School Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Tips for the School Psychologist

1. School Bullying Prevention and Intervention:Tips for the School Psychologist NASP Bullying Workgroup

2. Bullying Statistics • Approximately 30 percent of students are regularly involved in bully, either as bullies or both (National Resource Center for Safe Schools, 2001;National Institutes of Health, April, 2001). • Approximately 15 percent “severely traumatized or distressed” and eight percent report being victimized at least once a week (Skiba & Fontanini, 2000). • Bullying occurs once every seven minutes (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2001). • 61.6% of students who are bullied are picked on because of their looks or speech (U.S. News & World Report, May 7, 2001). • Every day approximately 160,000 students stay home from school because they are afraid of being bullied (Vail, 1999; Banks, 2000). • Bullying peaks in sixth through eighth grades (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2001). • Homicide perpetrators more than twice as likely as homicide victims to have been bullied by peers (U.S. Department of Education and Justice, 2001).

3. Part One: Bullying • Nature of bullying • Characteristics of students involved in bullying • Types of bullying • Gender differences • Students who are victimized • Students who are bystanders • Empowering bystanders • Students’ attitudes about bullying • Adult responses to bullying • Impact of bullying on victims

4. Nature of Bullying • Bullying is a subset of aggressive behavior that is: • Intentional, deliberately hurtful • Violates the rights of others • Power imbalance between bullies and victims • Target has hard time defending himself/herself • Repeated over time • Creates a hostile climate (Hoover and Oliver, 1996; USDOE, 1998)

5. Characteristics of Students who Bully Others • Impulsive • Needs to feel powerful, in control • Believe he/she is superior to others • Gets satisfaction inflicting injury and suffering on others • Craves attention • Lacks remorse • Feels victims provoke attack and deserve consequences • Refuses to accept responsibility for behavior

6. Types of Bullying • Physical bullying • punching, shoving, acts that hurt people • Verbal bullying • name calling, teasing, making offensive remarks • Indirect bullying • spreading rumors • keeping certain people out of the “group” • getting certain people to “gang up” on others • Cyber bullying • sending insulting messages by e-mail, text messaging, chat rooms

7. Gender Differences • Boys tend to be more direct and girls more indirect (National Resource Center for Safe Schools, 1999; Crick & Grotpeter, 1995) • Boys engage in bullying more frequently than girls (Banks, 2000) • Boys tend to bully both boys and girls (Hoover & Oliver, 1996) • Girls tend to target other girls of the same age and take the form of teasing and social exclusion (Olweus, 2002; Nansel et al., 2001; Underwood, 2003) • Girls are more likely to bully in a group (Kreidler, 1996) • Bullying by girls is often more subtle and harder to detect (NRCSS, 1999)

8. Children who are victimized tend to display “vulnerable behaviors”. • Passive loners, cry easily, and lack social skills • Shy, sensitive, insecure • Don't pick up on social cues • Unable to deflect a conflict with humor • Generally sad, anxious, cautious, suffer low self-esteem • Do not defend themselves or retaliate and tend to lack friends Juvonen, J. & Graham. (2001). Peer harassment in school: The plight of the vulnerable and victimized. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

9. Impact of Bullying on Victims • Reluctant to attend school and often absent • More anxious, insecure or depressed • Difficulty concentrating on school work • Suffer from low self-esteem, negative self-image, feeling ashamed and unattractive • Present physical symptoms • Victims do not report the bullying to adults/or wait a long time before reporting • Feel shame • Do not want to worry parents • Fear retaliation for reporting • Fear adults cannot/will not protect them Grills, A. & Ollendick, T (2002). Peer victimization, global self-worth, and anxiety in middle school children. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 59-68.

10. Negatively affected when bullying occurs: • Become anxious and more fearful • Could follow a bully’s lead in helping to victimize another student • If they do not see negative consequences for the bully, bystanders may be more likely to use aggression in the future

11. Empowering Bystanders We encourage bystanders to: • Speak up to bullies if it is safe to do so • Band together as a group against bullies • Not to join in • Ask adults for help • Report the bullying • Reach out as friends to isolated peers, offer support “The whole drama is supported by the bystander. The theater can’t take place if there’s no audience.” Labi, N. “Let Bullies Beware.” Time online, March 25, 2001.

