The Complexity of Bullying and Implications for Counselling University and College Students Dr. Tracy Morgan Psycholog

1. The Complexity of Bullying and Implications for Counselling University and College Students Dr. Tracy Morgan Psychologist Counselling Services University of Waterloo Waterloo, ON tmorgan@uwaterloo.ca CACUSS Conference Saskatoon, SK June 12, 2007

2. Overview of Presentation • Definition of bullying • Frequency of bullying • Roles in bullying • Perpetration of bullying behaviour • Theories and models • Correlates • Motivations/dynamics of bullying • Forms of bullying behaviour • In-person, online • Effects of bullying • Implications for counselling • Sharing experiences

3. Definition of Bullying • “Bullying is a conscious, willful and deliberate hostile activity, intended to harm”(Coloroso, 2002) • “Punking is a practice of verbal and physical violence, humiliation, and shaming usually done in public by males to other males”(Phillips, 2000, cited in Phillips, 2007) • Based in contempt – harm others without feeling empathy, compassion, or shame(Coloroso, 2002) • Differences between teasing and bullying – bullying has intent to harm and a power differential between person who bullies and victim(Griffin & Gross, 2004) • Issue re: including repetition of bullying behaviours in the definition • Examples include “hitting, name calling, intimidating gestures, racial slurs, spreading rumours, exclusion from groups” (Graham, 2006, p. 317)

4. Frequency of Bullying • Approximately one-half of first-year college students experienced bullying (Duncan, 1999) • 20 to 30% of high school students were involved in bullying (Harris, 2005) • One-third of adolescents experienced peer rejection (Deater-Deckard, 2001) • One-third of 15 686 youth in grades 6 to 10 reported they experienced and/or perpetrated bullying behaviour (Nansel et al., 2001) • 76.8% of middle and high school students reported being bullied (Hoover, Oliver, & Hazler, 1992)

5. Frequency of Bullying • Approximately half of grade 7 students reported being bullied, including cyberbullying(Li, 2007) • Almost 30% reported that they had experienced bullying on-line and 11% reported perpetrating bullying behaviour online(Patchin & Hinduja, 2006) • Four to 19% of adolescents have both experienced bullying and have perpetrated bullying behaviour (Craig, 1998; Haynie et al., 2001; Xu, Farver, Schwartz, & Chang, 2003) • Two-thirds of boys surveyed engaged in bullying and sexual harassment behaviours – boys were victims of bullying and harassment more than girls, with content that was homophobic(American Association of University Women, 1993) • 70% of students in high school reported that they had experienced sexual harassment at school(Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers’ Federation, 1995)

6. Frequency of Bullying • Study with 1582 high school students from 18 schools • 57% experienced sexual harassment in the last two weeks – 7% of students experienced physical forms of harassment • 15% were somewhat or very upset by these experiences – more females than males were upset by the behaviour (Walsh, Duffy, & Gallagher-Duffy, 2007)

7. Roles in Bullying • Coloroso (2002) identified three roles: the bully, the bullied, and the bystander • Images and stereotypes of perpetrators of bullying behaviour • Those who experience bullying are targeted for some reason, usually “different” in some way – most commonly targeted characteristics were race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion (Wessler & De Andrade, 2006) • Bystander – “supporting cast” – acts of omission and commission • More detailed diagram by Olweus (2001)

8. Theories and Models of Bullying • Attribution theory – attribution of intention – aggressive attributional bias (Orpinas & Horne, 2006) • Preadolescent girls who were aggressive physically indicated hostile attributional biases in ambiguous situations and valued revenge and exclusive relationships with peers(Crain, 2002) • Social information-processing model – how children interpret a situation – to what internal and external cues do they respond (Orpinas & Horne, 2006) • Social learning of aggression – consequences for their behaviour and observation and modelling of others’ behaviour (Orpinas & Horne, 2006)

9. Theories and Models of Bullying • Social-cognitive theory(Bandura, 1986) • Individual’s cognitions, their environment, and their behaviours interact – reciprocal determinism – to change behaviour, changes occur in cognitions and/or environment • Types of cognitions • Moral justification • Labeling • Displacement of responsibility • Diffusion of responsibility • Distortion of consequences • Dehumanization of the victim • Attribution of blame (Orpinas & Horne, 2006, pp. 66-69)

10. Correlates of Bullying Behaviour • Risk factors and correlates of perpetration of bullying behaviour • Experienced abuse, neglect – e.g., witnessed interparental violence (Baldry, 2003; Moretti, Obsuth, Odgers, & Reebye, 2006) • Holds beliefs that support violence and anticipates positive outcomes from aggression • Parents support these beliefs • Lacks problem-solving skills • Parents do not establish limits and consequences • Friends are aggressive and use substances (Orpinas & Horne, 2006)

11. Correlates of Bullying Behaviour • 7290 students from 25 high schools in southern Ontario participated • Bullies and bully-victims reported using angry-externalizing coping behaviours more often than those not involved – victims had higher scores on this measure than uninvolved students • Endorsement of normative beliefs about antisocial behaviour was related to bullying behaviour (Marini, Dane, Bosacki, & YLC-Cura, 2006)

