Bullying in Schools - Research Proposal Example

Bullying in Schools Introduction Most likely bullying is inbred in schools for perhaps as long as schools have existed. Recently, systematic investigation has confirmed to be a pervasive phenomenon. However, in her discussion, Arehart-Treichel comments that parents and teachers have become more determined to have actions taken to stop severe bullying. Clearly, bullying can blight the life of many pupils experiencing it, while those "who get away with bullying others" are learning values at odds without improper preparation for citizenship. Looking back, educators have seriously tried to eradicate bullying in schools, but one will have to confess that there had only been really modest success. There have only been about a dozen carefully conducted interventional studies done, and they claim a meager 15% reduction in the incidence of bullying in a school (Arehart-Treichel, 2004). Pujazon-Zazik studies bullying is an undesirable form of behavior, which is widely prevalent in our schools, and it can be greatly reduced, if not possibly entirely eliminated, principally by actions taken by schools and also, to a lesser degree, by active involvement parents. To be able to do this, it is important to achieve an understanding of the phenomenon of school bullying and to suggest how it can be encountered effectively. Many teachers and parents of the present age desperately desire to know what the way forward is. Although it is better said than done, to accomplish this apparently impossible task, there must be some understanding of what bullying is, and why some children bully others, and why some children are bullied, before one can decide on a course of action. The matter of hope is that schools have become increasingly aware that bullying is an important problem to be addressed in public, and doing so openly will be greeted with grateful recognition from parents and pupils, who are victims (Pujazon-Zazik, 2008). Bullying can be described as the systematic abuse of power. Greif and coworkers deals with the topic of operationally defining bullying, and according to them, there will always be power relationships in social groups, by virtue of strength or size or ability, force of personality, sheer numbers or recognised hierarchy (Greif, Furlong, and Morrison, 2003). Bullying can occur in many contexts, including the workplace and the home; it is particularly likely to be a problem in social groups with clear power relationships and low supervision, such as the armed forces, prisons and also schools. Frank and colleagues have reported through their longitudinal survey that most US medical students even report bullied during medical schools. They felt harassed, belittled, and it has been reported that poor mental health and low career satisfaction were significantly associated with these events (Frank et al., 2006). Bullies are a prevalent problem in schools and one of the biggest difficulties for students, teachers, and administrators. There is a lot of discussion about the problem of bullying, but there has been surprisingly little action. Strategy for Literature Review To examine this issue, it was thought that a literature review would be worthwhile. To build a scientific basis of evidence, a comprehensive literature search was undertaken and then evaluated. For the purpose of the review of literature to support the rationale, need, and continuation of the project, the author conducted an exhaustive literature search. Electronic databases accessed for information included: CINHAL, Medline and Pubmed along with the Google Scholar internet search engine. Moreover MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL and Cochrane databases were searched to identify relevant literature on school bullying as a social problem. UMI Proquest Digital Dissertations, ISI Web of Science, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, and HighWire Press were also searched. The key words in the search included bullying, bully, child, school, and victim. Inclusion criteria for each article reviewed were answers to the following questions: 1. Was the article a valid research article? 2. Did the article’s study include bullying in the schools applied to sociology practice? 3. Was the article published within the past 10 years? 4. Did the article have some identification with nursing practice and healthcare delivery related to postoperative nausea and vomiting? Each article must answer “yes” to all of these four questions. Based on these criteria, out of about 250 initial articles, only 4 latest articles that fit the criteria described above were selected to be critically reviewed to synthesize evidence relevant to the sociological sciences. Review of Literature Nansel et al. has opened their discussion with the statement that "bullying among school-aged youth is increasingly being recognized as an important problem affecting wellbeing and social functioning" ((Nansel et al., 2001, 2094). Given the fact that bullying is in human nature, conflict and harassment is probably a part of peer relations, but bullying is something else. It can be at place, but it is surprising that it occurs most commonly in schools. Contrary to the fact that our schools have become a place of fear and threat, where safety is challenged and where respect and care are absent, schools should be inclusive, inviting, and exciting, places, where all learn how to live in a community despite variations. However, in the schools when it begins, usually the victim is repeatedly exposed to it negative behaviour on the part of one or a group of other students. While the