12. Student Attitudes about Bullying • Varies with age—as students get older, they become more supportive of bullying and less likely to intervene • Girls tend to be more supportive of victims, but are not necessarily more likely to intervene • “Culture of silence” Smith, P. (2005). Bullying—Don’t Suffer in Silence. Goldsmiths College, University of London.

13. Adult Responses to Bullying • Adults are often unaware of bullying problems (Limber, 2002; Skiba & Fontanini, 2000) • 25% of teachers see nothing wrong with bullying or putdowns, and consequently intervene in only 4% of bullying incidents (Cohn& Canter, 2002) • Students often feel that adult intervention is infrequent and/or unhelpful and they often fear that telling adults will only bring more harassment from bullies (Banks, 1997; Mullin-Rindler, 2003)

14. Part Two: A School-wide Approach to Bullying • Establishing school-wide bully prevention programs • Establishing school-wide anti-bullying policy • Assessing school climate

15. Taking Action Against Bullying It is our duty as educators to provide a safe school environment for all students. • By age 24, 60% of identified bullies may have criminal convictions (Banks, 2000) • Children who are repeatedly victimized sometimes see suicide as their only escape • Bullying is the most underrated and enduring problem in schools today • Many adults do not know how to intervene in bullying situations, therefore bullying is overlooked • Emotional scars can last a lifetime

16. School Psychologist’s Role • Assess your school’s needs and goals • Help develop an anti-bullying policy • Provide training for teachers, administrators, and other school staff • Involve parents • Identify resources for bullies, victims, and families • Help integrate anti-bullying themes and activities into curriculum • Initiate conversations with students about bullying • Encourage students to report incidents of bullying • Work with students on developing assertiveness and conflict resolution skills • Focus on developing empathy and respect for others School wide Prevention of Bullying, Northwest Regional Educational laboratory, December, 2001.

17. School-wide Bullying Prevention Programs • Focus on the social environment of the school • Assess bullying at your school • Obtain staff and parent buy-in and support for bullying prevention • Meet regularly to review findings • Provide training for school staff in bullying prevention • Establish and enforce school rules and policies related to bullying • Increase adult supervision in “hot spots” for bullying • Intervene consistently and appropriately when you see bullying • Devote some class time to bullying prevention Limber, S. (2004). What works—and doesn’t in bullying prevention and intervention. Student Assistance Journal, 16-19. Garrity, Jens, Porter, Sager & Short-Camilli (1996). Without intervention, bully problems will not go away” In Bully–proofing your school. Longmont, CO: Sopris West

18. Tips for Selecting Prevention Programs • Be sure the books, videos, and other resources selected for children are developmentally and age-appropriate. • Look for materials that explain and illustrate the many forms that bullying can take. • Select materials that show boys AND girls involved in bullying. • Look for materials that suggest or show appropriate and realistic solutions to bullying problems. • Look for materials that have won awards or received positive reviews by professionals, parents, children, or youth.

19. School Wide Anti-bullying Policy • A clear definition of bullying • A statement that clearly says bullying is unacceptable • Positive conflict resolution, caring and respect is valued • A description of how the school proposes to deal with bullies and victims • Encouragement for students and parents to share concerns

20. Benefits of an Anti-Bullying Policy • Schools gain reputation of being safe for all children and seen as active partners in taking care of children • Children will know that the school actively works to make the learning environment a safe place, can feel less worried and devote more attention to learning

21. Assessing School Climate School climate shapes student behavior and learning. • Identify the components of strong school climate and how they affect student behavior and learning • Change school culture to support productive student behavior and effective learning • Use mentorships and other relationship-based strategies to promote productive student behavior • Develop a school-wide productive behavior system

