Bullying Prevalence Study

Teacher and parent awareness is one of main obstacles in preventing bullying prevention. Teachers and parents do not take bullying as being serious and underestimate the effects it has on children (Cohen, 2008). It is reported that 85% of teachers think they intervene to stop bullying, however only 35% of students feel that teachers do (Cohen, 2008). Many parents and teachers do not have the proper knowledge on what establishes bullying. They see bullying as only being violence and ignore the verbal assaults that are occurring (Cohen, 2008). They do not know the signs to look for and have not been properly trained on how to resolve the issue (Cohen, 2008).

One of the many health problems affecting children or adolescents today is bullying. Children who experience bullying reported that they got bullied by their looks, body shape, and/or race (Bullying 2015). One out of every four students (22%) report being bullied during the school year in the United States (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2015). About 46% of children or adolescents in Kentucky are victims of bullying in schools. Bullying is most commonly described by three characteristics: it is intentionally harmful, it is repetitive in nature, and there is a power difference between the bully and the victim (Oleweus, 1993). Almost 64% of children who are bullied do not report it; only 36% report the bullying (Petrosina, Guckenburg, DeVoe, And Hanson, 2010). It is impossible to determine the exact number of bullying incidents that occur in our primary and secondary schools each year. While there is some evidence to suggest that students now find schools safer that they were ten years ago, but bullying still occurs every day somewhere in someone’s life.

The purpose of this study is to identify the most prevalent forms of bullying on a high school campus and identify which strategies are most effective to prevent or respond to bullying. The study will also identify the most effective strategies to improve student achievement and attendance for those students who have experienced bullying. Students must feel safe to learn. Students who are bullied have a propensity to avoid the bullies; therefore, they choose not to attend school. Poor attendance often will result in poor grades and even dropping out of school.

Bullying at school is a big problem that is found in all the schools in the United States and across the world. Since the late 1990s there have been several fatal school shootings committed by victims of bullying that have brought bullying major media attention. This has resulted in an increase of awareness about the harmful effects on the kids being bullied as well as the bullies themselves. This has brought a large amount of local, state, and nationwide programs designed to try to prevent bullying or to at least try to contain the problem. “In an effort to adequately address the problem, many schools are taking a proactive approach through prevention and intervention, but how do we know if and when such intervention is effective? First and foremost, we must have an accurate understanding of the dynamic and complex phenomenon of bullying across development and as it spans the multiple levels of the social ecology” (Casper, Meter, & Card, 2015, par 2). Many psychologists, sociologists, and school administrators have been publishing research on school bullying. Bullying is a significant threat to many children because it causes psychological problems not only for those who get bullied but also those who do the bullying. Even though bullying is a significant problem the are few solutions that can help prevent or significantly reducing bullying like reporting bullying, know the characteristics, and passing laws.

Cunningham and Whitten (2007) discussed the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, a whole-school prevention program widely implemented and researched. Encompassing the whole school, the program contains school-wide, classroom, and individualized components. The program’s objectives include increasing awareness and problem assessment, environmental/ school climate strategies, classroom-focused strategies, and individual interventions. Extensive research indicates positive results in decreasing bullying and victimization. The authors also mention the importance of program monitoring and assessment to ensure thorough and comprehensive implementation. Comprehensive approaches, like the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, are foundational to ensuring the protection and safety of students to facilitate academic, social, and career development.

If schools neglect integrating bullying programs in their schools, studies show that kids will be more vulnerable to aggressor that comes along, even when they reach adulthood. Stopping bullying in while people are children will have a significant impact on their confidence while growing up. This is why schools should have bullying prevention programs at the top of their funds list. Schools can no longer regress to ignoring bullying, because bullying is often linked to

The best way to do something about bullying is to stop it before it starts. In order for bullying to be prevented, educators and parents should understand the depth of the bullying in the schools around the country. Educators and parents need to be aware of the common appearances of bullies and victims, they also need to be familiar with the most active bully-prevention methods now in use. Bullying can threaten students emotional and physical safety at school and can influence their ability to learn. There are a number of things not only school staff can do but also other students and to make schools safer and prevent bullying. Assess school prevention and intervention efforts around student behavior, including substance use and violence.