imbalance of power is now a recognized factor, it is to be remembered that bullying is intolerable because it is cruel and repeated oppression by the powerful over the powerless, without any justification. This behaviour can be gratuitous violence, physical or psychological. This may take the form of physical such as hitting, pushing, and kicking or verbal such as spreading slander, making threats, provoking, and calling names. Even making faces or social exclusion is another form. Bullying creates memories that often last a lifetime. This definitely creates hindrance to positive healthy development of the youth. A healthy school is one in which students are supposed to not only refrain from fighting or verbally hurting each other but also develop positive relationships (Nansel et al., 2001). While about 49 to 50% of all students experience bullying during the tenure of their education, Fekkes and coworkers present very interesting data that 8 to 46% of the students are bullied by only 5 to 30% of the bullies, who are regularly active. Like the episode of any disease, the extent of the problem is usually measured by the recurrence. Those who are bullied, they are done so several times a month, weekly, or maybe even sometimes. This recurrent pattern is particularly harmful for the victims. However, the recurrent bullying occurs at a lower rate of 1,9% to 19% of the incidences (Fekkes, Pijpers, and Verloove-Vanhorick, 2005). The most common form of bullying has been known to be direct verbal aggression that may occur both in the males of females. Boys are more active and direct bullies, whereas girls commonly shun the victim, start a rumor, or take personal belongings. However, most researchers have found that boys and girls are bullied in equal frequencies. While talking about these forms of bullying, another form is very prevalent in the current era of networking and internet. The Portsmouth Herald reported that pre-adolescents and teens use anonymity to work out cyber-bullying (Portsmouth Herald Editorial Board, 2005). Swartz reports when school officials invited about 600 students, parents, educators and law-enforcement officials to a one-half day conference on cyber-bullying in Westchester County in the State of New York, approximately 194 out of 200 students had accepted that they personally had been a cyber-victim or perpetrator, or knew a friend who had been (Swartz, 2005). Many people are not familiar with the term, but those who know how internet or wireless networks work they would support King in that it is dangerous since anyone can practice it without the need to confront the victim. "You don’t have to be strong or fast, simply equipped with a cell phone or computer and a willingness to terrorize" (King, 2006). Nansel and colleagues have done an exhaustive literature review, where they find that both bullied and the bullies have compromised psychosocial functioning. The children who bully have been studied and have been found to be quite outgoing and socially confident. They show very little anxiety or guilt and very much conform to their own ideals as being dominant and powerful in their own peer group. They take bullying as the medium of expression of their social position, where they perceive that their families would support their aggression as acceptable and realistic. This attitude would lead to higher level of conduct problems and dislike of school. On the contrary, those who are bullied have opposite characteristics in many of the ways. They are more likely to demonstrate anxiety in social interactions since they usually do not feel confident in peer interactions. They have poor self-assertive skills, and they handle the aggressive reactions very poorly (Nansel et al., 2004). These findings support Kusel and colleagues’ specific finding that their victimization scores positively correlated with peer rejection scores and negatively correlated with peer acceptance (Perry, Kusel and Perry, 1988). On the top of that, these subjects are in general physically weaker and show higher levels of insecurity, low self-esteem, physical and mental symptoms, depression, loneliness, and unhappiness. The current research can provide a guide to intervention and policy development. Analysis While bullying is a systemic abuse of power in a repetitive manner, it also implies an imbalance of power within a specific interaction since the victim cannot defend him or herself easily for various reasons. These power relations may be being outnumbered or being physically inferior in the victim. While others who experience such victimization, they are obligated to intervene, taking into considerations the rights of the victim. The impact of bullying on children in the normal course of school life can also be devastating. As highlighted by Camodeca et al., mental anguish from the social exclusion caused by physical and psychological bullying is sufficient to destroy the confidence of any adult, and if it is a child, it can have lifelong effects on the mind. An area of considerable importance in accounting for the prevalence of bullying in a school is bystander behaviour, since this has implications in preventive interventions. Many studies have shown that bystanders are usually present when bullying takes place, and the process of bullying gets reinforcement by bystanders of bullying behaviour. This can be accomplished in two ways, either positively through encouragement given to bullies or through the withholding of any adverse comment or intervention. If there is no one to interfere, object, or stop, the bully has a chance to give a show of suffering of others, and this