22. Interventions Designed to Improve School Climate • School Level Interventions (entire school population) • Establish a bullying prevention coordinating committee • Administer an anonymous questionnaire survey • Hold a school conference day • Improve supervision and outdoor environment • Involve parents • Classroom Level Interventions (entire classroom) • Establish classroom rules against bullying • Create positive and negative consequences of bullying • Hold regular classroom meetings • Meet with parents • Individual Level Interventions (specific students involved in bullying) • Serious talks (with possible referral to therapy) with students who bully • Serious talks (with possible referral to therapy) with students who are victimized • Involve the parents • Change of class or school

23. Potential Pitfalls • Avoid creating a great deal of extra paperwork for teachers and school staff. • Secure administrative support at both the school and district levels. • Be careful that the bullying program does not stigmatize students as bullies or victims or bully-victims. • Effective programs need to be ongoing throughout the school, integrated with the curriculum, school’s discipline policies and violence prevention efforts at school. • Don’t expect change overnight.

24. Keys to Success • Schools need to be serious about implementing the program. • Teachers need to understand that their response to bullying makes a difference. • Children can’t do it alone. • Bullying is not part of normal conflict. • Playground areas, cafeterias, and bus stops must be all supervised. • Teach children strategies to reduce bullying incidents.

25. Part Three: Practices to Address Bullying • Identifying victimization and bullying • Reynolds Scales • Bully Surveys • Defusing students who bully others • Strategies for reducing bullying • Skill development for students who are victimized

26. Reynolds Bully Victimization Scales for Schools • Bully Victimization Scale (BVS) • Bully Victimization Distress Scale (BVDS) • School Violence Anxiety Scale (SVAS) • Swearer, S. M. & Love, K. B. (in press). Review of the Reynolds Bully-Victim Scale for Schools. In B. S. Plake & J. C. Impara (Eds.), The Fifteenth Mental Measurements Yearbook. Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.

27. Bully Surveys • Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (Solberg & Olweus, 2003; Olweus, 1994) • The Bully Surveys (Swearer, 2001; Swearer & Cary, 2003) • Overview: Furlong, M., Greif, J., & Sharkey, J. (March, 2005). Assessing violence in our schools: Bullying. Presentation at annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Atlanta, GA.

28. Intervene immediately Isolate the bully from the environment Talk to bully/talk to victim separately Consult with other teachers and school administrators Expect denial and inform bully about actions taken Have clear consequences in place (i.e.; replacing broken property) Keep the focus on the behavior Encourage students to report incidents of bullying Communicate with the parents Reassure victims steps will be taken to prevent recurrence Teach students to monitor their own behavior Provide counseling Get other students involved Follow-up Defusing Bullies

29. Interventions for Students who Bully Others • It is important to determine whether intervention modules are best delivered in a group format or individually. Typically, anti-bullying programs deliver interventions in a group format. However, research has suggested that homogenous group interventions are not helpful for aggressive youth and in fact, may be damaging (Dishion, McCord, & Poulin, 1999).

30. A True Story (Newsweek, April 12, 2004): • “People were climbing over seats and started fighting about stupid stuff.” --Woodlawn High School freshman Melissa Parks, on the arrests of 11 students and two adults after a fight broke out in the Maryland school’s anger-management assembly.

31. Common Pitfalls in Bullying Prevention and Intervention • “Debunking the dyadic bias” (Espelage & Swearer, 2003) • Zero tolerance (“Get rid of the bullies”) • Group treatment for bullies • Mediation/conflict resolution • Simple, short-term solutions (i.e., suspension) • School-wide interventions WITHOUT 80-100% staff support

32. Arkansas (2003) California (2001) Colorado (2001) Connecticut (2002) Georgia (2002) Illinois (2001) Louisiana (2001) New Hampshire (2000) New Jersey (2002) New York (2002) Oklahoma (2002) Oregon (2001) Rhode Island (2003) Vermont (2001) Washington (2001) West Virginia (2001) State Statutes to Address Bullying

33. H.R. 284 • Introduced in 2005 by Rep. Shimkus (IL) • Would amend the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act to include bullying and harassment prevention programs.

