This document summarizes a presentation given by Dr. Amanda Nickerson on bullying. It defines bullying as intentional, repeated acts of aggression where one person has power over another. It discusses the roles of parents, peers, schools and communities in addressing bullying. It provides statistics on who engages in and is targeted by bullying. The document outlines recommendations for parents, schools, peers and individuals to prevent and respond to bullying.

1. Amanda Nickerson, PhD
Associate Professor and Director
Dr. Jean Alberti Center for the Prevention of Bullying
Abuse and School Violence
University at Buffalo
nickersa@buffalo.edu
gse.buffalo.edu/alberticenter
St. Mark School
November 2, 2011

2.  Question & answer format about bullying
• Role of parents, peers, and schools
 Theintent of this is to share information
about an issue of concern for all
• Not designed to place blame
• Designed to emphasize responsibility and working
together to problem-solve

3. Intentional, usually repeated
acts of verbal, physical, or
written aggression by a peer
(or group of peers) operating
from a position of strength or
power with the goal of
hurting the victim physically
or damaging status and/or Olweus (1978); United
States Department of
social reputation Education (1998)

4.  Physical bullying
• punching, shoving, acts that hurt people
 Verbal bullying
• name calling, making offensive remarks
 Indirect bullying
• spreading rumors, excluding, ganging up
 Cyber bullying
• sending insulting messages, pictures or threats by e-
mail, text messaging, chat rooms

5. Bullying: Based on a power
imbalance; intent to cause
psychological or physical harm;
usually repeated
Conflict: A struggle, dispute,
or misunderstanding between
two equal forces
Teasing: Fun, good-natured, “give-
and-take” between friends to get
both parties to laugh

6.  Estimatesvary WIDELY, but according to
student self-report...
• 20-25% have bullied at least once
 5-20% bully consistently
• 15-40% are targets of bullying
 20-25% are bullied regularly
 ~ 18-20% are cyber-bullied
 1-2% are extreme victims who experience
severe traumatization or distress
Carylyle & Steinman (2007); Cowie (2000); Nansel et al. (2001);
Perry, Kusel, & Perry (1988); Skiba & Fontanini (2000)

7.  Pre-K
through late high school (and
beyond); peaks in middle school
• Physical bullying declines as children get older
• Social, verbal, and cyberbullying continue through
high school
 Anywhere; most likely in less closely
supervised areas
• Bus, locker room, playground,
lunch, hallways, and everywhere
(for cyberbullying)

8.  Boys
• More direct, physical bullying
• Bully more frequently than girls
• Bully both boys and girls
 Girls
• More indirect
• More subtle, hard to detect, and often occurs in groups
• Tend to target other girls of the same age
• Cyberbullying slightly more common than for males
Banks (2000); Cook, Williams, Guerra, Kim, & Sadek, (2010); Crick & Grotpeter, (1995); Hinduja & Patchin, (2009); Hoover &
Oliver, (1996); Nansel et al., (2001); Olweus, (2002); Underwood, (2003)

9.  Desire for power and control
 Get satisfaction from others’ suffering
 Justify their behavior (“he deserved it”)
 More exposed to physical punishment
 More likely to be depressed
 Engage in other risky and delinquent
behaviors
• Alcohol and drug use
• Fighting
Batsche & Knoff (1994); Beaver, Perron, & Howard, (2010); Olweus (1993);
Swearer et al. (in press); Vaughn, Bender, DeLisi, (in press)

10.  Have a position of relative weakness
• Age, ethnic background, financial status, disability, sexual
orientation
 Most are passive and lack assertiveness
• Do nothing to invite aggression
• Do not fight back when attacked
• May relate better to adults than peers
 Fewer provoke others (provocative victims or
bully-victims)
• Offend, irritate, tease others
• Reactive; fight back when attacked
Boivin, Poulin, & Vitaro (1994); Hodges & Perry (1999); Olweus (1978, 1993, 2001);
Schwartz (2000); Snyder et al. (2003)

11.  Refer to others negatively (wimp, loser)
 Lack empathy
 Strong need to get his or her own way
 Hostile/defiant attitude
 Anger easily
 Deny involvement or blame others when
behavior addressed

12.  Unexplained illnesses, cuts/bruises
 Not want to go to school or be in social situations
 Change in behavior
 Not interested in doing things he/she used to like
doing
 Withdrawn

13.  More likely to experience legal or criminal
troubles as adults (even after controlling
for other risk factors)
 Poor ability to develop and maintain
positive relationships in
later life
Andershed, Kerr, & Stattin (2001); Farrington (2009);
Farrington, & Ttofi (2009, 2011); Oliver, Hoover, & Hazler
(1994); Olweus (1993); Ttofi & Farrington (2008)

