Bullying in Us Schools

Bullying in US Schools

Recent events in the United States have thrown the state, and safety, of Middle and High Schools into sharp relief. Incidents of violence seem to be more and more frequent in our schools. Columbine is of course the most memorable of these media sensations to be witnessed by the public, but there have certainly been others over the past decade. This has inspired a great many investigations into 'bullies,' their methods, and the effects on their victims. One study defined bullies as "youngsters who repeatedly use negative actions, such as physical or verbal aggression, against victims." (I. Pellegrini & Bartini M, 1999) What follows is an examination of some of these studies, and a pooling of their research and conclusions. It is the hope of many researchers, including this amateur, that a better understanding of bullying and it's causes can help to prevent some of the violent events of past years.

Reasons

There may be as many reasons for one child to bully another as there are bullies, but a review of several studies has found certain common themes, and many shared attributes between various bullies and various victims. The first and most easily understandable cause of bullying can be linked to the age of the subjects in question. The teenage years are difficult ones for most teens, partly due to biological reasons. Hormonal instabilities, initiated by the body to ready it for procreation, tend to play havoc with a teen's emotions. The overly reactionary teen who declares his or her parent is 'ruining his life' has become a stereotype over the years. Most of us can remember intoning those very words to our parents, and being very sincere at the time. Time and perspective helps us place incidents experienced during the teen years in a more realistic light, but often teens are incapable of this. They are children playing at being adults, but they lack the experience to view their lives in an even-tempered and reasonable way.

So we have children who are emotionally unstable to begin with. On to this, we add a host of factors that studies have found to be influences in teen interaction with their peers. For example, social standing has been shown to be a relevant factor. Students sometimes use aggression, or even violence, to assert leadership and thereby gain the attention, admiration, and/or cooperation of other students (I. Pellegrini & Bartini M, 1999). Bullies also tend to affiliate themselves with one another due to their common interests (unpleasant as they might sound) and a shared positive attitude towards bullying (I. Pellegrini & Bartini M, 1999). It would certainly be foreseeable that a student might take up bullying to become friends with the bullies, thereby protecting themselves from their new social group. This, of course, only serves to perpetuate the problem.

Another study examined the effects of violence, both witnessed and practiced, outside of school, and it's effects on a student's tendency to bully. It is generally accepted that exposure to violence in the home and the neighborhood can lead to emotional distress in children . Past researchers have found that children who experience violence in the community are at risk for the development of distress-related symptoms, disruptive behavior problems, and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) (III. Schwartz & Proctor, 2000). This study hoped to learn if this exposure could translate into aggressive behavior towards other students while in school. The researchers did in fact find a positive correlation between students who self-reported violence exposure and the students who were nominated by their peers as demonstrating aggressive behavior (they were the same students). It is worth noting, of course, that community violence is influenced by societal factors, and that this study specifically targeted inner-city and poverty stricken school districts. Violence is statistically more common in such areas than it is in more affluent areas.

So what about other areas? Part of the reason the Columbine incident, in which two students who had reported being the victims of bullies, entered their school with shotguns and killed several students and themselves, received so much attention was the area in which it happened. The school was neither inner-city, nor was the populace of the area disenfranchised. Several explanations were offered up at the time by both news reporting agencies and researchers. One was the students' interest in an online white-supremacist community. These sites often advocate 'hate' and violent means to achieve their goals (evidence: Google search). Another offered explanation was a scene from the movie "The Basketball Diaries," in which a student produces a shotgun from under his trench-coat (which the Columbine killers famously wore) and shoots both his teacher and several other students. The scene is presented in an almost dream-like quality, and represents a kind of revenge by the character against those who have victimized him in the past (the teacher, for example, had paddled the student on many occasions). The important thing to note is that both forms of media, movies and the internet, are normally absorbed in the home. "The Basketball Diaries" has been rated R by the MPAA (the Motion Picture Association of America), and with good reason. It addresses subjects and themes that are not appropriate for children. This calls into the question that many asked at the time: Where are the parents? By either action or inaction (not monitoring the activities of their children), parents can certainly be a factor in the creation of those who would use aggression in the classroom. Obviously, this ties into the previous study mentioned. Students who are allowed outside in dangerous areas or dangerous communities for long periods of time, especially after dark, are more at risk for witnessing violence.

So how much of the student populace falls into the categories of bully and victim in any given school? One study reported the following statistics:

First, regarding the occurrence of bullying, victimization, and aggressive victimization in a sample of early adolescents, we found that 14% of our sample were bullies, 18% were victims, and 5% were aggressive victims. (I. Pellegrini & Bartini M, 1999)

They also stated that:

Specific to school functioning, bullies' aggressive values and behavior are often at odds with the majority of students (who are nonaggressive) and the more general school ethos. This leads to aggressive youngsters being rejected by peers and being viewed negatively by teachers. (I. Pellegrini & Bartini