Introduction
Bullying is a concern that is not restricted or defined by socio-economic, cultural,
or gender basis. It has long-lasting implications for the victims of bullying as well as the
bullies themselves. In a 2009 study by Flaspohler, Elfstrom, Vanderzee and Sink, they
conclude “Bullying is one of the most common forms of school violence. Engagement in
bullying has been shown to have adverse effects on perpetrators and victims of bullying.
In this study, the impact of bullying on well being (quality of life/life satisfaction) was
explored in a sample of elementary and middle school children. Results suggest that
students who bully and/or are bullied experience reduced life satisfaction and support
form peers and teachers compared to “bystanders” (children who are neither victims nor
perpetrators of bullying)” p. 636.
When first setting out to discover existing research on bullying, I was
overwhelmed at the amount of subcategories that exist on the topic. Because my
proposal plans to include the implementation of a peer support network and the
curriculum foundation to enhance the effectiveness of this network, I chose to focus on
articles that centered on student perceptions and beliefs, bystander effects on bullying,
observable playground behaviors, empathy and readiness to act, teacher involvement and
curricular program effectiveness.
Student Perceptions and Beliefs
A longitudinal study of third through fifth graders found that during the first year
of their study, “the control group became more accepting of bullying and aggression,
viewed adults as increasingly unresponsive to bullying problems, and felt less
responsibility to report bullying or persuade friends to desist. This is consistent with
previous studies that show increasing acceptance of aggression and decreasing sympathy
for victims” (Frey, Hirschstein, Endstrom and Snell, 2009). After the initial study, a
program called Steps to Respect was initiated involving classroom lessons. The study
found that children in the intervention group “tended to be less accepting of bullying and
aggression than those in the control group. The data suggests that program participation
may at least retard grade-related increases in acceptance of aggressive behavior” (Frey et
al. 2009).
Bystander Effects on Bullying
Throughout the research articles, a common theme seemed to include peer support
and bystander effectiveness. In a 2010 study of over 400 elementary students, Veenstra
et al. described a climate where bullying is guided by “goal–framing effects of status and
affection” and that “bullies were only rejected by those for whom they were a potential
threat and that bullies generally chose their victims so as to minimize loss of affection by
choosing victims who were not likely to be defended by significant others” (Veenstra,
Lindenberg, Munniksma, Dijkstra, p. 480). The study also looked at the nature of
bullying and the existence of a power imbalance between the victim and the bully. Peer
involvement can be used to minimize or eliminate this imbalance. This is data that needs
to be considered when evaluating the success of social-emotional curriculum.
Frey et al. also addressed the utilization of peer support in their program
evaluation. After a second year of study, the researchers concluded that the program was
effective and that “changes observed in destructive bystander behavior were so
substantial that the behavior almost disappeared. Although there is considerable theory
and evidence that bystanders represent crucial elements in the social-ecological context
surrounding bullying, this is the first study to actually show changes in bystander
behavior. Removing the support of bystanders signals that bulling is no longer an
admired behavior, a potent message for peers to send to each other” (Frey et al., 2009).
Bullies are rejected by those that perceive them as a threat and that they will redirect their
aggression to same gender students that have low levels of acceptance. Not all students
will receive the same peer support and the curriculum needs to incorporate diversity and
inclusion of all students.
Observable Playground Behaviors
The definition of bullying may vary from case to case. There is physical
aggression, social exclusion, intimidation, verbal threats and, more recently, cyber
bullying. One common thread of bullying involves observable playground behaviors and
actions. Some other behaviors can include argumentative social behavior (bossiness),
laughing, name calling, cheering during bullying, and exclusion.
Empathy and Readiness to Act
With the consideration of peer support in regards to bullying, one has to consider
the age at which students are ready to become involved and what is at stake for peer
involvement. A study was conducted in Australia to consider such issues.
“Questionnaires were employed to assess student attitudes towards victims, beliefs about
the expectations of parents, friends and teachers, perceived self-efficacy, and social
desirability response set. Analysis identified as significant predictors of expressed
intention to intervene: attending primary school, having rarely or never bullied others,
having previously intervened, positive attitude to victims, and believing that parents and
friends (but not teachers) expected them to act to support victims” (Rigby and Johnson, p
425, 2006). It is reported that 85% of bullying situations occur when there are peers
nearby. They also noticed that it takes confidence to help someone in a dangerous
situation and that “helping victims would have a relatively high level of self-efficacy, the
belief in one’s ability to produce desired results by one’s own actions” (Rigby and
Johnson, p. 427, 2006). Their findings were that 43% of the students were willing to
intervene based on their self reports, however, direct observations on the playground
were slightly lower than reported. Perhaps the reality of the situations may prevent
students from following through on their reported intentions. An interesting note is that
primary school students appeared more likely to respond than secondary students and that
girls were more likely to respond then boys. Perhaps more research needs to be
conducted with the secondary students that have been educated through the years with
social and emotional curriculum.
