1. Chapter 20: Bullied Children
Juventino Gernandez Rodriguez
Samantha J. Gregus
James T. Craig
Freddie A. Pastrana
Timothy A. Cavell

2. Brief Overview Bullying: behavior toward another that is…
1) aggressive or intentionally harmful
2) Done repeatedly over time
3) In the context of an interpersonal relationship marked by an actual or perceived imbalance of power
Term focuses on the perpetrator's behavior
Peer victimization: occurs in the context of relationships or roles that children develop among peers (Gazelle & Ladd, 2002)
Term refers to the victim

3. Prevalence
20–30% of children report being bullied (Nansel et al., 2001)
Younger children report more peer victimization experiences than adolescents
Self-reported bullying remains the same or increased from elementary through high school
75–80% of children are relatively uninvolved in bullying
Some children are both bullies and victims
Outcomes worse for these children than for just a bully or victim alone (Kaltiala-Heino et al., 2009)

4. Effects of Bullying and Peer Victimization
Bullying can occur verbally, physically, and relationally
Boys more physically aggressive
Girls more relationally aggressive (e.g., excluding others, gossiping)
Chronic victimization can lead to serious psychosocial maladjustment
Probability of having a psychiatric disorder is higher for chronically bullied children and for bully/victims

5. The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
First large-scale comprehensive intervention program
Goals: 1) reduce the prevalence of school victimization and 2) prevent new incidences of bullying
Change schoolwide norms and structures to decrease opportunities and rewards for school bullying (Olweus, 1993)
Address bullying at level of the student and classroom
Mixed results, particularly in the United States

6. Steps to Respect Schoolwide intervention
Multilevel approach to increase adults’ awareness and monitoring of school bullying, support a culture of prosocial behavior, and teach social-emotional skills specific to peer relationships and school bullying (Frey et al., 2005)
Classroom curriculum, teacher-led
Majority of results positive
E.g., reductions in observed bullying and augmentative behavior

7. KiVa Antibullying Program
KiVa: Finnish acronym for “against bullying”
School-based program in Finland (Salmivalli et al., 2010)
Comprehensive program that targets school-, classroom-, and individual-level factors over the course of an entire school year
Emphasizes universal prevention but also specific prevention components
Focus on peer groups that maintain school bullying
Promising findings
E.g., large RCT found schools that received KiVa intervention reported 46% reduction in victimization and 61% reduction in bullying

8. Parent (and Teacher) Involvement
Teachers often first adults to witness peer victimization
Empirically supported anti-bullying programs rely heavily on teacher-implemented lessons and strategies
Teacher strategies:
1) Enlisting other adults (e.g. principals, parents)
2) Supporting the victim
3) Advocating for the victims to avoid bullies
4) Disciplining bullies
5) Seeking ways to promote greater empathy for victims among bullies
Parent-based interventions are lacking
Family conflict and low parental involvement are risk factors for peer victimization (Mohr, 2006)

9. Adaptations and Modifications
Nonpunitive interventions: In most bullying prevention programs school staff directly address the behavior of bullies and issue firm consequences for such actions; confronting approach has been challenged
Encourage a problem-solving approach (Rigby, 2005)
Child-focused skills training interventions: Social skills training is used to teach bullied children new and more adaptive responses to their victimization experiences (Fox & Boulton, 2003)

10. Modifications
Mentor-based interventions: overcome peer-mediated contingencies and reputational biases that tacitly support school bullying while not causing harm to children who are identified and treated
Use of school-based mentors helpful to reduce bullying

11. Measuring Treatment Effects
Tailored to the goals of the intervention and the specified unit of analysis (e.g., school, class, individual)
Universal prevention: measures given to all students in a school or grade, usually completed anonymously

12. Change in Prevalence of Victimization
Assessment methods:
Direct observation
Self-report measures: most feasible and common approach
Peer ratings or nominations
Ratings from teachers
Olweus Bully-Victim Questionnaire: most widely used instrument
Peer-report procedures: ask students to identify classmates who fit certain roles (e.g., “Someone who gets teased”

13. Identifying Bullied Children
Little research in practical strategies for identifying bullied children (Card & Hodges, 2008)
Can gather information from multiple sources over time
Could identify victims as all children who score at or above 1 standard deviation (SD) above the mean on a measure (~16% of children will be identified)
Or rely on preestablished cutoff scores that are thought to indicate a significant level of risk

14. Clinical Case: Anna 4th grade, female Lunch Buddy mentoring program
Pre- to post mentoring peer victimization decreased, according to self-report and teacher report
Mother reported “great” difference in her daughter
Self-reported improvements in peer relationships
Counselor indicated that Anna was less likely to come to his office seeking help with her peer problems

15. Clinical Case: Darcy Hispanic, 5th grade, female
Lunch Buddy mentoring program
Self-report of victimization decreased after mentoring
Social preference increased
Teachers and parents reported high levels of satisfaction with the program
Teacher reported that Darcy’s problems appeared to worsen over time but that this had nothing to do with the program
Counselor indicated that the Lunch Buddy mentoring had given Darcy a positive experience in relating to other kids