12. Correlates of Bullying Behaviour • Those who experienced and/or perpetrated violence have higher risk for drinking and smoking, using other types of violent behaviours, and antisocial behaviours (e.g., Nansel, Overpeck, Haynie, Ruan, & Scheidt, 2003; Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, Ruan, Simons-Morton, & Scheidt, 2001) • Equivocal results for those who bully and depression(e.g., Kumpulainen et al., 2000) • Suicidal ideation(Roland, 2002)

13. Correlates of Bullying Behaviour • Grade 10 sample – those who perpetrated bullying behaviour frequently had lower levels of affective empathy than those who perpetrated bullying occasionally – lower scores on both cognitive and affective empathy was related to more violent forms of bullying by males and to indirect bullying by females (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006)

14. Gender • Gender differences in type of bullying behaviours – different motivation – boys bully in physical ways to establish dominance (Pellegrini, 2003) and establish their place in hierarchies (Klein, 2006) and to maintain identity as “normal” male and create “outcast male identities”(Phillips, 2007) • Girls bully in social ways to affect social connections(Crick & Grotpeter, 1995, 1996) • Developmental theories • Gilligan (1982) girls’ and women’s focus on relationships • Brown (1998, 2003) suggested that focus on relationships contributes to them taking out aggression on each other, rather than challenging their gender oppression

15. Gender • Critique of mixed messages received(Ringrose, 2006) • Increase in girls’ aggression(Ringrose, 2006) • “mean girls” phrase • Girls’ aggression is less prevalent than boys (Archer, 2004; Moffitt, Caspi, Rutter, & Silva, 2001) • In completing surveys, girls may be less likely to report perpetrating bullying behaviour than boys (Pepler et al., 2006) • 60% of victims of cyberbullying (grade 7) were girls and slightly more than 50% of cyber-bullies were male (Li, 2007)

16. Sexual Orientation • 1025 Japanese men who identified as homosexual, bisexual, or questioning – 83% reported being bullied at school, 60% experienced verbal harrassment,15% had attempted suicide, 71% reported high levels of anxiety, 13% reported high levels of depression (Hidaka & Operario, 2006) • Relationship between sexual orientation, being bullied, and experiencing suicidal ideation and attempting suicide – retrospective for experiences in elementary, middle, and high school - path model – bullying was a significant variable related to suicidality, especially for middle school (grades 6 to 8) (Friedman, Koeske, Silvestre, Korr, & Sites, 2006)

17. Racial and Ethnic Background • 80 focus groups and 400 Student Leadership Workshops in 11 states – 7000 anonymous student statements -“racially degrading language directed at Black, Hispanic, and Asian students” (Wessler & De Andrade, 2006, p. 515) – similarly high rates in schools where Black students were less than 1% of the student population and where they were more than 20% of the student population • Students of minority ethnic backgrounds felt less vulnerable with increased ethnic diversity (grade 6 students from 99 classrooms in Los Angeles)(Juvonen, Nishina, & Graham, 2006) • However, members of dominant group were victimized – higher levels of self-blame for those in the majority ethnic group who experienced peer harassment (Graham, 2006)

18. Physical Attributes • A study with middle school students found that they were more willing to interact with peers who were “thin” versus those who were “fat” – participants endorsed negative stereotypes associated with “fat” and characters described as fat were stigmatized(Greenleaf et al., 2006) • Physical weakness is related to repeated victimization(Egan & Perry, 1998; Hodges & Perry, 1999)

19. Religion • Students who were Fundamentalist Christian, Wiccan, and Mormon were targeted – students who were Jewish and Muslim were targeted most often(Wessler & De Andrade, 2006) Giftedness • Study with gifted 8th graders – one incident of bullying was highly distressing – perceived that they needed to stop it themselves and had violent thoughts when it continued (Peterson & Ray, 2006)

20. Forms of Bullying Behaviour • In-person – types of interpersonal violence – verbal, physical, sexual • Cyber-bullying – “students are able to harass others day and night using technological devices such as computer systems and cellular phones” (Patchin & Hinduja, 2006, p. 148) • Instant messaging, email, websites such as Facebook (Kids’ Help Phone and Bell Canada, 2007) • Anonymous, occur at any time, take many forms, may be more daring than in-person (Li, 2007) • Students could be suspended or expelled for bullying, including cyber-bullying, following changes to Ontario’s Safe Schools Act on June 4, 2007 (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, June 5, 2007)

21. Forms of Bullying Behaviour • Recent CACUSS newswire link to an article in Winnipeg Free Press March 1, 2007 on cyberbullying • Student in business program at University of Manitoba was targeted by more than 220 people on the Facebook website • Glenn Feltham, Dean of Business, University of Manitoba, began an investigation – business program will develop a “professional code of conduct on this matter” (Martin, 2007)

