Bullying and Available Programs to Help Children Counter the Problem - Literature review Example

Bullying and Available Programs to Help Children Counter the Problem Bullying and Available Programs to Help Children Counter the Problem Introduction Bullying encompasses a wide range of aggression where there is systematic use and abuse of power. Bullying includes bodily violence such as hitting and pushing as well as verbal aggression like name-calling. This can also include relational forms of bullying where peers or where acts of humiliation are directed towards a person shuns a victim. Bullying can take place face to face through the digital media such as text messages or through the Internet while it ranges from mild, moderate to severe. Given the above context, bullying can be defined as acts of verbal or physical aggression that vary in ruthlessness from just making simple threats and maligning an individual to physical attacks that cause bodily harm. This paper examines the current thinking on bullying as well as offers the various forms of intervention programs that can be employed to curb the vice. On the average, it is estimated that one in every five children are bullied on daily basis in American schools. This estimate is widely reciprocated in many other places around the world and this shows that bullying is a widespread problem. According to researcher Healey (2001), nearly 20% of students have been subjected to bullying and harassment at one time in Australia. In the United States, the situation is even worse with statistics showing that up to 75% of schools going children have been bullied with 10 to 15% of the bullying occurring on a regular basis. The biggest problem is that the number of children who are becoming bullies keeps on increasing each day and this shows that the problem is not just superficial. According to McNamara (1997), close to 15% of U.S. students are involved in bullying cases while with 6% being bullies while the remaining 9% are victims. Researchers point out that a large number of students agree that bullying is a big problem in schools that needs to be addressed. This is true given that 56% of males and 46% of females have experienced bullying at one point of their school life. The most threatening thing is that the highest numbers of those being bullied are in the lower grades. This means the chances of bullying reduces as children become older. In many of these incidences, children agree that much of the bullying incidences have their basis in the home setting since children will most likely practice what they learn from their parents. According to McNamara (1997), 20% of male students claim that they have kicked or punched by their girlfriends while they are in a dating relationship. This research continues to point out that most young people feel that sexual exploitation and other forms of violence are just a normal part of a relationship. According to Rigby (2006), 7% of students have stayed out of school at one time for fear of bullying while another 16% though of skipping school for fear of being bullied. An even larger percent of schoolchildren never felt safe at while going to school. Unlike the early perception, bullying cuts across the gender and today more women than men are involved in bullying cases. The Thinking about Bullies Over the years, researchers have been trying hard to come up with an explanation of what defines a bully. Although there are variations in the nature of bullies in different schools, one thing that is unilateral is the general characteristics of all bullies. According to research, all types of bullies contain three basic elements, which are that they are negative and aggressive, they are consistent, and lastly all the bullying cases are carried in an environment where there is imbalance of power between the involved parties (McNamara, 1997). In the last one decade, the attention on human violence and especially within the school setting has gone up significantly in numerous nations. The rising concern of the scientific, learning, structural and political sectors is initiated on the desire to study and comprehend the precedents and consequences of violent behaviour within the school setting. Such concerns are founded on the seriousness and intensity of some behaviours that taint the integrity of the student (McNamara, 1997). In his book titled, Understanding Violence and Victimization, Meadows (2013) has undertaken to bring to light the issue of violence in different stages of life. In trying to explain school violence, Meadows (2013) refers to school violence as a form of behaviour that adopts the universal characteristics of violent behaviour among adults with the only difference being that the players in this case are kids and teens. This form of behaviour usually comes about both as a reactive and proactive aggressions and it is usually driven by the desire to gain power and control over the rest of the students. Over the years, there have been various theories that seek to explain violent and aggressive behaviour among human beings. On one side, the existing theories see aggressiveness as an inborn human part where violent acts are used as a response to reflexes or inner drive of the individual, which are crucial for their adaptation process. for this reason, this explanation, which is categorized as active or innate drive theories see aggression as playing a positive role and that one of the foundational socialization roles is to direct their expression towards an adequate social behaviour (Meadows, 2014). Another theory titled the Social Learning Theory sees violent behaviour as a trait that is picked through observation and replication of behaviours that take place in the present contexts to which the individual is exposed to. Another theory titled as the Sociological Theory explains violence as the result of the cultural, political, and economical distinctiveness of society. This theory sees aspects such as poverty, marginalization, the challenges of academic progress, and social exploitation as some of the factors that contribute to violent behaviours among individuals (Meadows, 2013). Due to the heightened focus on human violence, there have also been studies geared towards establishing the key factors and predictors involved in human violence. Most of these studies have established a strong connection between the abuse of animals and violence against human beings. In one study conducted in 2011, there was a strong propensity for offenders who were charged with cruelty against animals to commit other violent offenses towards human beings. The study showed that 65% of the individuals who were committed to jail term for cruelty against animals were also guilty of assaulting other individuals. The same study indicated that 36 of individuals who had been convicted for murder, 46% confessed that they had tortured animals as teens. It was also established that nearly all the school shooting that took place in U.S. schools between 2007-2011 all involved young people who had earlier on committed acts of animal cruelty (Meadows, 2013). The issue of children abusing animals should be used as a strong predictor of future violence towards other human. According to the American Psychological Association, chronic physical aggression