Bullying and its consequences: In search of solutions

Introduction to the Special Issue

On October 26th, 2012, there was yet another story reported by the New York Times of bullying and again with dire consequences. This time it was a 15-year-old, Felicia Garcia who after being taunted at her school because “she had piercings and lived in foster care” decided to throw herself in front of an oncoming train (Yee, 2012, p. A27). We were still reeling from another incident not long before of Rutgers student, Tyler Clementi who had been secretly videotaped having a gay sexual relation by his roommate Dharun Ravi. Ravi streamed the encounter over the Internet, and soon after Clementi became aware that his private encounter became public, he ended his life by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.

Bullying in all its forms is certainly creating havoc in many parts of our society as seen in these examples. It is alarming to hear the horrific stories of children and adolescents being bullied, abused, defamed, persecuted with innuendoes, gossips, and all kinds of false stories intended to cause harm to the reputations of those being targeted. The movie “The Social Network” provides us with a very poignant example of how far personal attacks posted in Facebook^® and Twitter^® may go in inflicting harm. This type of personal attack became quite familiar to a former Green Bay Packer Cheerleader, Kaitlyn Collins, who was taunted by Chicago Bears fans on Facebook^®. Derogatory comments such as, ‘doesn't get any uglier, truly an eyesore’ and some much more vulgar comments were posted under her picture. She responded by fighting back, demanding the page to be taken down, and becoming a spokes-woman against cyberbullying. This type of bullying is only one of the most recent forms occurring among adolescents and young adults, adding to the more traditional forms we are already familiar with, such as child abuse, abuse perpetuated among siblings, domestic abuse, abuse against women, abuse against immigrants, the bullying inherent in racism and discrimination, and so on. Unfortunately, in other more drastic incidents such as the case of the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings, media reports widely acknowledged that the shooters had a history of being bullied. While we know that it is a combination of factors that will ultimately contribute to incidents of school shootings, it may be especially important to look at the role of bullying. A study by Leary, Kowalski, Smith, and Phillips (2003) found that in 12 out of 15 school shootings that occurred between 1995 and 2001, the perpetrator(s) had been subject to a pattern of malicious teasing or bullying.

Prevalence

Unfortunately, these are not isolated incidents as the prevalence of bullying has reached epidemic proportions, increasing in frequency and severity over the years (Nansel et al., 2001; Olweus, 1993). By some early statistics, one in four or one in six students are victims of bullying in school. According to the U.S. Department of Education Statistics, bullying has increased 5% just between 1999 and 2001 (U.S. Department of Education, 2002). Considering that bullying has extended beyond the confinement of the school and into private spaces, this number is expected to become larger (Englander & Muldowney, 2007). It is also expected to increase not only in intermediate and high school-age students but college-age students as well. Those were the findings by Englander (2006; cited by Englander & Muldowney, 2007) who found that 40% of her 8–19-year-old respondents reported being victims of cyberbullying, with 20% also admitting being cyberbullies themselves. A later survey of undergraduate students found an increase of 4% (to 24%) of those admitting to cyberbullying and again 40% admitting being victimized online (Englander & Muldowney, 2007).

More recent statistics provide further evidence of the pervasive nature of the problem, making the need to find effective strategies to address this issue even more urgently. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Data, of 25,217,000 students of ages 12–18 in the 2008–2009 school year, 28% experienced being bullied at school, with much greater rates in the public sector (29.8%) as compared to the private sector (20.1%). A majority of the bullying was reported in the hallway or stairwell (47%), followed by the classroom (34.4%), the bathroom/locker room (9.2%), cafeteria (6.5%), or outside on school grounds (24.2%). The larger incidence was experienced in the 6th through 8th grades (39.4, 33.1, and 31.7%, respectively), becoming less frequent but still high by the 12th grade (20.4%). The most common forms of bullying were being made fun of, being called names, or being insulted (18.8%), followed by being the subject of rumors (16.5%). The instances of rumor-related bullying were much higher among females (20.3 vs. 12.8% for males) and most pronounced in the 6th through 8th grades (21.4, 17.3, and 18.1%, respectively). Overall, school-based bullying was slightly higher in the rural, as compared to urban and suburban sectors (30.7 vs. 27.4 and 27.5%, respectively). By contrast, cyberbullying was found to be more prevalent in the suburban areas than in the urban or rural areas (6.3 vs. 5.7% and 5.7%, respectively) and more pronounced by the 10th grade (7.2%), followed by the 9th grade (6.7%) and the 8th grade (6.5%). This translates into 1,521,000 students being victims of cyberbullying broken down as follows: 502,000 students victims of hurtful information on the Internet, 335,000 victims of unwanted contacts via e-mail, 448,000 victims of unwanted contact via instant messaging, 753,000 victims of unwanted contact via text messaging, 193,000 victims of unwanted contact via online gaming, and 224,000 victims of purposeful exclusion from an online community (U.S. Department of Justice, 2009).

