Identification of school bullies by survey methods.How can middle school counselors A school counselor is a counselor and educator who works in schools, and have historically been referred to as "guidance counselors" or "educational counselors," although "Professional School Counselor" is now the preferred term. identify bullies? This study compared two methods of identifying bullies in a sample of 386 middle school students. A peer nomination survey identified many more bullies than did student self-report. Moreover, self-reported and peer-nominated bullies differed in their types of bullying Bullying Chowne, Parson Stoyle terrorizes parish; kidnaps children. [Br. Lit.: The Maid of Sker, Walsh Modern, 94–95] Claypole, Noah bully; becomes thief in Fagin’s gang. [Br. Lit. behaviors, level of general self-concept, attitudes toward aggression, and disciplinary infractions. Overall, this study raises concern about reliance on student self-report and supports the use of peer nomination as a means of identifying school bullies. These findings have implications for school counselors in undertaking efforts to reduce school bullying. ********** School bullying is a pervasive pervasive, adj indicates that a condition permeates the entire development of the individual. problem. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development supported a survey with a representative sample of more than 15,000 students in Grades 6 through 10 in public and private schools. The study found that approximately 1.7 million children in Grades 6 through 10--nearly one student in five--admitted bullying their classmates Classmates can refer to either:
tr.v. mo·ti·vat·ed, mo·ti·vat·ing, mo·ti·vates To provide with an incentive; move to action; impel. mo in large part by students seeking revenge for bullying. Studies have found that bullies tend to hold positive attitudes toward aggression, such as believing that fighting will make them popular, that fighting is an effective way to solve a problem, and that victims deserve what happens to them (Bentley & Li, 1995; Olweus, 1997). There is a general assumption that bullies suffer from low self-concept, but studies have not supported this view (Olweus, 1993, 1997; Rigby & Slee, 1993). Other studies have found that bullies have negative attitudes toward school and are more likely to commit disciplinary infractions than are nonbullies (Clarke & Kiselica, 1997; Espelage, Bosworth, & Simon, 2000; O'Moore & Hillery, 1991). A Norwegian study (Olweus, 1991) found that students identified as bullies in Grades 6 through 9 were four times more likely to be involved in serious criminal activity as adults than were their peers. These findings support the need for school counselors to identify bullies so that they can prevent victimization victimization Social medicine The abuse of the disenfranchised–eg, those underage, elderly, ♀, mentally retarded, illegal aliens, or other, by coercing them into illegal activities–eg, drug trade, pornography, prostitution. and help aggressive youth interact in more appropriate ways with their classmates. Bullying is often covert COVERT, BARON. A wife; so called, from her being under the cover or protection of her husband, baron or lord. and difficult to detect, which poses a challenge for counselors and teachers in attempting to help victims and stop bullying. Bullying is especially likely to occur in restrooms, at bus stops, or on school buses when adult supervision is limited (Espelage, Asiadao, & Chavez, 1998). Nevertheless, a school climate study (Whitney & Smith, 1993) revealed 30% of elementary and middle school students reported being bullied bul·ly 1 n. pl. bul·lies 1. A person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people. 2. A hired ruffian; a thug. 3. A pimp. 4. in the classroom without any form of teacher intervention A procedure used in a lawsuit by which the court allows a third person who was not originally a party to the suit to become a party, by joining with either the plaintiff or the defendant. . Unfortunately, teachers often do not detect bullying and many victims of bullying do not seek help from school staff because they believe that their teachers will not take effective action (Unnever & Cornell, 2004). Although there has been considerable interest in interventions for victims of bullying (Juvonen & Graham, 2001), school counselors must be prepared to work with students who bully their peers as well. Intervention efforts with bullies can be especially effective because a single bully may have multiple victims. Counseling services for bullies can include helping these students to improve their social skills, manage angry feelings, develop empathy empathy Ability to imagine oneself in another's place and understand the other's feelings, desires, ideas, and actions. The empathic actor or singer is one who genuinely feels the part he or she is performing. for others, and learn better problem-solving strategies (Clarke & Kiselica, 1997; Hoover & Oliver, 1996). MEASUREMENT OF BULLYING Although there are many definitions of bullying used throughout the literature, most share the notion that bullying behaviors can be either physical or verbal, are unprovoked by the victim, and represent a "systematic abuse of power" (Smith & Sharp, 1994, p. 2). Olweus (1991, 1993) stressed that bullying always involves a power imbalance imbalance /im·bal·ance/ (im-bal´ans) 1. lack of balance, such as between two opposing muscles or between electrolytes in the body. 2. dysequilibrium (2). between the bully and victim, as distinguished from a conflict between rivals. Most definitions categorize cat·e·go·rize tr.v. cat·e·go·rized, cat·e·go·riz·ing, cat·e·go·riz·es To put into a category or categories; classify. cat bullying behaviors as physical, verbal, or social. Physical bullying refers to attacks on the victim, such as kicking, pushing, or hitting. Verbal bullying consists of teasing teasing the act of parading a male before a female to see if she displays estrus, and is therefore in a state where mating is likely to be fertile. , taunting, or mocking mock v. mocked, mock·ing, mocks v.tr. 1. To treat with ridicule or contempt; deride. 