Teacher and Parent Involvement
Often in the analysis of data, one questions the impact of teacher and parental
involvement. A study by Veenstra et al. (2005) studied the “effect of familial
vulnerability for internalizing and externalizing disorders. Gender, aggressiveness,
isolation, and unlikable characteristics were most strongly related to bullying and
victimization. Among the many findings that deviated from or enhanced the univariate
knowledge base were that not only victims and bully/victims but bullies as well were
disliked and that parenting was unrelated to bullying and victimization once other factors
were controlled” (Veenstra et al., p 672, 2005). They concluded that these students had
more difficulty relating with their peers than with their parents and that antisocial
children do not always have challenging familial backgrounds.
In regards to teacher involvement, there was a 2009 study by Flaspohler et al. that
analyzed the effect of bullying on well being and the effects of peer and teacher support.
Their study “supports school-wide intervention or prevention efforts that promote
students’ social-emotional well-being and promote the development of supportive
relationships at school in an effort to protect against bullying and victimization. Results
suggest that having peer social support may buffer the negative effects of bullying.
However, having only teacher support may not be enough to protect students from the
deleterious effect of bullying. Thus, fostering strong peer social support among students
may play an important role in reducing negative effects of bullying. Students who
perceived that they had both peer and teacher social support exhibited weakest
association between victimization and quality of life, which suggests that having peer
social support in tandem with teacher support provides the strongest buffer against the
negative effects of bullying” (Flaspohler et al. p. 646, 2009).
Appendix
Teacher Interview Prompts
How often do you witness bullying in your classroom?
What types of bullying do you witness?
What is the effect of bullying on academic time?
Where do you think bullying is most likely to occur?
Describe a time when you were bullied or witnessed bullying when you were in school?
How do you make yourself available to students with social concerns?
Why do you think students resort to bullying tendencies?
How do you think you could prevent bullying actions in the classroom?
Describe the effect students have in regards to peer relationships?
Sample Questions from Student Questionnaire
Describe how often you think bullying occurs at school?
What type of bullying have you experienced during school?
Where do you think bullying occurs most often?
Describe a time when someone helped you or when you saw someone being helped.
Describe how well you think teachers and staff help prevent bullying?
Who would you go to if you were being bullied?
Why do you think people bully each other?
Has anyone ever told you that you can’t be friends? How did you feel?
How could you help to stop bullying on the playground?
How do you think people feel when others laugh at them?
Have you ever laughed or cheered when someone was being bullied? How did you feel?
Have you ever called someone else a name, hit, kicked, pushed, threatened or been mean to
somebody? How did you feel when that happened?
BULLY PREVENTION RESEARCH
References
Flahpohler P, Elfstrom J, Vanderzee K, And Sink H (2009) Stand by me: The effects of peer and teacher
support in mitigating the impact of bullying on quality of life, Psychology in the Schools V. 46(7) pp. 636649.
Frey K, Hirschstein M, Endstrom L, Snell J,MacKenzie E, and Broderick C (2005) Reducing playground
bullying and supporting beliefs: An experimental trial of the Steps to Respect program, Developmental
Psychology v. 41(3) pp. 479-491.
Frey K, Hirschstein M, Endstrom L and Snell J (2009) Observed reductions in school bullying, nonbullying
aggression, and destructive bystander behavior: A longitudinal evaluation, The Journal of Educational
Psychology v. 101 no. 2 pp. 466-481.
Rigby K and Johnson B (2006) Expressed readiness of Australian schoolchildren to act as bystanders in
support of children who are being bullied, Educational Psychology, v. 26, no. 3 pp 425-440.
Veenstra R, Lindenberg S, Oldehinkel A, De Winter A, Verhulst F and Ormel J, (2005) Bullying and
victimization in elementary schools: A comparison of bullies, victims, bully/victims, and uninvolved
preadolescents, Developmental Psychology v. 41(4) pp. 672-682.
Veenstra R, Lindenberg S, Munniksma A and Dijkstra J (2010) The complex relation between bullying,
victimization, acceptance, and rejection: Giving special attention to status, affection, and sex differences,
Child Development, March/April 2010, V. 81(2) pp. 480-486