Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Realistic Strategies for Schools

1. Shane R. Jimerson, Ph.D., NCSP Professor of School Psychology University of California, Santa Barbara Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Realistic Strategies for Schools www.routledge.com www.routledge.com Presented to the California League of Schools K-12 School Climate & Safety Summit. April 10, 2011. North Lake Tahoe.

2. What are We up Against?* • “Bullying is not an issue that needs to be addressed — we are more concerned with academic success.” • “Not all districts/schools have problems with bullying.” • “A new policy…will not eradicate bullying.” • “Bullying is just a part of life.” • “I was bullied and I turned out fine.” *from a survey of school administrators Are any of you in faced with this context?

4. Why Address Bullying in Schools ? • Bullying is a social problem that negatively impacts 3 out of 4 students during their school years. • Bullying may be part of a larger pattern of antisocial behavior-- one out of four male bullies at age 8 had a criminal conviction by age 30 (Olweus, 1993). • Bullying was a factor in 2/3 of the 37 school shootings reviewed by the U.S. Secret Service (i.e., shooters reported being chronically victimized). • Victims and bully-victims are more depressed and have lower self-esteem than non-victimized youth (Olweus, 1993; Swearer et al., 2001). • Bullying is a mental health problem (http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2010/04/bullying.aspx) Why address bullying at your school?

5. The Costs of Bullying • Bullying is correlated with lower academic performance. • Bullying is a health problem - the psychological consequences for students involved in bullying is severe: depression, anxiety, antisocial behavior. • Bullying helps create feelings of helplessness, anger, and frustration. • Bullying is expensive: treatment & litigation • Bullying has lasting, devastating effects: dropout and suicide. See Jimerson, Swearer, & Espelage, 2010

6. How Prevalent is Bullying? When asked about experiences in the last 2 months: • 21% of adolescents reported being bullied physically; • 54% reported being verbally bullied; • 51% reported being social bullied; and • 14% reported being cyberbullied (Iannotti et al., 2009; http://www.ncbi.nim.nih,gov/pubmed/19766941). • 75% of adolescents reported having been bullied at some time during their school years (Hoover, Oliver, & Hazler, 1992) • However, involvement in bullying will vary across schools and communities! Are teachers and staff at your school aware of the prevalence of bullying?

7. What is Bullying? While the definition of bullying can be agreed upon by scholars and researchers,…. students, parents, and teachers often struggle with the distinction between teasing and bullying. Do adults and students at your school know what bullying is? Can they define bullying?

8. Definition of Bullying Students are being bullied when another student or several other students: • Say mean and hurtful things to them or make fun of them (verbally or electronically); • Completely ignore or exclude them from their group of friends or leave them out of things on purpose; • Hits, kicks, pushes, or shoves, them;

9. Definition (continued) • Tell lies, spread false rumors about them or send mean notes and try to make other students dislike them; And… • These things happen repeatedly. • It is difficult for the student being bullied to defend himself or herself.

10. Therefore….. Bullying is: 1) negative, mean behavior that 2) occurs repeatedly (over time) 3) in a relationship that is characterized by an imbalance of power or strength. (Olweus, 1999) Is this how adults and students at your school would define bullying?

11. Bully/Victim Continuum • Bully – reports bullying others • Victim – reports being bullied by others • Bully-victim – reports bullying others & being bullied • Bystander – reports observing others being bullied • No Status/Not involved – does not report any involvement with bullying

13. There are No Simple Solutions! • Bullying is a complex phenomenon that MUST include interventions at the individual, peer, family, school, community, and societal levels!

