Heather Titus

 Bullying is aggressive behavior that is intentional (not accidental or done in fun) and that involves an imbalance of power or strength. Often, bullying is repeated over time.  Bullying can take many forms, such as: hitting or punching, teasing or name-calling, intimidation through gestures, social exclusion, and sending insulting messages or pictures by phone the Internet.

 15–25% of U.S. students are bullied with some frequency (“sometimes or more often”) while 15–20% report that they bully others with some frequency (Melton et al., 1998; Nansel et al., 2001).  Bullying increased by 5% between 1999 and 2001 (U.S. Dept. of Ed., 2002).  Survey indicates that for nearly half of frequently bullied students, the bullying had lasted six months or longer (Mullin-Rindler, 2003).

 Qualities of bullies include “academic problems, externalizing problems, poor psychosocial adjustment, and delinquency in late adolescence and early adulthood” (Raskauskas & Stolz, 2007).  Boys are more likely to bully and be bullied than girls (Stolz, 2007 and Katzer, Fetchenhauer, & Belschak, 2009).  Girls are more likely to bully each other using social exclusion (Olweus, 2002).

 Generally bullying victims are more unpopular, isolated, depressed, anxious, and fearful than their peers.  Children with disabilities or special needs may be at a higher risk of being bullied than other children (Rigby, 2002).

 Children and youth who are bullied are more likely than other children to be depressed, lonely, anxious, have low self- esteem, feel unwell, and think about suicide (Limber, 2002; Olweus, 1993).  Students who are bullied may fear going to school, using the bathroom, and riding on the school bus (NEA1, 2003)

 Cyberbullying involves sending or posting harmful or cruel text or images using: The Internet (e.g., IM, s, chat rooms, and social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, & Twitter) Cell phones.  Types of cyberbullying include: Stalking Threats Harassment / Humilitation Name calling Spreading embarrassing or private pictures Sharing private communications Impersonation / Trickery Password theft Exclusion (Feinberg & Robey, 2009).

 Most cyberbullying takes place while the offender is home alone  Some remain anonymous, or work in groups  The more access a student has to digital media, the more likely he or she will be involved in cyberbullying

 Cyberbullying can be more damaging than traditional bullying because aggressors “feel shielded from the consequences of their actions and often do or say things online that they would not in person” (Feinberg & Robey, 2009).  Victims experience depression, anxiety, low self- esteem, physiological complaints, problems concentrating, school failure, and school avoidance.  Cyberbullying can lead to severe dysfunction, externalized violence and suicide (Feinberg & Robey, 2009).

 Lauren and Katie are sophomores in high school. They used to be best friends, but got in a fight and no longer speak.  Lauren tells you that ever since the fight, everyone at school has been ignoring her.  She has been receiving text messages from numbers she doesn’t recognize, saying things like, “slut” and “you deserve to die.”  Lauren was also sent the address to a blog someone created which contains her picture, lies, and rumors about her.

 Address on case-by-case basis  Let victim of bullying vent, and ask him/her how he/she wants to proceed  Teach victims assertive behavior, work on self-esteem, find a support system  Work with bullies on taking responsibility for their behavior and directing energy in a new way  Notify supervisor, administrators, parents of both students, and police if necessary

 Conduct an anonymous bullying survey  Get staff and parent support  Form a bullying prevention team  Establish school rules for bullying and consistently enforce them  Increase supervision in bullying “hot spots”  Use class time for bullying prevention  Provide staff training  Administer bullying prevention program  Bullying prevention is ONGOING…

 Posenjit Poddar killed Tatiana Tarasoff in 1969  2 months prior, Poddar had told his psychologist his intentions  Supreme Court ruled that the psychologist-parent relationship requires the duty to warn and outweighs confidentiality

 Congress “shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.”  BUT…The U.S. Supreme Court has held that certain types of speech are not entitled to constitutional protection (Missouri Center for Safe Schools, 2001): Fighting words Obscenities Defamation True threats