1. Amanda Nickerson, PhD Associate Professor and DirectorDr. Jean Alberti Center for the Prevention of BullyingAbuse and School ViolenceUniversity at Buffalonickersa@buffalo.edu gse.buffalo.edu/alberticenterSt. Mark School November 2, 2011

2. Question & answer format about bullying Role of parents, peers, and schools Theintent of this is to share information about an issue of concern for all Not designed to place blame Designed to emphasize responsibility and working together to problem-solve 3. Intentional, usually repeatedacts of verbal, physical, orwritten aggression by a peer(or group of peers) operatingfrom a position of strength orpower with the goal ofhurting the victim physicallyor damaging status and/orOlweus (1978); United States Department ofsocial reputationEducation (1998) 4. Physical bullying punching, shoving, acts that hurt people Verbal bullying name calling, making offensive remarks Indirect bullying spreading rumors, excluding, ganging up Cyber bullying sending insulting messages, pictures or threats by e-mail, text messaging, chat rooms 5. Bullying: Based on a power imbalance; intent to cause psychological or physical harm; usually repeated Conflict: A struggle, dispute, or misunderstanding between two equal forcesTeasing: Fun, good-natured, give-and-take between friends to getboth parties to laugh 6. Estimatesvary WIDELY, but according to student self-report... 20-25% have bullied at least once 5-20% bully consistently 15-40% are targets of bullying 20-25% are bullied regularly ~ 18-20% are cyber-bullied 1-2% are extreme victims who experiencesevere traumatization or distressCarylyle & Steinman (2007); Cowie (2000); Nansel et al. (2001);Perry, Kusel, & Perry (1988); Skiba & Fontanini (2000) 7. Pre-Kthrough late high school (and beyond); peaks in middle school Physical bullying declines as children get older Social, verbal, and cyberbullying continue through high school Anywhere; most likely in less closely supervised areas Bus, locker room, playground, lunch, hallways, and everywhere (for cyberbullying) 8. Boys More direct, physical bullying Bully more frequently than girls Bully both boys and girls Girls More indirect More subtle, hard to detect, and often occurs in groups Tend to target other girls of the same age Cyberbullying slightly more common than for malesBanks (2000); Cook, Williams, Guerra, Kim, & Sadek, (2010); Crick & Grotpeter, (1995); Hinduja & Patchin, (2009); Hoover &Oliver, (1996); Nansel et al., (2001); Olweus, (2002); Underwood, (2003) 9. Desire for power and control Get satisfaction from others suffering Justify their behavior (he deserved it) More exposed to physical punishment More likely to be depressed Engage in other risky and delinquent behaviors Alcohol and drug use Fighting Batsche & Knoff (1994); Beaver, Perron, & Howard, (2010); Olweus (1993);Swearer et al. (in press); Vaughn, Bender, DeLisi, (in press) 10. Have a position of relative weakness Age, ethnic background, financial status, disability, sexual orientation Most are passive and lack assertiveness Do nothing to invite aggression Do not fight back when attacked May relate better to adults than peers Fewerprovoke others (provocative victims or bully-victims) Offend, irritate, tease others Reactive; fight back when attacked Boivin, Poulin, & Vitaro (1994); Hodges & Perry (1999); Olweus (1978, 1993, 2001);Schwartz (2000); Snyder et al. (2003) 11. Refer to others negatively (wimp, loser) Lack empathy Strong need to get his or her own way Hostile/defiant attitude Anger easily Deny involvement or blame others whenbehavior addressed 12. Unexplainedillnesses, cuts/bruises Not want to go to school or be in social situations Change in behavior Not interested in doing things he/she used to like doing Withdrawn 13. More likely to experience legal or criminal troubles as adults (even after controlling for other risk factors) Poor ability to develop and maintain positive relationships in later lifeAndershed, Kerr, & Stattin (2001); Farrington (2009);Farrington, & Ttofi (2009, 2011); Oliver, Hoover, & Hazler(1994); Olweus (1993); Ttofi & Farrington (2008) 14. Emotional distress Loneliness, peer rejection Desire to avoid school Increased anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation;low self-esteem In some cases, may respond with extremeviolenceBoivin, Hymel, & Bukowski (1995);Boulton & Underwood (1992);Crick & Bigbee (1998);Egan & Perry (1998);Hinduja, & Patchin, (2009);Kochenderfer & Ladd (1996);Nickerson & Sltater (2009);Olweus (1993); Perry et al. (1988) 15. Culture &School Family Bully, Target, andCommunity(Staff/Peers)BystanderAdapted