14. A Social-Ecological Model of Bullying (Bronfenbrenner, 1979;Orpinas & Horne; 2006; Swearer & Espelage, 2004; 2011)

15. Family and School Risk Factors for Bullying • SCHOOL • Lack of supervision • Lack of engagement • Negative, critical relationships • Lack of discipline/ consequences • Support for aggression • Modeling of aggression • FAMILY • Lack of supervision • Lack of attachment • Negative, critical relationships • Lack of discipline/ consequences • Support for aggression • Modeling of aggression

16. We need to ask the right questions: “What are the conditions that allow bullying behaviors to occur?”

17. Critical Components of Effective Bullying Prevention and Intervention • Start with an anti-bullying policy that includes provisions for assessment and intervention. • Increase awareness about the negative consequences of bullying – videos, plays, classroom presentations. • Collect data in individual schools. • Analyze the data. • Use the data to make decisions about bullying prevention and intervention needs in the school. • Repeat annually to address bullying/victimization over time. Does your school do each of these?

18. Make a Commitment! Anti-Bullying Policy: NO bullying in ANY form will be tolerated! Does your school have a policy that specifically addresses bullying? Is the policy widely distributed and understood?

19. Top Ten List for Developing an Anti-Bullying Policy 1. Must be created by school staff along with district, State Board of Education, and State policies. 2. Is written with input from students and teachers. 3. Is focused around a school mission statement and communicates the vision of a safe school. 4. Outlines procedures to be used by staff to achieve consistency in daily interactions with students and supervision of school areas. 5. Should provide flexibility for classroom teachers.

20. Top Ten List (continued) 6. Protocol for behavioral problems that is enforced school-wide. 7. Guides staff development and supports staff growth. 8. Is evaluated and updated annually. 9. Is consistent with school board policies and state and federal laws. 10. Is frequently reviewed with staff, parents, and students. Does your school policy meet these ten criteria?

21. Data-Based Decision-Making • Assessing the ecology of bullying behaviors is a complex task and must be done carefully and comprehensively. • Develop a Bullying Prevention Task Force to determine what questions are most important and what methods will work for you. What are the questions you and your stakeholders want to have answered?

22. Best Practices: Assessment • Bullying and victimization MUST be assessed using a multiple informants • Self-report, teacher report, and peer report should be used • Accurate assessment is complex and must include: • School context and climate variables (including technology issues—email, cell phones, etc.). • Classroom contexts. • Peer contexts. • Individual variables. • Adult beliefs and responses. Does your school have such a system to assess bullying and victimization?

23. Data-based decision-making 1. Partner with 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

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

25. Document Bullying Incidents • Develop a confidential reporting system • Determine a method for reporting bullying • Document the incident in detail • Use forms consistently • Follow-up consistently Does your school do have such a system and follow the procedures consistently?

26. Other Critical Components • Peer group functioning • How do you change negative peer groups? • The role of bystanders • How do you get bystanders to say “we don’t do that here!” Will share the P3R curriculum near end of this presentation

28. Peers are Critical Bullying HAS TO BE examined within the larger social context -- including the PEER GROUP

29. Peer Groups & Bullying • Craig & Pepler (1997): • Videotaped aggressive & socially competent children (grades 1-6) • Peers were involved in bullying in 85% of bully episodes • Active participation in the episode (30%), observing the interaction (23%), and intervening (12%) • Peers empathized with the bully in 74% of the episodes and only empathized with the victim in 23% of the episodes • Underscores a social-ecological perspective of bullying - interaction between individual characteristics and the social context (i.e., peer group and school social system)

30. Bullies may be the popular kids…. and in many cases, they are. Not all students who engage in bullying are socially rejected!

31. Bullies May be Part of Dominant Social Groups • Research suggests that bullying is a way to achieve power and dominance (Long & Pellegrini, 2003). • “Pro-social” bullying maintains power relationships in schools (Garbarino & deLara, 2002). • The culture of athletics may support “pro-social” bullying. • Recent research has found that aggression is intrinsic to social status among adolescents (Faris & Felmlee, 2011).

32. Bystanders are a Key to Reducing Bullying Although peers are involved in bullying in some capacity – many DO NOT actively participate.

