Prevention of Bullying in Schools

Prevention of Bullying in Schools

Introduction

Peer victimization, also known as bullying, comprises commonly recurring, unsolicited, hostile behavior among school-aged children involving a real or perceived power imbalance. Bullying that takes place in educational settings is a relevant and critical global issue, and while it affects all children regardless of culture, ethnicity, gender, or race, some groups may experience various disparities and increased exposure to bullying. Parents, educational institutions, and government entities alike have recognized the harmful, long-term effects of bullying in all its forms. Although the scenarios and unique circumstances of affected students may vary, it is possible for institutions to take a number of general actions to prevent or deal with bullying.

Definition of Bullying

In the 1980s, prominent researchers on the topic of bullying in education developed a definition that scholars have since generally recognized. According to this definition, “A student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students” (Olweus & Limber, 2010, p. 124). These “negative actions” can vary significantly, ranging from physical contact to verbal abuse or emotional exclusion.

However, the key characteristics of bullying are that the behavior is intentional, repeated, and negative towards the victims who are the target of the bullying and who are also commonly helpless to defend themselves. Aggressive actions and even harm are likely to be an ongoing occurrence in an interpersonal relationship that suffers from a lack of “actual or perceived balance of power or strength” (Olweus & Limber, 2010, p. 125).

These traits are essential to defining the elements of bullying in the social behavior of children. Consistent and repeated negative behavior leads to bullying interactions and patterns, which this paper seeks to address.

Today’s educational institutions and entities actively recognize bullying as a behavior pattern that has severe implications but can also be prevented. The debate amongst educational scholars has focused on the impact of the school environment on bullying, including whether certain policies foster or buffer such behaviors amongst youth. Research has examined various factors ranging from budgets to class sizes and demographic distributions. Over the course of identifying the psychology and patterns behind bullying, scholars have studied broader constructs such as school policy, instructor attitudes, and peer interaction as indicators of potentially problematic behaviors (Swearer, Espelage, Vaillancourt & Hymel, 2010).

Cyberbullying

Developing technological capabilities and widening the availability of internet access have lent themselves to the rise of cyberbullying. The number of adolescents actively using internet-based services continues to rapidly increase; an estimated 66% of teens have access to the internet from the privacy of their bedrooms (Tokunaga, 2010). Cyberbullying is a general term that describes bullying behaviors, such as online harassment, that take place in the digital realm. This virtual form of bullying, which offers the possibility of anonymity, is unique in the protection it may potentially provide the bully. Furthermore, unlike the physical spheres of traditional bullying, cyberspace lacks the strict supervision of parents and teachers that may be present to some extent in real-world peer interactions.

Although popular media and tragic incidents have exposed the dangers and various issues related to adolescent interaction with the World Wide Web, the popularity of this technological communication medium continues to grow without adequate safety measures in place. Students face cyberstalking and public abuse that exerts negative psychological effects on their mental health (Tokunaga, 2010).

The discussion of cyberbullying is becoming ever more relevant as a significant portion of peer social interaction is transitioning online, hosted by various social media platforms. Schools lack online authority over children, highlighting the importance of anti-bullying strategies that will encourage positive behavior and establish social foundations in lieu of disciplinary punishment that cannot be enforced outside school hours.

Example of Bullying

Those affected by bullying are usually members of a group that is marginalized by some unique characteristic that makes them stand out. This will be analyzed more deeply later in the report, but it is vital to describe an example of the bullying process in a commonly affected group. As bullying is generating headlines with anecdotal evidence of extreme