practically guarantees that the bullying will go on and on (Camodeca et al., 2003). Henderson and coworkers indicate that a bully needs a small group of close supporters, both as helpers and immediate mates to impress, but will also profit from having a larger audience to impress, frighten and intimidate. Studies that have investigated the roles of other children in a bullying event have shown that in 90% of these events there would be either observers or collaborators. It has been noticed that the presence of a group is important in bullying, which is encouraged by on lookers and passive participants (Henderson, Hymel, Bonanno, and Davidson, 2002). In that sense, bullying is a group phenomenon. Those who witness a bullying incident are always one of the following, victim, bully, reinforcer of the bully, assistant to the bully, defender of the victim, and outsider To answer the question, why it happens when there are bystanders, and why they do not intervene, studies by Salmivalli have shown many interesting features. In his representative study, Salmivalli found that 23.7% students desired to defend the victim (Salmivalli, 2001). Pepler and Craigs’ study demonstrated that while 83% of the students feel discomfort watching someone to be bullied, actually 25% would support the bullies. Henderson and colleagues, however, note that peer bystanders who witness but do nothing actually are contributors to the problem (Pepler and Craig, 1997). More disturbing is the fact that this reinforces the chances of a future episode or intensity of the current episode since bystanders are often friendlier towards the instigators after such episodes, which increases the latter’s excitement and aggression. Henderson and Hymel report that peer witnesses lack the courage to report bullying because they are not confident of receiving assistance and protection from teachers or administrators. This may be a valid reason, but other factors may be involved too. The peers respond in this manner since the personal responsibility is diffused in presence of others; the power differential between themselves and the perpetrator intimidates them, and consequently, they are afraid of becoming victims themselves. The third reason is helplessness and ignorance, where they not have strategies for dealing with bullying and opt not to intervene. In this regard, the interactionist approach to these situations tells us that the bullying relationship is a social relationship, and it is influenced by the social dynamics of the immediate peer group, the wider peer group, the systems and procedures within the school, and the ethics and the mores of the community (Henderson and Hymel, 2002). Victims are often victims since they lack a larger social network or a peer group of their own. Salmivalli has pointed out that those who actively participate, help, reinforce, or bystand, actually do not know how important their contribution is, and these children surpass the victims, outsiders, or defenders network of supports both in volume and intensity (Salmivalli, 2001). Henderson and Hymel (2002) also report that the greater the number of children present, the longer the behaviour continued, and, concomitantly, the abuse intensified (Henderson and Hymel, 2002). Again, this should be noted because it is especially true of cyber-bullying, when large numbers of children can get involved at any time of the day or night from different places acting on the target at the same point in time, virtually present and physically absent. Bystanders, in this way contribute to the harassment. Those who bully, do not process social information accurately and they lack skills to understand other people’s perspectives. This means they are unaware about what others are thinking of them, and they have deficiency in empathizing abilities. These are important deficits since they also influence the other areas of achievements. Evidence suggests that these deficits result from environmental influences. It has been shown that this commonly occurs with children who are exposed to neglect or other inadequate experiences, through which they develop their own internal working models of human relationships that are not healthy or normal, leading to social incompetence. This theoretical framework tends to create a stereotype of a bully who is a social outcast and lacks social insight. On the other hand, the victims also have lapses in the social information processing. Camodeca et al. (2003) reported that bully-victims exhibit deficits in clarification/interpretation in the second stage of processing and in response decision making in the fifth stage of processing (Camodeca et al., 2003). However, it has been argued recently that bullies actually have a superior mind in the sense that they have ability to attribute mental states to themselves and others in order to explain and predict behavior, and they use these skills and are more equipped to read and understand the feelings and emotions of other people and utilize these in bullying (Sutton, 2001). Taking into consideration the other forms of bullying demonstrating indirect aggression, such as spreading rumors, excluding victims from social groups, and avoiding getting caught in a bullying episode, these are important and very useful skills. Further research has argued against this theory stating that "having a superior" mind "says nothing about how that knowledge will be utilized’’ and these advanced skills also lead to a highly prosocial behavior (Arsenio & Lemerise, 2001, 67). Proposal Depending on these data, it is imperative that there is some intervention. Any intervention designed for this