This article talked about how schools need to apply rigorous long-lasting programs about anti-bullying prevention. Researchers found that programs that have zero tolerance or are one-day awareness programs don’t help control children from being bullies. Hence, these long-lasting programs are needed, with these programs teachers are able to provide children, parents, and other adults with information on prevention. A meta-analysis conducted in 2011 by Maria Ttofi found that school-based interventions that went above and beyond the criteria helped decrease bullying by 20%-23%. This is a significant decrease in numbers, which goes to prove that long-lasting programs do work. Having these programs are so important because bullying can actually

Bullying has been impacting classroom settings for dozens of years, this can lead one to wonder: why hasn’t there been anything done to prevent bullying from occurring and what the mental health repercussions are on the victim? Bullying not only results in having fear of attending school and being unable to focus on studies but it can also have long term detrimental effects on both the victim and the bully. Bullying results in long-term mental effects, anxiety and phobias are some of the consequences of this action. There need to be new programs implemented that begin with all student’s home lives and involve parents in educating their children about the repercussions of bullying as well as beginning to understand the rationale behind current

In the article “Bullying and Being Bullied in Childhood Are Associated with Different Psychosocial Risk Factors for Poor Physical Health in Men” by authors Karen A. Matthews, Richard J. Jennings, Laisze Lee, and Dustin A. Pardini, the idea that various aspects of childhood can be greatly affected by childhood bullying and being bullied is presented. Bullying is defined as a type of interpersonal aggressive behavior in which superior strength is used to intimidate or cause harm to a weaker party. In the article, the authors, through a study carried out on both black and white men, show the long-term outcomes that bullying and being bullied can have on an individual. These negative effects include stress, depression, anxiety, social issues, and various illnesses. Most individuals who underwent bullying believed that the only solution was suicide. However, self-efficacy skills can help in building a person’s confidence and therefore enabling them to gain motivation, and control over their behavior and social skills (Matthews, et al. 2017).

Children of today are faced with the various facets of bullying on a daily basis. Bullying threatens the mental and psychological wellbeing of children, particularly during school-age years. The educational success of a student can be greatly hampered by bullying and school violence. Dr. Daniel Olweus, leading expert on bullying prevention in primary school settings, defines bullying as “when someone repeatedly and on purpose says or does mean or hurtful things to another person who has a hard time defending himself or herself” (Olweus, et al., 2007, p. 2). Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) defines bullying as: “overt, unwanted, repeated acts or gestures, including verbal or written communications or images transmitted in any manner (including digitally or electronically), physical acts committed, aggression, or any other behaviors, that are committed by a student or group of students against another student with the intent to harass, ridicule, humiliate, intimidate, or harm the other targeted student and create for the targeted student an objectively hostile school environment that: (1) places the targeted student in reasonable fear of harm to the targeted student's person or property; (2) has a substantially detrimental effect on the targeted student's physical or mental health; (3) has the effect of substantially interfering with the targeted student's academic performance; or (4) has the effect of substantially interfering with the targeted student's ability to

As the topic of bullying has been raised and covered extensively in both scholarly literature and popular media, the society these days starts to better grasp the deep social and emotional effects that bullying has on schoolchildren (Lazarus and Pfohl 1). The social campaigns to stop bullying in schools have in some cases achieved such a scale that some experts have expressed the warnings that the interventionist behavior of adults may bring more damage than good to children’s development (Guldberg). There is a need, therefore, to question what measures, strategies for prevention and intervention are the most effective, and when, possibly, there is a need for a teacher or school administration to step back and let the children sort the things out on their own. In this essay, I will discuss what bullying is and the strategies and implementations for administrators and teachers.

School bullying and bullying as a whole has become a growing concern. The need for more intervention is more recognized, as incidents of bullying and inappropriate acts towards others occur in places outside of the classroom. This literature takes a closer look at bullying in schools. Olwesus (2013) states “the field of bullying research is to some extent plagued by problems, disagreements, and unresolved issues” (p.752). Whether if anyone will agree on the root of bullying, the fact remains that bullying has to be examined at its very core to remedy the matter before it becomes a bigger concern. There is a dire need for intervention based programs to be set in place to address the fact the act of bullying has lasting effects on the bully and the victim. When intervention programs are put into place to address bullying, the act of bullying decreases due to the gained understanding of the effects.

About twenty-eight percent of student’s ages 12-18 reported being bullied at school during the school year according to the Indicators of School Crime and Safety report, by the Bureau of Justice statistics. Across thirty-nine states survey, 7.2 percent of students admit to not attending school because they do not feel safe. The importance of bullying can’t be undermined. Teachers and parents must understand the importance of looking and listening for signs and behaviors of bullying. This will help tackle the issue before it gets serious and someone gets hurt.

Bullying in the school system can be handled appropriately if action is taken immediately. In order for this problem to be solved, students who are being bullies to other students need to go to an alternative school for a few weeks and then find a support group to go to once or twice a week to help them deal with their anger/emotions. It will make the child’s life manageable and will prevent them from potentially harming another students’ life. According to Horne, Stoddard, and Bell (2007), “Recognizing that bullying and aggression result in negative academic, emotional, and behavioral consequences, a number of programs have been developed in the last century to address the problem of bullying and aggression in schools” (pg. 264). This