School Discipline, Bullying and Violence - Latest Research Reports

School Discipline, Bullying and Violence - Latest Research Reports

Edited By Jonathan D. Kantrowitz

Published by Tsadek Press

Copyright, Jonathan Kantrowitz 2014

8.5 x 11, 104 pages

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Topics Covered:

 

Bullying

Who Bullies                                                             

Who is Bullied                                                         

Cyberbullying                                                          

Effects of Bullying                                                   

Reducing Bullying                                                  

Miscellaneous Bullying Research                        

Absenteeism and Misbehavior

Absenteeism                                                             

Misbehavior                                                             

Violence

 

School Violence                                                       

Teen Dating Violence                                             

Reducing Violence                                                  

Disciplinary Measures

Restraint and Seclusion of Students                    

Suspension and Expulsion                                     

Arrests in School  

Sample Reports:

Gender Nonconforming Students at Particular Risk for Bullying

The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) released a report in January 2012 on school climate, biased remarks and bullying, Playgrounds and Prejudice: Elementary School Climate in the United States. The report, based on national surveys of 1,065 elementary school students in 3rd to 6th grade and 1,099 elementary school teachers of K-6th grade, examines students' and teachers' experiences with biased remarks and bullying, and their attitudes about gender expression and family diversity. The surveys were conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of GLSEN during November and December 2010.

"School climate and victimization can affect students' educational outcomes and personal development at every grade level," said GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard. "Playgrounds and Prejudice offers invaluable insights into biased remarks and bullying in America's elementary schools. The report also shows the need for elementary schools to do more to address issues of homophobia, gender expression and family diversity."

"Elementary principals are painfully aware of the impact that name-calling, bullying, and bias have not only on an individual student's development, but also in disrupting a positive school culture that nurtures the whole child" said Gail Connelly, executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. "Principals, who are key instructional leaders, are poised to partner with teachers and to use resources such as Ready, Set, Respect!, ensuring that schools are safe and respectful environments that nurture students' social and emotional development."

"Over the past few years, there has been an increase in research on bullying in schools, including elementary schools," said GLSEN Senior Director of Research & Strategic Initiatives Dr. Joseph Kosciw. "However, our report is one of the few that examines bias-based bullying at the elementary school level and the first to examine incidence of homophobic remarks and the negative experiences of children who do not conform to societal standards in their gender expression from a national vantage point."

"Playgrounds and Prejudice articulates a desire among elementary educators to create optimal learning environments for all students, but there is a larger need to provide educational tools and resources that enhance their understanding of gender nonconforming students and families with LGBT parents," said Byard. "Providing this kind of support to teachers and school staff serving our nation's youngest students will build a lasting foundation of learning and development for all elementary school students."

Key Findings on Biased Language, Name-Calling and Bullying

- The most common forms of biased language in elementary schools, heard regularly (i.e., sometimes, often or all the time) by both students and teachers, are the use of the word "gay" in a negative way, such as "that's so gay," (students: 45%, teachers: 49%) and comments like "spaz" or "retard" (51% of students, 45% of teachers). Many also report regularly hearing students make homophobic remarks, such as "fag" or "lesbo" (students: 26%, teachers: 26%) and negative comments about race/ethnicity (students: 26%, teachers: 21%).

- Three-fourths of students (75%) report that students at their school are called names, made fun of or bullied with at least some regularity. Most commonly this is because of students' looks or body size (67%), followed by not being good at sports (37%), how well they do at schoolwork (26%), not conforming to traditional gender norms/roles (23%) or because other people think they're gay (21%).

 

Youths suffering from depression more likely to be bullied

A new study provides evidence that youths who suffer from depression are more likely to develop difficulty in peer relationships including being bullied at school.

It's often assumed that being bullied leads to psychological problems, such as depression, but the study doesn't support this line of thought.

"Often the assumption is that problematic peer relationships drive depression. We found that depression symptoms predicted negative peer relationships," said Karen Kochel, Arizona State University School of Social and Family Dynamics assistant research professor. "We examined the issue from both directions but found no evidence to suggest that peer relationships forecasted depression among this school-based sample of youths."

The new research is published in the journal Child Development

Being depressed in fourth grade predicted peer victimization in fifth grade and difficulty with peer acceptance in sixth grade, according to the research.

The researchers examined data from 486 youths from fourth to sixth grade. Parents, teachers, peers and students themselves provided information through yearly surveys. Data was collected as part of a large-scale longitudinal study that began in 1992 and continued for nearly two decades.

"Adolescence is the time when we see depressive symptoms escalate, particularly in girls," Kochel said. This may be due to the onset of puberty or interpersonal challenges, such as emotionally demanding peer and romantic relationships, which are often experienced during adolescence.

Teachers and parents were asked to identify classic signs of depression – crying a lot, lack of energy, etc. - when determining which children suffered from the malady. They defined peer victimization as bullying that was manifested physically, verbally, or relationally, such as hitting someone, saying mean things, talking behind someone's back or picking on someone.

"Teachers, administrators and parents need to be aware of the signs and symptoms of depression and the possibility that depression is a risk factor for problematic peer relations," Kochel said.

Research shows that having positive peer relationships is crucial for adapting to certain aspects of life such as scholastic achievement and functioning in a healthy manner psychologically, Kochel said.

"If youth depression forecasts peer relationship problems, then recognizing depression is very important at this particular age. This is especially true given that social adjustment in adolescence appears to have implications for functioning throughout an individual's lifetime," Kochel said.

