Kristin Carbone-Lopez, PhDCriminology and Criminal JusticeUniversity of Missouri, St. Louis
Bullying victimization: Separating reality from
fiction
Bullying victimization:
What is bullying? How do we define it?How common is bullying? How many children
are victims of some sort of bullying?What are some of the risk factors for being
bullied?What are some of the consequences of
bullying victimization?How can we respond to bullying? As
practitioners? As school officials? As parents?
overview
bullying long considered a minor issue, but taken more seriously today
MYTH – bullying always involves physical aggression or violence.
REALITY – bullying can include many different types of behavior, including physical violence, verbal abuse, and even “cyber” bullying.
defining bullying
3 criteria, as outlined by Olweus (1993) intentional harm done to a person either physically,
emotionally or relationallyvictimization that occurs repeatedly over timea power imbalance between victim and offender
forms include:physical – hitting, kicking, shoving, theft, threats, etc.verbal – teasing, derogatory comments, bad namesrelational – “social aggression”, exclusion of peers,
withdrawal of affection, threatening to tell lies or rumorscyber – bullying through electronic means
“official” definition
unique characteristics: anonymity, accessibility, punitive fears, bystanders, lack of inhibition
six common forms: harassment – repeated rude/offensive messages denigration – distributing false/negative information about a person flaming – online “fighting” impersonation – using someone else’s account to post material outing/trickery – sharing someone’s secret information cyber-stalking – repeated threatening messages
MYTH – cyber-bullying is often a “gateway” to other forms of bullying
REALITY – actually, typically the reverse; begins with face-to-face encounters and may progress to cyber forms
cyber-bullying
widely varying estimates, in part because of differing definitions yet, consensus that it is a serious issue 2005–06 school year there were an estimated 54.8 million students
about 1.5 million victims of nonfatal crimes at school, including 868,100 thefts and 628,200 violent crimes
this translates into some 4% of students age 12–18 reported being victimized—either physically or through theft of their belongings—at school during the previous 6 months
MYTH – bullying is a small problem in our schools compared to other forms of violence
REALITY – children are far more likely to experience bullying than physical violence or theft of property at school
in fact, school-based violence has decreased over the past 10 years
prevalence
as many as 27% of school-age children are bullied by peers17% of students in grades 6-10 were bullied “sometimes”
with 8% experiencing bullying once a weekapproximately 1 in 10 school-age children are repeatedly
victimized by peers; many more are victimized less regularly
cyber-bullying is also prevalenta national survey of 770 youth found that 20% of youth ages
11-19 had been bullied through electronic meansan online survey of 1,378 youth found that 32% of boys and
36% of girls had been victims of cyber-bullying, generally in a chat room or by computer text message (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008)
prevalence, cont.
MYTH – there is a “victim personality”REALITY – not only personality characteristics, but situational and
social risk factors are related to risk of bullying
individual characteristics – passivity/shyness, ADHD, size (especially weight)
MYTH – boys are more likely than girls to be bulliedREALITY – boys & girls are nearly equally likely to be bullied, yet
experience different forms
bullying is not distributed evenly across the youth population – it varies by sex, race, and age
risk factors
sex – boys at greater risk of physical forms of bullying, while girls equally or more likely to experience verbal, relational, and sexual forms of bullying
age – bullying tends to decrease with age; the use of physical aggression often changes to more passive, verbal formsvictimization may decrease more quickly for
girls, except in case of relational aggression
risk factors, cont.
race – inconsistent patternsmay interact with gender – girls of color may be at
greater risk of all forms of bullying (Sawyer et al., 2008)
in-group bias effect – members of the minority group within diverse schools may be at greater risk
school factors size of school, presence of graffiti, punitive teacher
attitudes, inadequate adult supervision, school disadvantage/poverty
risk factors, cont.
MYTH – bullying is a normal part of childhood and the experience builds character
REALITY – evidence for consequences on emotions and behaviors
MYTH – many childhood victims of bullying become violent later on
REALITY – most victims of bullying are more likely to suffer in silence than retaliate
consequences
school-related:reduce willingness to attend school, lower academic
achievementpsychosocial:
low self-esteem, depression and anxiety, avoidance behavior
behavioral: poor social adjustment, behavior problems,
delinquency, drug usedifferences in outcome by gender, type of bullying
girls may suffer a broader range of and more negative consequences than boys
consequences, cont.
Do different forms of bullying victimization have different effects? Do these effects differ by gender? (Carbone-Lopez et al., 2010)
used data collected from 15 schools in 9 cities, in 4 states; a total of1,450 students53% were female; average age was 12 years; 50%
Hispanic, 37% white, and 13% Black
differentiate between:physical versus indirect forms of bullying no bullying, intermittent, and repeated victimization
experiences
consequences, cont.
physical forms of bullying67% no victimization28% intermittent victimization5% repeat victimization
indirect forms of bullying29% no victimization38% intermittent victimization32% repeat victimization
consequences, cont.
externalizing outcomes (delinquency, gang membership)intermittent physical victimization increased boys’
delinquency and their gang membershipboth forms of bullying increased girls’ delinquency but
only indirect bullying increased gang membership
internalizing outcomes (self-esteem, drug use)intermittent physical victimization increased boys’ drug
use, but bullying had no impact on boys’ self esteemrepeated indirect bullying increased girls’ drug use, but
reduced their self esteem
consequences, cont.
MYTH – bullying only impacts the bullies and their victims
REALITY – bullying has a much broader impact
bystanders and witnesses may have similar consequences; bullying may contribute to an overall feeling of non-safety, powerlessness
entire school community may be affected – a climate of fear & disrespect
consequences, cont.
prevention and intervention efforts are clearly important, yet existing efforts largely focus only on physical forms of bullying
recommendations for schools
adopt evidence-based programs reduce existing bullying problems, prevent new problems
from occurring, and foster better peer relations foster an environment conducive to reporting
teachers learn to spot bullying, to intervene immediately, and report
all incidents to administrators
conclusions and implications
parentsbully-proof our children – talk with them about
bullying and its effects, teach them to react appropriate
communityincrease awareness in the community, bring
together all stakeholders to campaign against bullying
conclusions cont.
thank you