by young people augments the likelihood of these individuals to commit continual physical violence as well as other types of non-violent delinquency in their youth. Researchers warn that, a child who is abusive towards animals might also be replicating the violence that he has witnessed in the home setting. Removing the child from such setting might go a long way in averting a potentially abusive behaviour from the child. Stopping the cycle of violence requires an early intervention and treatment of animal cruelty since once the child gets older he/she become unresponsive to therapeutic intervention. The government has realized the need for such an early intervention and social workers are required by law to report all suspected cases of abuse to the authorities so that the perpetrators of such violence might get early counselling (Meadows, 2013). Another study conducted in the last decade shows that media violence also leads to bullying and that reducing the exposure to such bullying lowers the level of bullying among children. While the previous form of centred mostly on physical aggression, current research shows the emergence of a new form called cyber bullying. This involves texting, sending menacing emails, use of chat rooms or forwarding confidential content over the Internet in order to humiliate another individual. The only difference between face-to-face bullying is that in cyber bullying, one can only threaten their victim but no actual bodily harm can be done. However, the audience in cyber bullying is much larger and the victims can be constantly tormented if they do not get rid of the text message of mail. Unlike face-to-face bullying, cyber bullying is more effective in that it guarantees the bully some sort of anonymity. Cyber bullies are also able to say things that they would not say in ordinary circumstances (Sharp, & Smith, 2011). In reality, the other area that has received enough research on the issue of bullying is the effect that it poses on the victims. In nearly all the reaches done on the subject, one thing that come s out across all the available works on this topic is that the effects are serious. In his research, Rigby (2006) claims that victims of bullying have a low level of psychological wellbeing as well as social adjustment and that they also have heightened levels of psychological distress. In this research, Rigby also notes that victims of bullying suffer adverse health effects and if the bullying is continual, it ends up affecting the child’s mental health. This research concludes that if the victim is not counselled, then the effects can last up to adulthood. As the researchers Sharp, & Smith (2011), puts it, bullied victims are likely to suffer from sleep disturbances, psychosomatic effects, as well as heightened chances of falling sick due to continued stress. Within the school setting, bullying victims usually have reduced concentration and this ultimately leads to poor academic standards. Bullying also causes the student to adopt wayward ways while in the school and in most cases they end up quitting school altogether. Such students are often afraid of failing and as such, they become withdrawn due to the constant ridicule by the bullies. Research has also identified that bullying students suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and in some cases such victims become suicidal. In essence, Whitted & Dupper, (2012), indicate that most students who undergo stress are less likely to come up with strategies that can end the problem. Instead, majority of them just choose to do nothing and hope that the situation will get better. This research also showed that children who failed to talk about the problem were most likely to suffer for long than those who discussed the problem with their peers or guardians. Whitted, & Dupper, (2012) warn that the main aim of bullies is to ensure that the victim is shunned by the other children. This leads more than 160,000 U.S. children to stay away from school every single day in order to avoid being bullied. Strategies to Help Children Understand Bullying Researchers agree that the most important strategy to help children who are bullied is to understand the bully. In this line, the two most helpful strategies are making friends and learning to stand up for oneself. In most cases, bullying incidences go without being reported since most children feel that reporting the incidence would only aggravate it. It is therefore important to help children know that the main intention of the bully is to make sure that their victims live in fear. In most cases, children fear that teachers would not take any action and as such they feel that they should not report the matter. However, such children should be encouraged to talk with their teachers for possible action to be taken (Lodge, & Frydenberg, 2012). Instead of retaliating, children should be taught to use assertive communication instead of just ignoring the bully as most children choose to do. To understand bullying in a better way, children should also be taught on how to understand the attributes that place them in bullying situations and to avoid them if possible. In most cases, bullying cases continue for long and children should be taught about the consequences of keeping quiet in the event that they choose not to report the vice. Instead of crying, children should be taught to act in an assertive manner and to act in a calm manner when faced with a bullying incidence (Lodge, & Frydenberg, 2012). In most cases, bullying takes place in the place of bystanders who choose not to take any action even as another child is being bullied. This is true given that research has showed that nearly 85% of bullying incidences take place even in the presence of other children. In most cases, teachers are not present in such scenarios, in most cases they are not notified of the bullying instances, and so they cannot act. Given this scenario, it is important for children to be taught the importance of reporting the bully to the authorities since failure to do so only make them more powerful. When bystanders watch passively, the bully is reinforced and finds even more strength to bully other children. Research has showed that in more than 50% of the cases, the bullying stopped when other children intervened. This shows the importance of encouraging the children to ensure that they are always in the company of their friends who can stand up for them (Lodge, & Frydenberg, 2012). References Healey, J. 2001. Bullying and Youth Violence: Issues in Society. The Spinney Press, Australia. Lodge, J. & Frydenberg, E. 2012. The role of peer bystanders in school bullying: Positive steps towards promoting peaceable schools. Theory into Practice 44 (4): 320-332. McNamara, B. 1997. Keys to Dealing with Bullies. Barron’s Educational Series Inc. New York, USA Meadows, R. 2013. Understanding Violence and Victimization. San Francisco: Pearson Education, Inc. Rigby, K. 2006. Stop the Bullying – A Handbook for Schools. Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne, Australia. Sharp, S. & Smith, P. 2011. School Bullying: Insights and Perspectives. London: Routledge. Whitted, K. & Dupper, D. 2012.Best practices for preventing or reducing bullying in schools. Children and Schools 27, (3), 167-170. Read More