Bullying. Types of bullying. Age and gender differences in Bullying - Research Paper Example

? What intervention can a Case planner use with 12 grade in a Long Island, Commack- New York day program room to discourage the issue of bullying with students? What intervention can a Case planner use with 12 grade students in a Long Island, Commack- New York day program classroom to discourage the issue of bullying with students? Bullying occurs in many forms in our society. In schools, societies, families and workplaces, bullying occur physically, verbally or emotionally. School bullying seems to be the most dangerous one since teenagers may not have the necessary mental power to tolerate disturbing experiences. According to a recent statistics, “1 in 2 students experience occasional bullying during any school term. Moreover, 1 in 4 students in primary school are bullied more than once or twice at least in any term”(Statistics on Bullying, n. d.). According to Dune et al. (2010), “Bullying, aggression and other forms of violence in schools can blight student experiences of formal education and their abilities to make the best of the opportunities they have” (Dune et al, 2010, p.1). There are many cases in which school bullying cased not only psychological problems such as depression but also suicide tendency as well. In short, bullying should be prohibited in school compounds at any cost. This paper reviews the available literature to find out what intervention can a Case planner use with 12 grade students in a Long Island, Commack- New York day program classroom to discourage the issue of bullying with students. In order to formulate an intervention plan against bullying a case planner should have ideas about things like; Types of bullying, Age and gender differences in Bullying, characteristics of victims, Participant’s role in bullying, Reporting of bullying etc Types of bullying Bullying occurs in many forms such as physical, verbal, social, and cyber. “Physical bullying includes any physical contact that would hurt or injure a person like hitting, kicking, punching, etc” (Types of bullying, n. d.). Physical bullying may cause physical injuries to the victim. In most of the cases, physical bullying occurs in cases in which the victim happens to be weak compared to the offender/offenders. According to Pepler et al (2006), “Sexual bullying and dating aggression has similar levels to general bullying”(Pepler et al, 2006). Physical bullying can be prevented up to certain extent by taking actions against unnecessary gang formation in schools. “Verbal bullying is name-calling, making offensive remarks, or joking about a person's religion, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or the way they look” (Types of bullying, n. d.). It is an act of teasing. It is normally performed by a group of people upon an individual. Verbal bullying can lead towards physical assaults or physical bullying. Verbal bullying usually develops psychological problems such as depression, anxiety etc. to the victim. It can cause loss of interest in studies and other daily activities. Schools should implement a code of conduct for in order to avoid verbal bullying. “Social alienation is when a bully excludes someone from a group on purpose. It also includes a bully spreading rumours, and also making fun of someone by pointing out their differences” (Types of bullying, n. d.). It is an act of isolation. In social bullying, the offenders will prevent the victim from interacting with others. Offenders normally spread fabricated stories about the victim so that nobody will try to mingle with the victim. Schools should take stern actions against those who try to isolate somebody from the main streams of school life. “92 students aged 11-16 from 14 London schools completed a survey on bullying. 22% had experienced cyber bullying at least once. 6.6% had experienced being bullied in this way in the previous two months” (International Network, 2010). Cyber bullying is an act of spreading rumors or false stories against the victim with the help of internet. Electronic devices such as mobile phones and computers provide immense opportunities to the cyber bullies. There are instances in which the cyber offenders or bullies spread morphed nude pictures of the victim. In any case, cyber bullying is as painful as other forms of bullying. “Levels of cyberbullying are more difficult to gauge: each time a malicious image or message is viewed could count as a separate incident. Overall, levels of cyber bullying appear to be increasing” (DCSF, 2009). It is difficult to take actions against cyber bullying beyond certain limits. The intervention of cybercrime prevention bodies is necessary to tackle cases with respect to cyber bullying. Age and gender differences in Bullying Many researches unanimously agree that overall, bullying decreases with age, although there is an initial increase when pupils transition from primary to secondary school (Olweus, 1993; Smith et al, 1999; Pellegrini and Long, 2002; Salmivalli, 2002; Griffin and Gross, 2004; Pepler et al, 2006). Bullying usually happens because of the immaturity of the teenagers in segregating between the good and evil. As time goes on bullies realize the consequences of their actions and may try to stay away from such activities. Smith et al. (1999) have pointed out that “As children grow older they develop better social skills, which seem to protect them against bullying” (Smith et al, 1999). It is quite evident that both the offender and the victim may undergo lot of changes as time goes on. The victim may develop more abilities to adjust with the pressure exerted by the bullies and the bullies also may get bored by the overtime activities of bullying. So any intervention plan to avoid school bullying should include topics such as the consequences of bullying and the management of bullying. According to Craig (1998) and Berger (2007), bullying is common both among males and females (Craig, 1998 & Berger, 2007). However, there are some differences in the type of bullying activities. “Girls are more involved in verbal and relational bullying and boys in physical” (Reid et al, 2004; Stassen Berger, 2007). Genetically, boys are stronger and aggressive than females. So, physical encounters will be more among teenage boys. On the other hand, girls are more interested in verbal bullying since they are more interested in socializing than boys. The intervention plan should account for these basic differences in the bullying habits of males and females. In other words, separate intervention plans required for boys and girls to prevent bullying cases. Defining characteristics of victims Victims may understandably have poor self-esteem, and a greater tendency towards depression and anxiety (Craig, 1998; Hawker and Boulton, 2000 & Carney and Merrell, 2001). Physical and psychological injuries are the major outcomes of bullying. In some cases, physical and psychological injuries may become intolerable and the victims may commit suicide. Victims normally respond in a passive manner to the bullying incidents which will encourage the bullies further. “Risk factors that have been identified for victimisation include peer-rejection, finding social situations difficult, and experiencing loneliness”(Crick and Grotpeter, 1995; Nansel et al, 2001; Schafer et al, 2005 & Scheithauer et al, 2006). The intervention plans should give more focus to the development of friendships in school campuses since bullies often target isolated individuals with less support from the friends. “Friendships act as a protective factor: having a number of meaningful friendships reduces the risk of victimization (Hodges et al, 1999; Schwartz et al, 2000; Goldbaum et al, 2003). Reporting of Bullying “Majority of children express anti-bullying or pro-victim attitudes regardless of their actual behaviour when bullying occurs” (Menesini et al, 1997 & Boulton et al, 1999). Up to around 50 per cent of victims report the bullying to their school (Whitney and Smith, 1993; Craig et al, 2000; Fekkes et al, 2005). However, there are many cases in which the victims were afraid of reporting the bullying incidents because of the threatening of the offenders. Offenders will be encouraged more when they escape from any punishments. So the intervention plan should be devised in such a way that it should encourage victims to report the bullying incidents more frequently. Conclusions School bullying is a serious issue that needs to be addressed by school management. A well-defined and carefully formulated intervention plan can prevent school bullying up to certain extent. The cooperation of teachers, parents and students are necessary to prevent bullying incidents in schools. Tougher consequences must be put in place at school and consequences of the issue must be made to clearer to all the students in the school. Parents should extend maximum cooperation to the school authorities to prevent bullying incidents. References Dunne, M., Bosumtwi, S.C., Sabates, R. and Owusu A. (2010). Bullying and School Attendance: A Case Study of Senior High School Students in Ghana. Retrieved from http://www.create-rpc.org/pdf_documents/PTA41.pdf International Network, (2010), Retrieved from http://www.fbsc-net.eu/eng/bullying.html Types of bullying, (n. d.), Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00117/typesbullying.html “Statistics on Bullying”. Retrieved from http://www.coastkid.org/si-sob.html Read More