Update on bullying at school: Science forgotten?
Section snippets
Research and publication history
Researchers in human development have long been interested in peer relationships and in aggression. The current understanding of peer groups emphasizes the importance of friendship at every point of the lifespan, and notes the many reasons that children are accepted or rejected by their classmates, further exploring children’s status as popular, well-liked, controversial, aggressive-rejected, withdrawn-rejected, and neglected (see reviews: Kupersmidt and Dodge, 2004, Ladd, 2005). Similarly,
Definitions
Science depends on clear, operational definitions, yet a major problem with popular advice as well as with early research on victimization has been lack of clarity. The term “bully” was not understood, nor were the distinct characteristics of bullies, victims, and bystanders. On these, scientists have made commendable progress.
Prevalence
The introduction to this article stated that researchers have made major progress assessing the prevalence of bullying. Hundreds of scientists questioning thousands of children in dozens of nations have found that virtually every child has experience as bully, victim, and/or observer. Research has disproven the idea that bullying is uncommon: it is far more prevalent than most people, including school leaders, imagine (Benbenishty and Astor, 2005, Dake et al., 2004). Intervention often begins
Consequences
Problems remain in determining consequences as well. A developmental approach is sorely needed. Calling another child fat, for instance, is much more harmful at age 13 than at age 3. Long-term consequences are affected by numerous factors, not only developmental stage but also culture, sex, chronicity, and personality. Retrospective accounts are biased, although it is not known precisely how much, in what direction, and when (Brainard & Reyna, 2005).
Causes
Efforts to find causes have also been hampered by the lack of prospective research. The life-span perspective stresses that human behavior has multiple causes and contexts, changing in many directions at once, with culture and cohort always influential (Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 1998). Many factors, from the genes set at conception to a teacher’s momentary reaction, within cultural and historical systems, cause every episode of bullying. As explained, low self-esteem, social
Prevention at school
The power of the immediate context is evident when comparing schools in one nation, at the same time, using the same measures. Olweus (1993) reported bullying four times more frequent in some Norwegian schools than others. A fourfold difference was also found in Australia (Rigby, 2002b) and a sixfold difference among schools in Scotland (Mellor, 1999).
Schools differ in severity as well, not because of size, urban/rural status, or ethnicity but on other variables that seem particular to one
Conclusion
This last example illustrates a crucial point. The discovery that bullying is widespread and harmful has motivated many researchers and educators to describe, predict, and prevent it. Punctuating that research has been gunfire. Unfortunately, many school systems have avoided evaluation; many proponents of intervention have exaggerated prevalence (by reporting how many children have ever been victimized) or dramatized consequences (by highlighting homicides and suicides). Many legislatures and
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