School Bullying

Question 1

how bullying research began; the “father” of bullying research

Answer 1

Modern bullying research began in 1970s in Norway
Dr. Dan Olweus did the original research and wrote the first text to directly talk about bullying:
“Aggression in the schools: Bullies and Whipping boys”

Question 2

the definition of (or 3-part criteria for) school bullying

Answer 2

1. unprovoked/intentional behavior (use of aggression)
   
   2. enduring (repeated across time, at least until caught)
   3. a social power difference between the bully and the victim

Question 3

varying prevalence of bullying; predictors and outcomes of bullying

Answer 3

• Specific prevalence rates vary by age, country, and the immediate social context
• Bullying is evident already in preschool; peaks in middle school, and declines somewhat by the end of high school
• Outcomes of Bullying (for the bullies)
• academic and social difficulties
• substance use
• increasing aggression & delinquency, potential gang involvement
• ## violence, weapon use

Question 4

the idea of bully-victims; the idea of school bullying as a group phenomenon

Answer 4

• Some students bully others while being bullied themselves
• So called “bully-victims”
• Bully-victims may be relatively more dysfunctional and vulnerable than “ringleader
  bullies”, and thus prone to conduct problems and mental health issues
• two or three peers are always present in bullying

Question 5

participant roles in bullying: the roles and their key characteristics

Answer 5

-The Bully: rejected, disliked by peers, often perceived as popular
- Bully’s assistants: rejected by peers, likely similar to bullies in many aspects, but they are not known as individuals separate from the bully
- Reinforcers: rejected disliked by peers, they feel as if bullies are too powerful and nothing can be done to stop them
- Outsiders: bystanders, easier to influence in interventions
- Victim’s defenders: high self esteem, well liked and accepted among peers

Question 6

the idea of an intervention design

Answer 6

1. Behavioral interventions for aggressive youth; teaching social skills
2. Cognitive (psychological level) interventions
   * Reducing hostile attribution bias
   -Common issues to consider:
   * program production (intervention research)
   * program adoption (choosing a particular program)
   * program implementation (several variables to consider)

Question 7

dosage, fidelity and implementer variables in intervention implementation

Answer 7

Program implementation
* Fidelity (= adherence to the program); the more the better
* Dosage (= how much of the program is actually implemented)
- “dosage-response”
= better results when core components are implemented vs. not (e.g., Olweus & Alsaker, 1991)
* Implementer variables
- e.g. felt efficacy among teachers to deal with bullying/apply the program
* Implementation usually harder and conducted with less fidelity than in secondary (e.g., middle) schools relative to elementary schools (e.g., Limber, 2011; Salmivalli et al., 2005)
- differences in student-teacher relationships, opportunities to observe bullying etc.