Bullying among School-Aged Youth: Examining Student and Teacher Perceptions

1. Bullying among School-Aged Youth: Examining Student and Teacher Perceptions Kisha M. Haye, M.A. Courtney K. Miller, Ed.S. Susan M. Swearer, Ph.D. Rhonda Turner, M.A. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Dallas, Texas, April, 2004

2. Target Bullying: Ecologically-Based Prevention and Intervention for Schools

3. Overview The definition, prevalence, and assessment of bullying behaviors in school will be reviewed A definition of school climate will be discussed Comparison of student and teacher attitudes towards bullying and perceptions of school climate will be examined Role of the bystander and implications that these students might have for prevention and intervention will be discussed

5. Bullying and Peer Victimization

6. Definition Students are being bullied when another student or several other students: Say mean and hurtful things to them or make fun of them. Completely ignore or exclude them from their group of friends or leave them out of things on purpose. Hit, kick, push, shove around, or lock them inside a room.

7. 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.

8. 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)

9. Our Survey Definition: Bullying is anything from teasing, saying mean things, writing mean notes, or leaving someone out of a group, to physical attacks (hitting, pushing, kicking) where one person or a group of people picks on another person over and over again. Kids who are bullied have a hard time defending themselves.

10. Prevalence Rates for Bullying According to Solberg and Olweus (2003), “Two or three times a month” is an accurate indicator of the prevalence of bullying and peer victimization. 10.1% (Solberg & Olweus, 2003) to 37% of students (Limber & Small, 2000) report being bullied two or three times a month 8.4% (Nansel et al., 2001) to 34% (Stockdale, Hangaduambo, Duys, Larson, & Sarvela, 2002) of students in the U.S. report being victimized at least once per week.

11. Prevalence Rates (continued) Worldwide rates range from 3% to 20% (Whitney & Smith, 1993) 75% of adolescents report having been bullied at some time during their school years (Hoover, Oliver, & Hazler, 1992)

13. Bully/Victim Continuum Bully Bully-victim Victim Bystander Not-involved

14. The Bystander Bystanders are key to school climate. 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)

16. Benefits of School-wide Assessment Accurate estimates of the prevalence of bullying in a particular school. Identification of the students who are most likely to use bullying behaviors, or to be victimized (or both), or onlooker behaviors (bystanders). Identification of students who are not involved in the bully/victim continuum. Information about school policies and practices that might be encouraging or discouraging bullying.

17. School Climate School climate can be defined as the total environmental quality within a school and is multi-dimensional: physical, social, culture, milieu (Anderson, 1982). Researchers have limited knowledge about the effects of the school setting on bullying, particularly how school climate affects victims and bullies (Ma, 2001) as well as the social and environmental factors that facilitate or inhibit bullying (Nansel et al., 2001).

18. School Climate (cont.) The construct of school climate is often ill-defined and there is a limited number of validated assessment measures for this construct. For the purpose of this study, school climate is defined as the positive and negative relationships between students and teachers.

19. Comprehensive Assessment: Target Bullying Self-nomination: Bully survey Peer nomination Inventory Teacher nomination Inventory Assessment of internalizing problems: Depression (CDI), Anxiety (MASC), Hopelessness, Locus of Control, Aggression. School records data: Grades, GPA, Test Scores, Office referrals, Absences, Suspensions School climate measure

20. Bully Attitudinal Scale 12-item scale measuring attitudes towards bullying. Items are rated on a five-point scale: 1 = “Totally False” to 5 = “Totally True” Scores range from 12 to 60; higher scores indicate more pro-bullying attitudes

21. School Social Climate Measure 13-item scale measuring aspects of school climate hypothesized to be relevant to students’ emotional and behavioral development. Items are rated on a four-point scale: 1 = “Totally False” to 4 = “Totally True” Scores range from 13 to 52; higher scores indicate more positive perceptions of school climate.

22. Participants: Spring 2003 Total: 347 students & 69 teachers School A 126 students (53 male & 73 female) 13 teachers (2 male & 11 female) School B 125 students (58 male & 67 female) 28 teachers (10 male & 18 female) School C 96 students (96 male) 28 teachers (18 male & 10 female)

23. Participants: Racial Distribution School A Students: 61% Caucasian, 9.5% Biracial, 7.9% African-American, 7.1% Asian, 5.6% Latino(a), 2.4% Middle Eastern, 2.4% Native American, and 0.8% Eastern European Teachers: 92% Caucasian and 8% Biracial School B Students : 92% Caucasian, 2.4% Biracial, 2.4% African-American, 1.6% Latino(a), 0.8% Native American, and 0.8% Eastern European Teachers : 92.8% Caucasian, 3.6% African-American, and 3.6% Eastern European School C Students : 89% Caucasian, 4% Biracial, 4% Latino(a), 2% African-American, and 1% Asian Teachers : 100% Caucasian

