Chapter 14 School Violence and Bullying

It's necessary for school officials to intervene when violence is initially seen in the school. If this intervention does not occur, the chances for more serious acts of violence increases.

Reducing bullying can occur on three levels of involvement.

School Level: Includes supervision during lunch, hallway time, and recess. Anti-bullying efforts should be made through school conferences, school assemblies, and mediation programs.

Classroom Level: There must b e clear standards and expectations for a bully free environment. If bullying does occur it must be addressed in an authoritative manner. Id addressed passively it could encourage bullying to continue. If addressed to aggressively it could model a bullying relationship.

Individual Level: Those who exhibit bullying behavior would benefit from being referred an to counseling and anger management classes. Students who are being victimized should be involved in friendship making and assertive skills training.

Bullies direct their behavioral problems outward

Passive Victims (also called over controlled) tend to be shy, sad, and anxious. Chronic bullying leads to increased anxiety for these individuals.

Proactive victims are a blend of both a victim and a bully. These students are picked on at times and at other times will pick on others. They alternate between being sad and angry.

Families should be involved with school campaigns and programs. By increasing parental involvement, the likelihood that their students will experience aggression decreases.

Having culturally sensitive curriculum and working with individual families strengthens the bond between parents and the school.

Parents and teachers should work together to promote anti-bullying, discuss and address violence in the media, and implement bully prevention programs.

It's very important to avoid blaming families for whether or not their children are bullies or being bullied. It's important to work from a strength based approach and develop trusting, supportive relationships.

School officials should take every report of bullying seriously. Many parents feel that the schools aren't supportive enough when it comes to reports of bullying, which in extreme cases can lead to bullycide (suicide as a result of bullying).

Parent advocacy groups are very helpful in bridging the gaps between schools and parents. These groups should work from a strength-based model to both advocate for parents and build relationships with school officials.

Families set the stage for aggression. Children from homes with domestic violence or violence between siblings are more likely to participate in school violence.

Intrusive-overprotective parenting: Referred to as "hothouse" (set up to tightly control all factors leading to health in plants).

Children raised in an overprotective environment don't learn to acquire conflict-resolution skills. Without thse skills children experience a low tolerance for other children who have rough ways and also experience an increase in social anxiety.

Parental Psychological Over-control: Over-control referrs to the children's feelings not being validated. This invalidation leads to the loss of confidence in their own emotions and leads to children being shy and anxious.

Parental Coersion: This refers to a cold emotional environment with episodes of "heated" physical and verbal violence.

Sarcasm, verbal attacks, power assertive discipline, and bossiness undermines the child's feelings of being loved. These children will in turn be aggressive and react in a hostile manner as they've seen their parents react this way.

At times, children will react to parental hostility by becoming shy, anxious, and prone to victimization.

Boys tend to become bullies in relation to hostile, aggressive parenting while girls from this environment are prone to victimization.

Any categories of bullying can emerge from any of these parenting styles although the intrusive-overprotective and over-controlled parenting styles are typically associated with victim status and coersion tends to relate to bullying behavior.