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School bullying and the impact on students with a concentration on students with disabilities:
Can prevention implementations be effective?
Victoria Judkins
EDU 600 Teacher as Leader
University of New England
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Abstract
Bullying is a global epidemic. There are higher risks associated with being targeted by bullying
behaviors for individuals belonging to specific student groups. Being aware of the risk factors as
well as the psychological health impact bullying has, it is essential that educators produce
proactive strategies to reduce victimization.
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School bullying and the impact on students with a concentration on students with disabilities:
Can prevention implementations be effective?
Introduction
Bullying is defined by Merriam-Websters Dictionary as to treat abusively. Anyone is
capable of being a victim of abuse. Despite being a discriminating activity in itself by nature,
bullying does not discriminate who it victimizes. Though bullying does not discriminate against
who can be a victim, there are groups who are at a higher risk for being targeted by bullying
behaviors. One must then wonder what psychological detriment may come to those who are
victimized and how can it be corrected. Bullying is a global epidemic that requires corrective
action in an attempt to eliminate the physical and psychological detriment of the victims. Due to
the sufficient amount of time individuals spend in a school setting, it is imperative for schools to
provide sufficient prevention implementations as well as teach empathy to all individuals.
Literary Review
In regard to the first focus question, Which identifiable student group (e.g., special
education, regular education, gifted, etc.) is at a higher risk for being targeted by bullying
behaviors? one may want to look at the work of Farmer et al (2012) where it was mentioned
that subtypes of youth who are involved in bullying have distinct social patterns and positions in
the social structure that are linked to other interpersonal characteristics including academic
competence, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, social competence, athletic
ability, physical attractiveness, and level of perceived popularity. By this Farmer et al meant that
specific subgroups such as individuals with disabilities are more susceptible to being victimized
by bullying behaviors. Farmer et al (2012) did not however break down the disabilities into
subgroups, which can lend it to making assumptions as to what constitutes disabilities for the
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study. It is important to recognize that although individuals with disabilities are more
susceptible to being the victim, they can also be the aggressor especially when they lack
empathy. Muoz et al (2011) suggested that empathic responsiveness inhibits aggressive
behavior due to an empathic individuals ability to share in the emotions of the distressed victim.
Inversely an individual who lacks empathy would not be able to associate the emotions felt by
the victim. Given this information, one should consider that although individuals with special
needs can lack empathy it is well documented that students who receive special education
services are at increased risk for peer victimization as noted by Farmer et al (2012). In the
typical school scenario one might come across students who are high risk but are not being
victimized, but rather are the victims; and one might also see the inverse. In most cases though
this is not the case. It is important to be able as the educator to know what factors place students
at higher risk and what can be done to protect them from the negative effects of bullying
behaviors directed at them. In Owusu et al (2011) it is mentioned that the nature of any study
involving the victim-victimizer relationship is going to be cross-sectional which will preclude the
examination of the cause and effect, though one may be able to make speculation of the cause
and effect. One speculation is that measures may be able to be taken that may eliminate the
cause such as sensitivity training to help students gain empathy for others.
Once it has been defined who is at higher risk, then it is important to determine What are
the psychological factors associated with bullying for the victims? According to Owusu et al
(2011) persons in early adolescents are at a greater risk for being vulnerable to the psychological
effects of bullying, which can include loneliness, depression, and suicide ideation. Adolescents
have not developed the reasoning portion of their brain and work primarily on emotion much like
a small child. Due to this, when the thought of suicide occurs they are unable to identify the
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consequences and are only seeing the short term benefit of ending the problem rather than seeing
long term consequences of their action. Because suicide seems to be the answer it becomes
idealized in their brain as not only the best solution to the problem, but becomes the only
solution. Adolescents might find suicide to be appealing because it returns power to them and
falsely removes power from their attacker(s). This idealization of suicide can lead the adolescent
into a further depression because it can be conflicting to them in terms of the empathy that they
feel for others. They may want to end their pain, but they do not want to inflict further pain onto
their loved ones. Not only can the victims be subject to negative psychological health factors,
such as depression, but also those who are the aggressors; Blosnich & Bossarte (2011) observed
that numerous studies have documented increased risk of depression among both those who
reported being victims and those who bullied others.
Given psychological factors, what procedures should educators follow to reduce bullying
schoolwide? Based on the research found by Blosnich & Bossarte (2011) evidence shows that
there is a prevalent problem among school students and bullying behaviors. Biggs et al (2008) it
was indicated that the degrees to which educators implement interventions in their classrooms
can contribute significantly to student outcomes. Blosnich & Bossarte (2011) stressed that
evaluation is a key aspect of both programmatic and systemic interventions aimed at violence
preventions. By understanding how youth in distinct interpersonal competence risk
configurations are differentially involved in bullying, it may be possible to clarify distinct
functions of social behavior that are related to bullying subtypes (Farmer, et al, 2012). One
other such way that teachers can aid students in bullying prevention is to teach the values that
are universally cherished by others, the recent study by Muoz et al (2011) found clear evidence
that not caring about the values that other people cherish can indicate a need to dominate others
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by ruining relationships, using threats, and physical force. These clear examples of bullying
though not necessarily thought of as bullying by the abuser can be prevented through proper
educational strategies that teach the abuser what inappropriate reactions to scenarios are without
subjecting the abuser to abuse themselves. Empathy training allows the abuser to learn to
identify what emotions might be elicited through their behaviors and why they should avoid
behaviors that elicit negative emotions. Though schools that have more measures in place are
seeing more results, it may be related to the schools having a higher rate of violence to begin
with thus making the situation a bi-directionality. Additionally, it is not possible to know if a
lone measure can be the solution to prevent peer bullying according to Blosnich & Bossarte
(2011), but none the less all measures should be made to prevent bullying.
Conclusion
In the worldwide epidemic of bullying it is important to take measures to protect the
victims and to educate the abusers. One cannot take the stance that bullying is a learned
behavior that cannot be undone and that the victim is doing this to themselves, as is often the
boys will be boys mantra. Techniques and strategies are not going to solve the problem, but they
are a step in the right direction. Teaching empathy and creating an understanding of what is and
is not acceptable behavior is a step in the right direction. When one can identify a potential
victim with the ease that a potential abuser can spy them, it becomes easier to protect them from
the psychological damages that can be incurred through the bullying abuse.
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References
Biggs, B. K., et al (2008). Teacher adherence and its relation to teacher attitudes and student
outcomes in an elementary school-based violence prevention program. School
Psychology Review, 37(4), 533-549.
Blosnich, J., & Bossarte, R. (2011). Low-level violence in schools: Is there an association
between school safety measures and peer victimization?. Journal of School Health, 81(2),
107-113.
Farmer, T. W., et al (2012). Bullying involvement and the school adjustment of rural students
with and without disabilities. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 20(1), 19-
37. doi: 10.1177/1063426610392039
Muoz, L. C., Qualter, P., & Padgett, G. (2011). Empathy and bullying: Exploring the influence
of callous-unemotional traits. Child Psychiatry Human Development, 42(1), 183-196.
doi: 10.1007/s10578-010-0206-1
Owusu, A., et al (2011). The association between bullying and psychological health among
senior high school students in ghana, west africa . Journal of School Health, 81(5), 231-
238.