fromSwearer & Espelage(2004) 16. Peerssee 85% of bullying (most join in, some ignore, small number intervene) Peersare influential in early adolescence, when they are more supportive of bullying and less likely to intervene Bullying = higher social status in a group Adolescents seek out peers who display moreindependent, aggressive as opposed to more adult-like, conforming behaviors Culture of silence Charach et al. (1995); Hawkins, Pepler, & Craig 17. Bullying is more likely to thrive in: Unsupportive or unhealthy school climates Environments lacking in sense of belonging for students and strongrelationships among and between students, teachers, andfamilies Schools where adults ignore or dismiss bullying behaviors Schools who serve students who are not academically engaged LEADERSHIP IS CRITICAL!!! Doll, Song, Champion, & Jones, (2011); Holt, Keyes, & Koenig, (2011); Kasen, Johnson, Chen, Crawford, &Cohen, (2011); Swearer (in press) 18. Oftennot involved in bullying problem or resolution Intervene less than 10% of the time Not told about problem (victims fear reprisal) Powerfulinfluence on peer acceptance of others Warmth, positive feedback leads to greater peer acceptance Banks (1997); Chang (2003); Cohn & Canter (2002); Hughes, Cavell, & Willson (2001); Limber (2002); Mullin-Rindler (2003); Skiba & Fonanini (2000); White, Sherman, & Jones (1996) 19. For children who bully, there may be Less warmth, involvement, supervision Lack of clear, consistent rules Harsh/corporal punishment Parental discord Domestic violence/child abuse For children who are bullied, there may be More intense, overprotective parenting (for boys) Threats of rejection and lack of assertion (for girls) Inconsistent discipline practices (overprotective and neglectful) without warmth for bully-victims For children who intervene, there may be More open, trusting relationships with mothersBowers et al. (1994); Finnegan et al. (1998); Ladd & Ladd (1998);Nickerson, Mele, & Princiotta (2008); Olweus, Limber, & Mihalic (1999) 20. What can we do?We must not, in trying to think about how we can makea big difference, ignore the small daily differences wecan make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.Marian Wright EdelmanFounder and President of the Childrens Defense Fund 21. Modeltreating others with dignity andrespect Watch (and listen) in social interactions Have high expectations for behavior and alow tolerance for being meanParents who are afraid to put their foot down usually havechildren who step on their toes. - Chinese Proverb 22. Responsible use of technology Remember that this is written communication thatcan be traced back to you Only communicate things that you would be OKabout your parents seeing Follow rules (no Facebook under age of 13) Beware of anonymous sites like Formspring Use the off switch Do not respond to upsetting communications 23. Supervise and limit activities (no 24/7) Have computers in common areas (not inbedroom) Know childs password Be friend on Facebook Bring cell phones, computers to parents room tocharge overnight Consider contractswww.cyberbullying.us for examples 24. See Alberti Center Website for other resources andconversation starters gse.buffalo.edu/alberticenter 25. Havinga close friend and being liked decreases likelihood of victimization Friends can buffer against negative effects of bullyingHodges, Boivin, Vitaro, and Bukowski (1999);Hodges, Malone, & Perry (1997);Pellegrini, Bartini, and Brooks (1999) 26. Dont join inspeak up if it is safe to do so Band together as a group against bullies Tell an adult about the bullying Tattling = telling an adult on someone just to get him/her in trouble Telling = telling an adult on someone because the persons behavior is unsafe or hurtful to another Reach out as friends to isolated peers, offer support Interventioncental.org 27. Listen Tell me what happened Empathize with feeling That must have been very scary for you Take it seriously Do not minimize or trivialize Work with child to problem-solve Simple responses like just ignore it, give him a good whack Work in partnership with school! Follow-up 28. Focus on the behavior (not on thechild as a person) Apply logical, meaningful consequencesWork with school to develop plan Increase empathy and perspective taking Teach problem-solving to manage emotions Cognitive restructuring for problematicattributions (e.g., He deserved it; Now theyknow who is in charge) Assess for other problems (e.g., drugs,suicidality) 29. Thank you for your attention and interest! For more resources,please visit us atgse.buffalo.edu/alberticenter