33. Importance of Bystanders • Bystanders are key to school climate. • Why? • When bystanders take a stand against bullying they help create an environment that is safer and more conducive to learning. (Tremlow, Peaceful Schools Project, study with Topeka schools, 2002)

35. How can we Teach Bystanders to Intervene? • There are REAL fears that kids (and adults) face about intervening. • Need to create a school culture that promotes positive peer relationships. • How can you create a culture in your school where bystanders intervene?

36. Best Practices • We need to use data-based decision-making to effectively intervene with bullying behaviors. Does your school use data to inform interventions?

38. Helping Victims, Bully-Victims, Bullies, and Bystanders • Make sure students are aware of the confidential reporting system for bullying. • Have an open door policy with counselors to address the needs of students involved in bullying. • Stay away from a shame/blame mentality.

39. Therapeutic Interventions Understand the connection between bullying and mental health issues. Develop a strong community referral system. Utilize school counselors and school psychologists. Assess and treat depression and anxiety—linked to bullying/victimization. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is the front-line treatment for depression and anxiety. Are these available at your school?

40. Common Pitfalls in Bullying Prevention and Intervention • “Debunking the dyadic bias” (Espelage & Swearer, 2003) – Social-Ecological • Zero tolerance (“Get rid of the bullies”) • Group treatment for bullies • Peer mediation/conflict resolution • Simple, short-term solutions (i.e., suspension) • School-wide interventions WITHOUT 80-100% staff support What obstacles does your school face?

41. When school climate is healthy and adult and kid relationships are healthy, then the conditions exist to minimize bullying. a “no brainer”

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

43. Public Service Postings for Adults

44. Bullying Evaluation Guidelines* • Establish an anti-bullying evaluation team. • Meet and brainstorm questions to examine. • Research different assessment strategies and pick one that will work for your school. • Decide when to collect data Does your school have a team that is responsible for data collection and evaluation? * From Swearer, Espelage & Napolitano (2009). Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Realistic Strategies for Schools. NY: Guilford Press.

45. Bullying Evaluation Guidelines* • How will you collect data (online or paper-and-pencil)? • Approach local businesses for funding. • Collect data each year at the same time. • Enter data online. • Analyze data and present it to stakeholders. • Generate ideas for bullying prevention and intervention based on data. * From Swearer, Espelage & Napolitano (2009). Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Realistic Strategies for Schools. NY: Guilford Press.

46. There are No Easy Solutions! • Bullying is a complex phenomenon that MUST include interventions at the individual, peer, family, school, community, and societal levels!

47. INDIVIDUALIZE Prevention and Intervention Efforts • Schools need to implement bullying prevention and intervention strategies that fit their school ecology and that are empirically validated. Has your school identified optimal prevention and intervention strategies that are empirically supported?

48. Promoting Positive Peer Relationships (P3R): A Bullying Prevention Curriculum http://www.storiesofus.com/home.html Founder/Filmmaker: Christopher Faull Specialist Collaborators: Dr. Susan Swearer, University of Nebraska, Lincoln Dr. Dorothy Espelage, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Dr. Shane Jimerson, University of California, Santa Barbara www.storiesofus.com

49. Promoting Positive Peer Relationships (P3R) Production Process • Script development and rehearsals over 5 weeks, 6-8 contact hours per week. Majority of this time involves discussing what happens: how bullying progresses, and the behavior of the bully, victim, and bystander... • Every detail is based on their experiences - the films are their perspective. • All dialogue is improvised, and every detail approved for authenticity by students. • Students also work on the crew – camera and sound assistants, and logging the camera tapes (take-by-take). • Collectively the students take responsibility for each scene they are playing in – remembering what was agreed upon in rehearsals, props required, and so on. Each is responsible for their character’s wardrobe, make-up and hair.

50. Promoting Positive Peer Relationships (P3R) Program Overview The US program is composed of four resources: • Classroom Resource • Professional Development Resource • Community Education Resource • Make-Your-Own-Film Resource The resources can be used individually, or bundled as a program. They can also be used to compliment other programs.