Bullying from a Psychological Perspective - Book Report/Review Example

College: A Critical Analysis to Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Realistic Strategies for Schools The book seeks to examine bullying behaviors in Elementary, Middle and High Schools, the authors argue that it is important to realize that students do not always remain bullies or victims. According to them, this was discovered after a three year tracking of a group of students and it was realized that these roles change and students do not necessarily remain bullies or victims. A tracking of students in middle school over a three year period showed that only less than 13% remained in their initial group(whether as a bully, bully-victim or victim (Swearer ,2003 et al ). The authors feel that students should not be labeled as bullies or victims as this would tend to show that these are fixed characteristics. There have been different definitions of bullying, one of them is that it is a form of proactive violence aggression, in which the bully is unprovoked and initiates the bullying behaviors (Swearer, et al, 2003) Bullying should be differentiated from aggression as it involves an imbalance of power whereby the victim is usually weaker than the bully and could take other forms such as threats from the bully. Bullying is also done through computers and cell phones. An example is given of a kid named Joe who complains to his stepmother about the treatment that he receives from his peers who not only abuse him verbally, but also tend to get physical. Matters in this case do not seem to be made any better by the teachers who seem oblivious of what Joe is going through and thus he also feels that they are also part of the group bullying him. Joe is also not left out when it comes to bullying, he issues threats and uses profanities against those he feels bully him. He tells others that he is allowed to engage in certain antisocial behavior such as playing violent games, watching R-rated movies and usually tells just any kind of stories just to get attention of other kids. He is also not spared torment from his relatives and an example is given of his two female cousins who had been tormenting him and making fun of him for a long time and his eight year old brother seems to have picked a cue from them and also appears to have started bullying his elder brother (Sullivan et al, 2004). The school appears not to have the resources or the willingness to deal with cases of students such as John who are not able to fit in with the rest of the children. Thus for kids such as Joe, the experience of being in school is not an interesting one and is thus very traumatizing for them. Kids like him are easy to be victims since they do not have the necessary social skills to deal with the social problems that afflict them. This scenario causes his parents to worry about what the young man will turn out to be and thus hope that he is going to overcome the challenges and grow into a strong and independent person while their fear is that he might succumb to the bullying that he is going through (). It was realized that bullying increased as kids moved from fifth grade to sixth grade which is essentially the moving from elementary to middle school. It was also realized that maintaining the teams of the students as they were before the sixth grade substantially reduced bullying in school and so was the keeping of counselors following the same cohort of students over the years. Attraction theory is an important theory in establishing how peers influence and maintain bullying in school. The theory states that young adolescents become attracted to other youth who have the same behavior or characteristics as them and thus those who are bullies will most likely get into grouping with fellow bullies. This usually happens when young people are moving to high schools. Research also tends to show that these grouping s are usually not viewed negatively by other people as was commonly held by aggression researchers and in fact the aggressive ones are usually nominated as the most popular by their peers. It is however important to realize that peers can be a great source of support in cases of children and adolescents (Whitted & Dupper, 2007). Families are also major socializing places for children. Parents and other family members provides with examples of learning emotions, problems solving skills and skills to deal with other life issues. However it is not always that kids are presented with the best role models in their homes and thus end up learning pro aggression attitudes , develop and inability to regulate or identify emotions. They also fail to learn the necessary skills to manage situations in schools and in their communities. As a group bullies admit that their parents are more authoritarian, and condone “fighting back,” and use physical punishment. Positive and negative attachments to parents have been seen to be key determinants as to whether children turn out to be bullies or victims later in life. A study examining bullying across transition from elementary to middle school it was found that teacher attachment in fifth grade was a major predictor of lower levels of bullying for students during their sixth grade, even after controlling their levels of bullying during their fifth-grade year. Parental social support is another factor related to bullying involvement middle school students who were classified as bullies or victims are found to have indicated that they received less social support from their parents. However, some findings on studies on family structure and bullying show an increased between non intact families and bullies while other studies show no relationship (Whitted &Dupper, 2007). A unique set of characteristics has also been found to exist in families of those kids who turn out to be victims; such families often display high levels of cohesion. Moreover, victims have often been found to have less authoritative parents and live in families where there are low levels of negotiation and high levels of conflict. However there has been less research focusing on bully-victims but research tend to suggest that parents of bully-victims are found to be less warm and over protective as compared to those of those who are uninvolved (Brothers & Levinson, 2004). The authors appear to have done a credible research with regard to the causes of bullying in school. They have also suggested various approaches which can be employed in order to stem this perennial problem of bullying which if not nipped in the bud could degenerate into uncontrollable levels. It is thus vital that a solution is sought and this should not be left just to the parents and teachers, but the society as a whole should be involved and there should also be involvement of the government in such initiatives (Brothers & Levinson, 2004).It is also worth noting the tender age at which bullying tends to take place. To prevent this behavior, it is critical that counseling of children about the problems of bullying should begin at an early age so as to raise children who are more informed and not likely to be involved in this antisocial behavior. References Bennett, Elizabeth Peer Abuse Know More: Bullying From a Psychological Perspective (2006) Brothers, L. M. & Levinson, E. M. (2004, Fall). Assessment of Bullying: A review of methods and instruments. “Journal of Counseling & Development, 82(4), 496–503.” Peretti, F. (2003). No more bullies: For those who wound or are wounded. Nashville: W Publishing Group. Sanders ,C& Phye,G.D. Bullying: implications for the classroom .Academic Press, 2004 Swearer, S. M., Espelage, D.L & Napolitano, S.A.(2003)Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Realistic Strategies for Schools .The Guilford Practical Intervention in Schools Series. Sullivan,K.,Cleary,M & Sullivan,G.(2004).Bullying in secondary schools: what it looks like and how to manage it .SAGE. Whitted, K. S.; Dupper, D. R. (2007). "Do Teachers Bully Students?: Findings From a Survey of Students in an Alternative Education Setting". Education and Urban Society 40: 329. Whitted, K.S. & Dupper, D.R. (2005). Best Practices for Preventing or Reducing Bullying in Schools. “Children and Schools, Vol. 27, No. 3, July 2005, pp. 167-175(9)”. Read More