14.  Emotional distress
 Loneliness, peer rejection
 Desire to avoid school
 Increased anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation;
low self-esteem
 In some cases, may respond with extreme
violence
Boivin, Hymel, & Bukowski (1995);
Boulton & Underwood (1992);
Crick & Bigbee (1998);
Egan & Perry (1998);
Hinduja, & Patchin, (2009);
Kochenderfer & Ladd (1996);
Nickerson & Sltater (2009);
Olweus (1993); Perry et al. (1988)

15. Culture & School
Family Bully, Target, and
Community (Staff/Peers)
Bystander
Adapted from
Swearer & Espelage
(2004)

16.  Peerssee 85% of bullying (most join in, some
ignore, small number intervene)
 Peers are influential in early adolescence, when
they are more supportive of bullying and less
likely to intervene
• Bullying = higher social status in a group
• Adolescents seek out peers who display more
independent, aggressive as opposed to more adult-
like, conforming behaviors
• “Culture of silence”
Charach et al. (1995);
Hawkins, Pepler, & Craig

17.  Bullying is more likely to thrive in:
• Unsupportive or unhealthy school climates
• Environments lacking in sense of belonging for students and strong
relationships among and between students, teachers, and
families
• Schools where adults ignore or dismiss bullying behaviors
• Schools who serve students who are not academically engaged
LEADERSHIP IS CRITICAL!!!
Doll, Song, Champion, & Jones, (2011); Holt, Keyes, & Koenig, (2011); Kasen, Johnson, Chen, Crawford, &
Cohen, (2011); Swearer (in press)

18.  Oftennot involved in bullying problem or
resolution
• Intervene less than 10% of the time
• Not told about problem (victims fear reprisal)
 Powerful influence on peer acceptance of
others
• Warmth, positive feedback leads to greater peer
acceptance
Banks (1997); Chang (2003); Cohn & Canter (2002); Hughes, Cavell, & Willson (2001); Limber (2002);
Mullin-Rindler (2003); Skiba & Fonanini (2000); White, Sherman, & Jones (1996)

19.  For children who bully, there may be…
• Less warmth, involvement, supervision
• Lack of clear, consistent rules
• Harsh/corporal punishment
• Parental discord
• Domestic violence/child abuse
 For children who are bullied, there may be…
• More intense, overprotective parenting (for boys)
• Threats of rejection and lack of assertion (for girls)
• Inconsistent discipline practices (overprotective and
neglectful) without warmth for bully-victims
 For children who intervene, there may be…
• More open, trusting relationships with mothers
Bowers et al. (1994); Finnegan et al. (1998); Ladd & Ladd (1998);
Nickerson, Mele, & Princiotta (2008); Olweus, Limber, & Mihalic (1999)

20. What can we do?
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make
a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we
can make which, over time, add up to big differences
that we often cannot foresee.
Marian Wright Edelman
Founder and President of the Children's Defense Fund

22.  Model treating others with dignity and
respect
 Watch (and listen) in social interactions
 Have high expectations for behavior and a
low tolerance for being mean
Parents who are afraid to put their foot down usually have
children who step on their toes. - Chinese Proverb

23.  Responsible use of technology
• Remember that this is written communication that
can be traced back to you
• Only communicate things that you would be OK
about your parents seeing
• Follow rules (no Facebook under age of 13)
• Beware of anonymous sites like Formspring
• Use the “off” switch
 Do not respond to upsetting communications

24.  Supervise and limit activities (no 24/7)
• Have computers in common areas (not in
bedroom)
• Know child’s password
• Be friend on Facebook
• Bring cell phones, computers to parents’ room to
charge overnight
 Consider contracts www.cyberbullying.us
for examples

25. See Alberti Center Website for other resources and
conversation starters gse.buffalo.edu/alberticenter

26.  Having a close friend and being liked
decreases likelihood of victimization
 Friends can buffer against negative effects
of bullying
Hodges, Boivin, Vitaro, and Bukowski (1999);
Hodges, Malone, & Perry (1997);
Pellegrini, Bartini, and Brooks (1999)

27.  Don’t join in…speak up if it is safe to do so
 Band together as a group against bullies
 Tell an adult about the bullying
• Tattling = telling an adult on someone just to get
him/her in trouble
• Telling = telling an adult on someone because the
person’s behavior is unsafe or hurtful to another
 Reach out as friends to isolated peers, offer support
Interventioncental.org

28.  Listen
• “Tell me what happened”
 Empathize with feeling
• “That must have been very scary for you”
 Take it seriously
• Do not minimize or trivialize
 Work with child to problem-solve
• Simple responses like “just ignore it,” “give him a good
whack”
 Work in partnership with school!
 Follow-up

29. Focus on the behavior (not on the
child as a person)
• Apply logical, meaningful consequences
Work with school to develop plan
 Increase empathy and perspective taking
 Teach problem-solving to manage emotions
 Cognitive restructuring for problematic
attributions (e.g., “He deserved it;” “Now they
know who is in charge”)
 Assess for other problems (e.g., drugs,
suicidality)

30. Thank you for your attention and interest!
 For more resources,
please visit us at
gse.buffalo.edu/alberticen
ter