School may be the best place to observe and address youth signs of depression since students typically start spending more time with their friends and less with their parents as they become youths, according to the social scientists.

"We studied peer relationships within the school context. Parents tend not to observe these relationships," Kochel said. "Because depression has the potential to undermine the maturation of key developmental skills, such as establishing healthy peer relationships, it's important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of youth depression."

School climate can affect overweight children for life

Kids can be really mean – especially to other kids – and school-yard bullying can have serious immediate and long-term effects. One area of increasing concern in this regard is the possibility that overweight or obese children shoulder the brunt of bullying. With childhood obesity rates reaching unprecedented levels, this may translate into even more negative behavior being experienced by today's kids. It is also possible that children who are disliked by their peers may respond by becoming less active and more likely to overeat – compounding the issue even further. It's a vicious cycle, to say the least. Indeed, some research shows that obese children miss more school days than healthy-weight children. One reason might be because obese kids are unhappy due to being mistreated by other children; they might be avoiding school because of a negative emotional climate in the classroom.

To help address this important question and understand better the factors related to childhood obesity, researchers at Oklahoma State University and the University of Arkansas studied 1139 first-graders in 29 rural schools where obesity risk is especially high. Specifically, they tested their hypothesis that obese and overweight children are more disliked than their classmates. This study was important because, although there is evidence that obesity carries with it a stigma, this has been studied primarily by using hypothetical questions. And it has almost never been tested by directly asking children how much they liked each of their classmates, and certainly not among children as young as six years old.

Each child was weighed and measured so that body mass index score (BMI) could be calculated; this information was used to classify each child as having healthy weight or being overweight or obese. Children were then shown photos of their classmates and asked how much (on a 1-to-3 scale) they liked to play with each child, and the researchers calculated a score for each child representing the average of their classmates' ratings. A similar procedure was used to determine how the teachers perceived each child's acceptance by the other kids in his or her classroom.

According to both the children's and teachers' reports, both overweight and obese children were significantly more disliked than healthy-weight children. The researchers concluded that, "It is important to remember that these children are only in first grade! So children with weight problems are experiencing a negative social environment very early in their educational experience. This is significant because other research shows that children who are rejected or unhappy in school have trouble learning."

"It also suggests one reason some children's weight problems increase with age: if overweight children are disliked at school, they may be less likely to play actively on the playground, during physical activity classes, and after school. They may also be more likely to engage in emotional eating as a way to cope with feeling bad at school." These findings suggest that obesity prevention programs should start very early and should involve peers, not just the overweight children themselves. In this case, it may take a classroom.

Results from this study was presented on April 24, 2012, in Room 32A at the Experimental Biology 2012 meeting in San Diego, CA.

Breaking bullying behavior directed at students who stutter

An educational program designed to rid schools of bullying behaviour directed at students who stutter is proving effective at changing attitudes in the classroom, according to research from the University of Alberta.

The Teasing and Bullying Unacceptable Behaviour (TAB) program is taught provincewide to students in grades 3 to 6 to reduce teasing and bullying directed at children with differences—particularly children who stutter. A new study by TAB creator and U of A professor Marilyn Langevin shows the program is getting bullies, victims and bystanders to recognize bullying behaviour and deem it unacceptable.

"Attitudes predict behaviours. If we're going to get behaviour to change, a first-level intervention is changing attitudes in the classroom," said Langevin, acting executive director and director of research at the Institute for Stuttering Treatment and Research (ISTAR) in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. "TAB program is one of the building blocks of change."

Previous studies have shown that children who stutter are at three times greater risk of being bullied at school compared with peers who speak fluently. In this study, Langevin and her team surveyed more than 600 students who participated in the TAB program to evaluate its effectiveness at changing attitudes about stuttering.

Children who know someone that stutters—a family member, friend or peer—generally have more positive attitudes toward them, Langevin said. However, it's a different story for those with little frame of reference with stuttering—an unpredictable disorder characterized by repetitions, prolonged sounds or complete blocks that can be accompanied by head jerks, nods and facial grimaces that take some people by surprise, she said.

One of the key findings was that the program had the most impact on students who previously did not know anyone who stutters, eliciting more positive attitudes and raising the likelihood of social interaction. These students were also more likely to resist peer pressure to socially isolate stuttering children.

"It's the children who don't know someone who stutters that generally have more negative attitudes toward kids who stutter. We're very pleased to see this group had the highest change scores since they're the group we wanted to target."

Children surveyed were also more likely to take a dim view of such behaviour after completing the TAB program, and had more knowledge of appropriate ways to respond.

The survey also showed that children who bullied were most resistant to the TAB program itself, compared with victims and "dually involved" students—those who have bullied but have also been bullied. Those results make sense because kids who bully can lose social status if their peers recognize such behaviour is unacceptable, Langevin said.

"It's sort of like getting your hand caught in the cookie jar—who likes that?"

Yet Langevin sees hope in comments from some kids who bully, who indicated that they recognized their behaviour was unacceptable and, in some cases, vowed to change.

"There was a subset of children who bully who were saying, 'I didn't realize I was hurting my friend or my sister,' and there was an indication that they were wanting to change."

And although movies like The King's Speech have helped change attitudes about stuttering among a wider population, real change takes time and repeated effort, Langevin said. That's been one of the driving forces behind ISTAR, which this year marked its 25th anniversary as a global leader in stuttering treatment and research.

"It was the same with drunk driving and smoking cessation—you have to change public perception and attitudes in order to get robust changes that are maintained over a period of time. And you have to keep at it."