The school context and bullying
Anne Gregory, Ph.D.
Graduate School of Applied and
Professional Psychology
Rutgers, The State University of New
Jersey
Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act
• NJ Law: “Harassment, intimidation, or
bullying means any gesture, any written,
verbal or physical act or any electronic
communication, whether it is a single incident
or a series of incidents, that is reasonably
perceived as being motivated either by any
actual or perceived characteristic…”
• Point 1: Note the emphasis on perception of
one another, or ways of seeing each other,
and perceptions of difference.
Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act
• The actual or perceived characteristics motivating
the bullying include, “race, color, religion, ancestry,
national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender
identity and expression, or a mental, physical, or
sensory disability, or by any other distinguishing
characteristic.”
• Point 2: Targeted groups of students. Notice the
range of groups listed – this raises issues of
diversity.
Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act
• “…Creates a hostile educational
environment for the student by
interfering with a student’s education or
by severely or pervasively causing
physical or emotional harm to the
student.”
• Point 3: Hostile educational
environment raises the issue of the
broader school climate
Perceptions of difference (Point 1)
• Why do students who bully target
certain characteristics in their peers?
• What influences how we see
“difference”?
Factors influencing how we perceive others
Perceiver
(judging
difference)
Peer Norms, Bystander
Effects, and School
Climate
Societal beliefs
Point 2: Targeted groups in school
Who is most likely to be the target of
harassment, intimidation, or bullying?
• Targeted for difference
For example:
- students with disabilities,
- heavier students,
- LGBT youth
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
Youth*
• 72% reported hearing homophobic remarks at school
• 61% reported feeling unsafe at school
• 40% reported physical harassment because of sexual
orientation
• 64% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed
because of gender expression
* From GLSEN’s 2009 Survey
LGBT youth in Middle vs. High
school*
• More than 9 out of 10 LGBT middle school students
(91%) said they experienced harassment at school in
the past year because of their sexual orientation
• 59% experienced physical harassment and a startling
39% said they had been physically assaulted, nearly
twice as many as in high school (about 20%).
• Half of LGBT middle school students (50%) had
skipped at least one day of school in the past month
because they felt unsafe.
* From GLSEN’s 2007 survey
Reducing bullying and victimization
• We know that anti-bullying programs can help reduce certain
behaviors.
• A recent meta-analysis of 44 evaluations of such programs from
around the world showed programs can be effective. Across the
programs, there was a decrease in bullying by 20-23% and
victimization by 17-20% (Ttofi & Farrington, 2011).
• They found that programs with certain components were more
likely to be successful. Components include:
– Parent training,
– Playground supervision,
– A focus on classroom management.
• The breadth of the successful components suggests we need to
think comprehensively about changing hostile educational
environments.
Point 3: Hostile Educational Environment
Point 3: Hostile Educational Environment
120%
100%
29%
80%
53%
60%
40%
20%
71%
47%
0%
Bullying is a problem at this
school.
Students here often get teased
about their clothing or physical
appearance.
(Cornell, Gregory, Huang, & Fan, 2011)
Disagree
Agree
A
Hostile
Climate
120%
100%
Disagree
80%
45%
Agree
65%
60%
40%
55%
20%
35%
0%
Students here often get put down
because of their race or ethnicity.
There is a lot of teasing about
sexual topics at this school.
Tracked the 9th grade cohort for dropout
10th
th
12
grade
grade
th
11
grade
(Cornell, Gregory, Huang, & Fan, 2011)
School Dropout Counts Associated with Levels of
Bullying Climate and Failure Rates 26.9
18.8
18.5
12.9
Low Failure /Low Low Failure/High High Failure/Low High Failure/High
Bullying Climate Bullying Climate Bullying Climate Bullying Climate
(Cornell, Gregory, Huang, & Fan, 2011)
School Dropout Counts Associated with Levels of
Bullying Climate and Failure Rates
26.9
18.8
18.5
12.9
Low Failure /Low Low Failure/High High Failure/Low High Failure/High
Bullying Climate Bullying Climate Bullying Climate Bullying Climate
(Cornell, Gregory, Huang, & Fan, 2011)
Dropout Counts Associated with Levels of
Bullying Climate and Poverty Rates 26.3
19.2
18.1
13.2
Low Poverty /Low Low Poverty/High High Poverty/Low High Poverty/High
Bullying Climate Bullying Climate Bullying Climate Bullying Climate
(Cornell, Gregory, Huang, & Fan, 2011)
Seeking help and support
The majority of the cyber-bully victims and bystanders do not
report incidents to adults (Li, 2006, Mishna et al., 2010)
- Many feel adults at school would not be of help (Agatston, 2007)
Some students may be less likely to seek adult support and
help in school than other students.
For instance, a study showed that….
– African American and Latino students were less likely to regard
the adults at their school as supportive sources of help for a
problem (Marsh & Cornell, 2001).
Another study showed that…
– African American students reported lower levels of fairness and
teacher support compared to White students’ reports in their
same schools (Thompson & Gregory, 2011).
From Hostile to Engaging, Inclusive Schools
• Culture of negative peer norms (bystanders passively or actively
consenting to harassment) to a cultural of prosocial norms
• Culture of exclusion for difference Culture of inclusion and
respect
• Culture of alienation from school staff Culture of support and
guidance
• Culture of fear of “snitching”  Culture of effective help-seeking
with adults
• Culture of exclusion for rule-breaking Culture of taking
responsibility for actions, learning the impact on the community.