulton, M. J. (2000). Twenty years’ research on peer
victimization and psychosocial maladjustment: A meta-analytic review of
cross-sectional studies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41,
441-455.
Hawkins, D. L., Pepler, D. J., & Craig, W. M. (2001). Naturalistic observations
of peer interventions in bullying. Social Development, 10, 512-527.
Hodges, E. V. E., Boivin, M., Vitaro, F., & Bukowski, W. (1999). The power of
friendship: Protection against an escalating cycle of peer victimization.
Developmental Psychology, 35, 94-101.
Kärnä, A., Voeten, M., Little, T., Poskiparta, E., Kaljonen, A., & Salmivalli, C.
(in press). A large-scale evaluation of the KiVa anti-bullying program.
Child Development.
Kazdin, A. E., & Rotella, C. (2009). Bullies: They can be stopped, but it takes
a village. Slate, Available online, http://www.slate.com/id/2249424/.
Kochenderfer, B. J., & Ladd, G. W. (1997). Victimized children’s responses to
peers’ aggression: Behaviors associated with reduced versus continued
victimization. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 59-73.
References
Merrell, K., Gueldner, B. A., Ross, S. W., Isava, D. M. (2008). How effective
are school anti-bullying programs? A meta-analysis of intervention
research. School Psychology Quarterly, 23, 26-42.
Olweus, D., Limber, S. & Mihalic, S.F. (1999). Blueprints for Violence
Prevention, Book Nine: Bullying Prevention Program. Boulder, CO: Center
for the Study and Prevention of Violence.
See also: http://www.clemson.edu/olweus/
Nansel, T. R., Overbeck, M., Pilla, R. S., Ruan, W. J., Simon-Morton, B., &
Scheidt, P. (2001). Bullying behaviors among US youth: Prevalence and
association with psychosocial adjustment. Journal of the American
Medical Association, 285, 2094-2100.
Nishina, A., & Juvonen, J. (2005). Daily Reports of Witnessing and
Experiencing Peer Harassment in Middle School. Child Development,
76, 435-450.
Salmivalli, C. (1999). Participant role approach to school bullying:
Implications for interventions. Journal of Adolescence, 22, 453-459.
Salmivalli, C. (2010). Bullying and the peer group: A review. Aggression and
Violent Behavior, 15, 112-120.
Smith, J. D., Schneider, B. H., Smith, P. K., Ananiadou, K. (2004). The
effectiveness of whole-school anti-bullying programs: A synthesis of
evaluation research. School Psychology Review, 33, 547-560.