34. We need to Change the Climate!Public Information Campaigns • HRSA’s “Take a stand. Lend a hand. Stop bullying now.” (www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov) • SAMHSA’s “Make Time to Listen, Take Time to Talk…about Bullying.” (www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/15plus/aboutbullying)

35. Several Strategies for Reducing Bullying • Steps to Respect (Committee for Children) • Olweus Bullying Prevention Program • Bully Busters (Horne et al.) • Effective Behavioral Supports

36. Skill Development for Victims • Look at behavior that contributes to bullying • Improve social skills • Assertiveness training • Conflict resolution • Stress management

37. Part Four: Working with Parents • Involving parents • Parents reporting bullying • Parents of bullies and/or victims

38. Involving Parents • Regular consultation and communication • Provide information about the effects of bullying • Advising parents of possible consequences of their children bringing valuable items to school • Inviting parents to plays/drama

39. Parents Reporting Bullying • Recognize that the parent may be angry and upset • Keep an open mind—bullying can be difficult to detect • Remain calm and understanding • Making clear that the school does care and that something will be done • Explain the school policy, make sure procedures are followed

40. Parents of Bullies and/or Victims • Involve parents constructively at an early stage rather than only as a last resort • Avoid using parents as a form of punishment for bullying • Use problem-solving approach: “It seems your son/daughter and (other child) have not been getting along very well lately”

41. Let’s take a break!

42. Part Five: Activity #2 • Let’s get into groups to discuss vignettes

43. Part Six: Finding out about Bullying in Your School • Survey methods • Interviews • Interpreting and presenting data • Data-based decision-making

44. What are Schools To Do? • Of the more than 300 published violence prevention programs, less than a quarter of these programs report outcome data showing that they reduce or prevent violence (Howard, Flora, and Griffin, 1999). • Schools face the challenge of determining which programs and procedures will work in their particular school and community ecologies.

45. Survey Methods • How frequently students have been bullied • Ways it which it happens • How often bullying occurs • Whom the victims tell • What action was taken and by whom • Where bullying takes place (provide maps of the school and grounds ask to highlight)

46. Interviews • Do in private, but visible to others • Make notes after the interview is over • Explain the need for disclosure if necessary • Specify how often bullying is occurring

47. Data-based decision-making (Swearer & Espelage, 2004) 1. Partner with university researchers to conduct an assessment of bullying behaviors 2. Conduct a school-wide anonymous assessment of bullying behaviors 3. Include multiple informants 4. Use self-report, other report, observations 5. Graph data to create a picture of the scope of bullying in your school 6. Use data to conduct classroom presentations on bullying

48. Data-based decision-making (Swearer & Espelage, 2004) 7. Use the data to create interventions for bullying 8. Use the data to establish preventative measures to create an antibullying climate 9. Share data with parent groups (e.g., PTA) 10. Create a data-based decision-making climate through the use of individual school data to help guide prevention and intervention programming.

49. Interpreting and Presenting Data • Make comparisons over time • Report changes as percentages if the two groups differ in size • Check trends against whole-school or part-school surveys • Are there discrepancies between what is reported and number of incidents recorded by staff? (If so, school’s response system will need reviewing). Espelage, D. L. & Swearer, S. M. (2004). Bullying in American schools: A social-ecological perspective on prevention and intervention. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Smith, P. (2004). Bullying-Don’t suffer in silence. Goldsmiths College, University of London.

50. Points to Remember… • Never ignore suspected bullying • Listen carefully and openly • Don’t make premature assumptions • Adopt a problem-solving approach which moves students on from justifying themselves • Follow-up repeatedly, check that bullying has not resumed • Effective and consistent consequences for those who bully others • Develop curriculum which promotes communication, friendship, social skills, conflict resolution, anger management and assertive skills • Improve communication among teachers, parents and students