24. Bully/Victim Status across Schools

25. Bully/Victim Status

26. Bully/Victim Status by School

27. Student and Teacher Attitudes Towards Bullying

28. Measuring Attitudes Towards Bullying A one-way analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate the relationship between position (student or teacher) and attitudes towards bullying. There was a significant difference between student and teacher attitudes towards bullying across the entire sample and across schools, with students reporting more pro-bullying attitudes. A one-way ANOVA was significant for all schools. School A: F (1, 137) = 5.066, p < .05 School B: F (1, 151) = 12.509, p < .01 School C: F (1, 122) = 30.862, p < .01

30. Bully/Victim Status: Differences in Attitudes Towards Bullying

31. Attitudes Towards Bullying: Summary Bullies reported the most pro-bullying attitudes, followed by bully-victims, not-involved students, bystanders, and victims. Bullies reported significantly different attitudes towards bullying than victims, bystanders, and not-involved students. Bully-victims reported significantly different attitudes towards bullying than bystanders and victims.

32. Attitudes Towards Bullying: Summary (cont.) Teachers were less supportive of bullying behaviors compared to students across schools. Bullies and bully-victims (individuals who bully) reported the most supportive attitudes towards bullying, while victims and bystanders were the least supportive.

33. Perception Perceptions will vary from person to person across the same situation. We assign different meanings to what we perceive. Why will individuals observing or experiencing the same situation perceive it differently?

34. The Power of Perception

36. Therefore… Individuals in the same environment may have a different perception of the climate in that environment. This perception is likely to be affected by current or past experiences within that environment. This leads to some of the difficulty in defining and assessing school climate.

37. Student and Teacher Perceptions of School Climate: Across Schools

38. Bullying and Perceptions of School Environment A one-way analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate the relationship between position (student and teacher) and perception of school climate. The results were not consistent across schools. School A: The ANOVA was not significant, F (1, 137) = 14.902, p = .479 School B: The ANOVA was significant, F (1, 151) = 18.391, p < .01 School C: The ANOVA was significant, F (1, 122) = 8.953, p < .01

40. School Climate At School A there was overlap in the student and teacher perceptions of school climate. Possible reasons: School A has participated in the Target Bullying study since 1999. At Schools B and C, students reported significantly lower perceptions (more negative) of their school climate compared to teachers.

41. School Climate - Summary Students not involved and bystanders tended to report more positive perceptions of school climate compared to those students involved in bullying (i.e., victims, bully-victims, and bullies).

43. Global Summary Attitudes Educating students about bullying and modeling of pro-social behaviors are important components to include in prevention and intervention strategies. Schools should take an active approach towards addressing bullying and peer victimization.

44. Global Summary (cont.) School climate It is important to define school climate and assess your school to determine the climate at that point in time. Student perceptions of school climate can be an indicator of the effectiveness of school response to bullying.

45. Suggestions for Intervention Interventions delivered at the individual, classroom and school levels need to be coordinated: Conduct a school-wide assessment of bullying and engage in data-based decision making. Promote facts, not myths about bullying Dispel beliefs about the outcome of aggressive behavior Develop a student code of conduct Individualize counseling services across subtypes of bully/victims Target counseling services to address internalizing problems such as depression and anxiety

46. Suggestions for Intervention Involve parents in the intervention process (for example, have parents volunteer as hallway monitors) Implement intervention strategies specific to bully/victim subtypes Intervene quickly Examine teacher responses to bullying Create an open-door policy for all students Take all reports seriously Accountability and evaluation for everyone

47. Directions for Future Research Limitations of this study: Psychometric properties of the Thoughts About Your School (TAS) are still being tested Bully/victim status was based on self-report only Small teacher sample Future Research: Defining school climate in relation to bullying How individual schools address bullying Exploring student responses to bullying

49. Conclusion The goal of the Target Bullying: Ecologically-Based Prevention & Intervention for Schools Project is to use assessment data to create state-of-the art intervention techniques to address bullying and victimization in school-aged youth. Research is the key to developing an empirically-guided program and to helping schools determine which programs to use. One size does not fit all!

51. Target Bullying: Ecologically-Based Prevention & Intervention for Schools Susan M. Swearer, Ph.D. School Psychology Program 40 Teachers College Hall Lincoln, NE, 68588-0345 (402) 472-1741 sswearer@unlserve.unl.edu