22. Forms of Bullying Behaviour • Cyber-bullying: Our Kids’ New Reality – 2500 responses to Kids Help Phone survey between December 20, 2006 and January 20, 2007 – more than 70% of respondents indicated that they had experienced online bullying – 44% of respondents indicated that they had bullied someone online • 76% were called names, 52% had rumours spread about them, 38% were threatened (Kids’ Help Phone and Bell Canada, 2007)

23. Effects of Bullying Behaviour • Meta-analysis by Hawker and Boulton (2000) on the effects of experiencing bullying across a wide age range over a 20-year period indicated: • depression • loneliness • anxiety and social anxiety • low general or global self-esteem • negative social self-concept

24. Effects of Bullying Behaviour • More recent studies have found similar results: • Low self-esteem(Ledley et al., 2006; Storch, Brassard, & Masia-Warner, 2003) • Suicidal behaviour(Paulson & Everall, 2001) • Drug use(Reinherz, Giaconia, Hauf, Wasserman, & Paradis, 2000) • Physical health problems(Rigby, 2001) • Criminal behaviour(Miller-Johnson, Coie, Maumary-Gremaud, Lochman, & Terry, 1999) • Less comfort with intimacy, closeness, trusting others, depending on others, more worry about abandonment (Ledley, et al., 2006)

25. Effects of Bullying Behaviour • Negative social evaluation, social avoidance and loneliness (Storch, Brassard, & Masia-Warner, 2003) • Peer victimization was related to victimization by romantic partners - more so for men (university student sample) (Lento, 2006) • Threat of ostracism is related to depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts in children and adolescents (DiFillipo & Overholser, 2000; Kistner, Balthazor, Risi, & Burton, 1999; Laible, Carlo, & Raffaelli, 2000) • One-third of 387 university students reported that peer rejection was their “most extreme traumatic event”(Lev-Wiesel, Nuttman-Shwartz, & Sternberg, 2006, p. 138)

26. Effects of Bullying Behaviour • 7290 students from 25 high schools in southern Ontario participated • Compared to bullies and those not involved, bully-victims and victims had: • higher levels of depression • lower levels of self-esteem • more relational difficulties • Bully-victims and bullies reported that their parents had less knowledge of their activities than victims and those not involved • Bullies, bully-victims, and victims reported lower levels of maternal attachment than those not involved (Marini, Dane, Bosacki, & YLC-CURA, 2006)

27. Effects of Bullying Behaviour • Bully-victims had higher degree of psychosocial risk compared to those in either group – combine effects experienced by bullies and victims (Marini, Dane, Bosacki, & YLC-CURA, 2006) • Bully-victims experience internalizing problems, rejection by peers, lack of close friendships, indicate more acceptance of deviance, less involved parents, more hyperactivity, negative emotionality, reactive aggression (Craig, 1998; Haynie et al., 2001; Kumpulainen, Rasanen, & Henttonen, 1999; Pellegrini, Bartini, & Brooks, 1999; Salmivalli & Nieminen, 2002; Schwartz, 2000; Xu, Farver, Schwartz, & Chang, 2003)

28. Effects of Sexual Harassment • More self-conscious • Embarrassed • Afraid • Less confident • Confused • Doubtful about having a happy romantic relationship • Less popular (AAUW, 1993, 2001) • Suicidal ideation (e.g., Rivers, 2000) • Poor body image, lower self esteem, anger, uncomfortable talking about sex, less trust of males (OSSTF, 1995)

29. Implications for Counselling • It is important for counsellors to recognize: • Bullying is a form of interpersonal violence • Clients may be reluctant to disclose bullying experiences • Clients may perceive that they should be able to handle bullying • Variable attributions for bullying behaviour • Clients who experienced bullying may blame themselves • Power dynamics between the person who perpetrated the bullying behaviour and the victim • Clients may have perpetrated bullying behaviour and been victimized

30. Implications for Counselling • Explore what happened – nature of bullying, how clients responded, how others responded • Explore clients’ interpretations of bullying, their coping strategies • Cognitive-behavioural approach – interpretations of experiences of bullying – what behavioural responses are reinforced • Interpersonal skills • communication • conflict resolution

31. Implications for Counselling • Solution-focused brief therapy (Young & Holdorf, 2003)– strengths’ focus – “non-problem talk” (p. 273) – exceptions to the problem – 118 students – majority in high school – range of 1 to 7 sessions • 20 girls who bullied were randomly selected for three months of brief strategic family therapy (BSFT) – assessed how families resolved conflict – helped them negotiate more - one-year follow-up – significant reduction at end of therapy and maintained at follow-up(Nickel, Luley, et al., 2006) • 36 boys aged 14 and 15 years who bullied were randomly selected for 12 weeks of BSFT – significant reduction in bullying behaviour (Nickel, Muehlbacher, et al., 2006)

32. Sharing Experiences • What clinical experiences have you had with clients who have experienced and/or perpetrated bullying behaviours? • How have you conceptualized the complexity of bullying experiences? • What effects have your clients experienced? • What counselling approaches have you utilized?