To the above statistics we need to add the estimated 763,000 children victims of maltreatment in 2009 confirmed by Child Protective Services, and an approximately 1770 childhood deaths in 2008 from abuse reported in a study by the U.S. Department of Human Health and Services (Sedlak et al., 2010). In the case of the elderly, there were 5,961,568 estimated cases of abuse in 2010, mostly by neglect (58.5%) across the country. Finally, an important statistics to consider because of its connection to bullying in school and other settings is the rate of domestic violence. According to some statistics, a lifetime estimate of 17,722,672 women and 2,782,440 men age 18 and older were victims of rapes, with an estimated 14,903,1516 (14.8%) women and 1,1947,708 (2.1%) men victims of completed rapes. In addition, 51.9% of women and 66.4% of men were victims of physical assaults, with the majority of these assaults being slapped and hit (43% for women and 53.7% of men; U.S. Population-Current Population Reports, 1988 to 2010).

In search of solutions

Concerned with the range of victims and perpetuators of various types of bullying, and about the grave consequences with regard to their mental health, their school and work performance, their quality of life, their sense of personal betrayal that many may feel following a bullying incident, as well as the potential for suicide and school violence, a number of agencies have attempted to provide some answers to this urgent problem. Through legislations, enactments of anti-bullying and gun laws (i.e. statutes introduced by NY Senator Jeffrey Klein in 2010, and NY Safe Act recently signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo) and by recommendations of specific strategies to be incorporated into the school curriculum, we are beginning to see steps being taken to address this complex phenomenon.

It is clear that we are at an important juncture in terms of the need to expand our understanding of this pernicious and debilitating phenomenon. In order to improve the lives of millions of school-aged children and reduce the likelihood of such tragic consequences, additional research must investigate new strategies to tackle bullying. Educational and research institutions should be looking for evidence-based strategies that are flexible enough to be applied to various settings and that can be used with different types of individuals.

It was that urgent call that prompted St. John's University Office of Postgraduate Professional Development programs to bring together a group of some of the leading scholars on bullying in April of 2011, for its first conference entitled, Bullying and its Consequences: In search of solutions. This special journal issue is the result of that initiative whose focus was primarily on school violence. Thus, the manuscripts selected for this special issue address various areas of bullying with emphasis in school settings, from its definition, to whom is more likely to be a victim and/or perpetuator, to descriptions of strategies that have been found to be effective. Future publications will address issues pertaining to domestic violence, particularly because of its relationship to bullying.

The first contribution by Espelage, Rao, and La Rue entitled Current Research on School-Based Bullying: A Social-Ecological Perspective is meant to provide a foundation to the later contributions in this special issue. These authors provide important information regarding the current research on bullying in terms of the definition, the participants involved, outcomes, and correlates associated with bullying and victimization. The article points out the lack of a clear standardized definition of the term ‘bullying’ in current research and advocates for the development of one clear understanding of the term in order to help clarify the problem and eliminate discrepancies between research designs and findings.

Most importantly, the article describes bullying and its associated risk and protective factors in terms of a social-ecological framework. That is, it emphasizes the importance of looking at bullying experiences as complex dynamic interactions of various influences (systems), which come into play directly and indirectly at all times at the moment of a bullying act. This framework is essentially made up of the microsystem (direct contact that children/adolescents have), the mesosystem (interaction between the microsystem), the exosystem (social context with which the child does not have direct contact), the macrosystem (abstract influences, such as cultural values and customs), and the chronosystem (how time itself can affect bullying). This framework allows for a systematic approach to conceptualizing and investigating the complex problem. It allows us to examine the direct, indirect, and the combined impact of various social contexts on bullying involvement. This framework has been previously applied to child development issues broadly; but for the first time the authors use it to organize and clarify the factors that affect school-based bullying. In closing, the article discusses the importance of the social-ecological framework on prevention planning where she proposes a multiple level intervention that includes the cooperation and efforts of parents, schools, community agencies, faith-based organizations, etc.