must have a systematic, whole-school approach to school bullying. This is important since bullying in workplace and in life in adult hood beings in the school. This should generally include the development of a well supported anti-bullying policy; talking with and enlisting the support of students through group discussion, and training for students in conflict resolution and mediation, systematic ways of dealing with cases of bullying both in the school and outside in the community through psychological interventions, and family changes where families and parents are involved into close and constructive working on bully and or victim problems. To be able to do this, starting at school, the administration and teachers would be educated in a week-long program in bully risk reduction. Since bullying has unique risk factors associated with schools environment such as teachers lack of classroom management skills, poor teaching abilities, low expectations of student success, and an inefficient discipline system, and research has also recognized that a schools discipline plan is an important protective factor, these can be strengthened to prevent such episodes (Smith, Ananiadou, Cowie, 2003). After the week-long programme with the teachers and administrators of all the schools in the county, they will be involved in similar presentations and discussions with all students in each school to discuss varying aspects of bullying in order to raise awareness. The students will be involved in such program very actively, and if the negotiation with the administration of the schools goes in the right track, these joint meetings can be used as platforms to announce the school policies of zero tolerance of bullying. The schools will be persuaded to enter into a contract of change of policy where they will be guided to hire security personnel, install surveillance systems, and establish harsher punishments for violent behavior, such as, suspensions and expulsions. These could be implemented through involvement of the family, where family intervention methods may be initiated for the families of the bully and the bullied. Reference Arehart-Treichel, J., (2004). Bullyings Sequelae Know No Borders. Psychiatric News; 39: 19 - 44. Arsenio, W. F., & Lemerise, E. A. (2001). Varieties of childhood bullying: Values, emotion processes and social competence. Social Development, 10(1), 59–73. Camodeca, M., Goossens, F. A., Schuengel, C., & Terwogt, M. M. (2003). Links between social information processing in middle childhood and involvement in bullying. Aggressive Behavior, 29, 116–127. Fekkes, M., Pijpers, F. I. M., and Verloove-Vanhorick, S. P., (2005). Bullying: who does what, when and where? Involvement of children, teachers and parents in bullying behavior. Health Education Research.; 20: 81 - 91. Frank, E., Carrera, JS., Stratton, T., Bickel, J., and Nora, LM., (2006). Experiences of belittlement and harassment and their correlates among medical students in the United States: longitudinal survey. British Medical Journal; 333: 682. Greif, JL., Furlong, MJ., and Morrison, G., (2003). Operationally Defining "Bullying" Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine; 157: 1134 - 1135. Henderson, N. R. and Hymel, S. (2002). Peer contributions to bullying in schools: Examining student response strategies. Paper presented at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Annual Convention (Poster session), Chicago, Illinois. Henderson, N. R., Hymel, S., Bonanno, R. A. and Davidson, K. (2002). Bullying as a normal part of school life: Early adolescents’ perspectives on bullying and peer harassment. Paper presented at the Safe Schools Safe Communities Conference (Poster session), Vancouver, British Columbia. King, L. (2006, August 15). No hiding from online bullies. Retrieved November 31, 2008, from http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060815. Nansel, TR., Overpeck, M., Pilla, RS., Ruan, WJ., Simons-Morton, B., and Scheidt, P., (2001). Bullying Behaviors Among US Youth: Prevalence and Association With Psychosocial Adjustment. Journal of American Medical Association; 285: 2094 - 2100. Nansel, TR. et al., (2004). Cross-national Consistency in the Relationship Between Bullying Behaviors and Psychosocial Adjustment. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine; 158: 730 - 736. Pepler, D. and Craig, W. (1997). Bullying: Research and interventions. Youth Update. A publication of the Institute for the Study of Antisocial Youth. Perry, D.G., Kusel, S.J. and Perry, L.C. (1988) Victims of peer aggression. Developmental Psychology, 24, 801–814. Portsmouth Herald Editorial Board (2005). Internet age brings new form of harassment: Cyber-bullying [electronic version]. Portsmouth Herald, 30 March. Retrieved 30 Oct, 2008 from http://archive.seacoastonline.com/2005news/03302005/editoria/72651.htm. Pujazon-Zazik, M., (2008). Bullying in School. AAP Grand Rounds; 19: 46 - 47. Salmivalli, C. (2001). Group view on victimization: empirical findings and their implications. In J. Juvonen and S. Graham (eds), Peer harassment in school: The plight of the vulnerable and victimized. New York, London: Guilford Press, pp. 398–419. Smith PK, Ananiadou K, Cowie H., (2003). Interventions to reduce school bullying. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry;48:591-599. Sutton, J. (2001). Bullies: Thugs or thinkers? The Psychologist, 14(10), 530–534. Swartz, J. (2005). Schoolyard bullies get nastier online [electronic version]. USA Today, 7 March. Retrieved November 31, 2008 from www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-03-06-cover-cyberbullies_x.htm. Read More