Bullying: Developmental & Environmental Determinants & Interventional Implications

1. Bullying: Developmental & Environmental Determinants & Interventional Implications Anthony F. Tasso, Ph.D., ABPP Jordan DeGroat, M.A. Candidate in Counseling Frank DiBella, M.A. Candidate in Counseling Fairleigh Dickinson University Department of Psychology & Counseling

2. Bullying: Prevalence Rates • 88% of highschoolers report witnessing bullying (Hazler, Hoover, & Oliver, 1991) • 17% students bullied with regularity, 19% bullied others (Nansel, et. al., 2001) • 2.8 million students reported being pushed, shoved, tripped or spat on (Federal Dept of Education, 2007) • Cyberbullying: 12% report being aggressive to someone, 4% target of online aggression, 3% both (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004) • Cyberbullying: 1 in 3 victims didn’t know bully (Slone & Smith, 2008)

3. Bullying Criteria & Types Criteria • Intention (to do harm) • Repetitiveness • Imbalance of power Types of Bullying • Physical/direct • Verbal /indirect • Social/relational • Cyberbullying

4. Bullying Characteristics • Bullies: more aggressive, easy to anger, poor interpreter of others, interpret ambiguous stimuli w/ fear, lack empathy, high social intelligence • Bully victims: overacceptance of personal weaknesses, poor self-concept, inadequacy, self-blame • Bully victim subtypes: • Submissive/passive victim – anxious, negative self-image, socially isolated, internalizer • Provocative/aggressive victim – anxious, negative self-image, social isolation, internalizer & externalizer

5. Bullying, Power & Peers • Implicit: forms from social status and depends on acceptance by peers • Explicit: elicits fear, submission, and compliance from the victim(s) Peer Group Norms: • Can provide a variety of positive attributes to one's social development • Potential to elicit the worst in an individual • Influencing their individual identity • Autonomy

6. Bullying Peer Dynamics • "in group" • "out group" • social identity • self esteem • perceived higher social status • social norms • popularity • social position

7. Development of Bullying • Family/Home environment • Parenting styles/support • Consistent vs. inconsistent parenting • Attachment styles • Secure • Insecure

8. Psychodynamics of Rage & Anger • Heinz Kohut (1971, 1977): narcissistic injury begets narcissistic rage • Henri Parens (2008): hostile destructiveness via excessive displeasure • Melaine Klein (1957): envy • Stewart Twemlow (2000): aggressiveness via historical experience of victimization and humiliation *splitting, primitive rage, projection, displacement, devaluation, and transient omnipotence to counter humiliation and shame

9. Bully Bystanders: Typologies & Characteristics (Twemlow, Fonagy & Sacco, 2010)

10. Cyberbullying • Text-messaging, emails, chat rooms, facebook • Greatest amount of deindividuation • though initial incident may be one time mass dissemination makes it highly repetitive • Cyberbully victims: often heighten anxiety and fear b/c, a) perpetrator unknown, b) no safe haven

11. Bullying Interventions: An Ecological Approach (Swearer & Doll, 2001) 6 Assertions of bullying • Bullying viewed as constellations of behaviors • Attention to intrapsychic factors • Families need to be part of interventions • Bystanders need to be targeted • Teachers and adults need to be targeted • Upper level administrators must be involved

12. Creating a Peaceful School Learning Environment (CAPSLE) (Twemlow, et. al., 2010) CAPSLE philosophy - Positive Climate Campaigns - Classroom Management - Peer and Adult Mentorship - The Gentle Warrior Physical Education Program - Reflection Time *mentalization key to addressing the Bully-Victim-Bystander dynamics

13. Contact Information Frank DiBella (973) 443-8547 Email: fdibella31@gmail.com Jordan DeGroat (973) 443-8547 Email: jrdnlea@yahoo.com Anthony Tasso (973) 443-8094 Email: atasso@fdu.edu Department of Psychology & Counseling Fairleigh Dickinson University 285 Madison Avenue (M-AB2-01) Madison, NJ 07940