This need of using multilevel intervention is further emphasized in another excellent contribution by Novick entitled Rewriting Tragedy: Understanding the Cast of Characters in the Bullying Drama. This article highlights how popular literature, film, and other media serve to engrain a false concept of bullying into society. The popular misconceptions of bullies often seep into the culture of schools and communities, which results in a failure to identify real-life bullies and victims, and can lead to misguided and ineffective interventions. It was her goal in this paper to address the issue of definition and to describe the current research on each character in the bullying drama (i.e. bullies, victims, and bystanders), from a variety of theoretical and methodological standpoints.

Novick explains in this context how intrinsic characteristics, such as cognition, and biological make-up in combination with extrinsic characteristics, such as family dynamics, serve to play a role in the development of bullying behaviors. She recognizes that bullies are not all the same, as they are affected differently by culture, gender, temperament, and the complex interaction of all the factors mentioned. This notwithstanding, in this paper she recognizes the importance of looking for commonalities in her attempt to promote a greater understanding and improve the development of interventions.

Novick describes two subsets of victims that we need to consider at all times: (a) The passive victim and (b) those that respond with withdrawal and aggression or the bully-victims. She further discusses a variety of research which investigates what determines victim status and who is at risk for being targeted. An important part of her contribution is her emphasis on addressing the significance of the often forgotten bystander in bullying episodes. In this context, she describes the specific factors that contribute to bystander behavior and emphasizes the value of creating a class or school climate that fosters the expectation of pro-social behavior.

The discussion is intended to provide the readers with a sufficiently nuanced understanding that allows for improved interventions that protect victims, rehabilitate bullies, and engage bystanders in socially responsible behavior. The article concludes with a discussion of socioeconomic factors that surround bullying and the implications of this knowledge for policy makers, public institutions, and children and families.

The next contribution by Chisholm and Day entitled Current Trends in Cyberbullying is meant to emphasize the most current face of bullying. The paper explains how the growth of information and communication technology has led to rise in cyberbullying. The authors discuss the difficulties associated with generating policies to promote cyberspace safety in a world where technology is continuing to develop at such a fast pace. The paper offers an overview of the definitions of cyberbullying and reviews the scope of the problem and the physical and psychological impact of the abuse of these digital technologies on children, adolescents, and young adults.

The article provides a detailed description of new problems associated with the quick progression of technology in recent years. The authors point out an important issue impacting on our ability to have adequate and timely response to cyberbullying, having to do with parents and adults being usually slower to keep up with the rise in technology and thus are unable to properly supervise, protect, and provide guidance to their children. The article then details the changing forms of interaction which allow for new and extremely unique forms of harassment which many schools, teachers, and parents are not equipped to deal with. This is particularly the case because in cyberspace, individuals have a unique anonymity and temporal space, have the ability to create avatars, with the resulting decrease in social inhibition, and the lack of face-to-face cues. All of these factors combine to create an environment for interaction which many adults are not familiar with.

The authors use stories from the media to describe how specific psychological vulnerabilities can impact the ways in which cyberspace can affect youth. Chisholm uses anecdotes from her former undergraduate students to illustrate how online experiences can and have caused discomfort for them or others. The article also serves to describe how gender differences emerge in the use and misuse of technology and cyberspace. The paper closes with a thorough discussion of prevention strategies and future directions for research. As it was the case with other contributors in this issue, but now focusing more on cyberbullying, it concludes with a review of policy recommendations and preventative strategies for promoting cyber safety to ensure the psychological wellbeing of children, adolescents, and young adults in today's digital age.

We hope that the readers find the above contributions helpful and a great companion to their own personal journey in addressing bullying issues in their midst. A lot went into putting this special journal issue and we would like to thank those who made its preparation possible through their involvement in reviewing and preparing the manuscripts for publication and their willingness to search the literature for important statistics on bullying, etc. In that context, Christy DaBreo, Ellen Cevallo, and Sabrina Bacchus deserve our gratitude and deep appreciation.