2. a. To mimic, as in sport or derision. See Synonyms at ridicule. b. the victim (Ohveus, 1991). In contrast, social or relational bullying involves manipulating the social status of an individual within his or her peer group by changing the way others perceive and respond to the individual. Examples of social or relational bullying include telling false stories or spreading rumors For other uses, see Rumor (disambiguation). Rumors is a farcical play by Neil Simon. At its start, several affluent couples gather in the posh suburban residence of a couple for a dinner party celebrating their tenth anniversary. about someone and encouraging peers not to associate with someone (Crick Crick , Francis Henry Compton 1916-2004. British biologist who with James D. Watson proposed a spiral model, the double helix, for the molecular structure of DNA. He shared a 1962 Nobel Prize for advances in the study of genetics. & Grotpeter, 1995; Olweus). Researchers have relied primarily on self-report surveys to measure bullying. This method of assessment generally consists of paper-and-pencil questionnaires that are completed anonymously by the students. In most studies, students are given a definition of bullying and then asked to report how often they engage in different kinds of bullying behaviors (Salmivalli, Karhunen, & Lagerspetz, 1996). Salmivalli et al. found that simply asking students to respond to the statement "I bully others" often produced unreliable self-reports, because many students who bully do not consider their behavior as bullying. To obtain more accurate results, many researchers (Bosworth, Espelage, & Simon, 1999; Olweus, 1991; Smith & Sharp, 1994) asked students about the frequency of specific behaviors such as teasing, name calling, or hitting. Solberg and Olweus (2003) contended that self-reports are the best means of measuring bullying; however, self-reports can underestimate the prevalence of bullying if students are unwilling to admit socially undesirable behaviors or are unaware that their behavior constitutes bullying. Some bullies insist they are just "having fun" or "joking around" even though their behavior is intimidating in·tim·i·date tr.v. in·tim·i·dat·ed, in·tim·i·dat·ing, in·tim·i·dates 1. To make timid; fill with fear. 2. To coerce or inhibit by or as if by threats. or distressing to their victims. The most important limitation of anonymous self-report surveys from a counseling standpoint The Standpoint is a newspaper published in the British Virgin Islands. It was originally published under the name Pennysaver, largely as a shopping-coupon promotional newspaper, but since emerged as one of the most influential sources of journalism in the is that they yield estimates of the prevalence of bullying but do not help counselors identify the specific students involved in bullying. Peer nomination (or peer report) represents an alternative approach to identifying bullies. The peer nomination method usually involves asking students to write down the names of classmates who match a descriptive statement, such as "someone who bullies others." Students who receive nominations beyond some cutoff point Cutoff point The lowest rate of return acceptable on investments. are considered to be possibly involved in bullying. It should be emphasized that counselors would not conclude that a student was bullying others based on peer nominations alone, but would use the peer nomination results as a basis for further investigation, such as interviewing students and consulting with teachers. Although peer nomination is not widely used in the literature on bullying, peer reports are a standard method of assessing peer social status ranging from peer aggression to popularity (Ladd & Kochenderfer-Ladd, 2002). Left, Power, and Goldstein (2004) reviewed the most commonly used measures to evaluate the effectiveness of bullying prevention programs (i.e., nursing logs of injuries, discipline referrals, student self-report measures, teacher-reported measures, peer sociometric measures, and behavioral behavioral pertaining to behavior. behavioral disorders see vice. behavioral seizure see psychomotor seizure. observation systems). They concluded that peer nominations have strong concurrent and predictive validity In psychometrics, predictive validity is the extent to which a scale predicts scores on some criterion measure. For example, the validity of a cognitive test for job performance is the correlation between test scores and, for example, supervisor performance ratings. , and are the "methodology of choice for identifying perpetrators" (p. 282). Xiao and Matsuda (1998) examined the relationship among teacher, peer, and self ratings of perceived aggression and withdrawal. They found that peer-teacher agreement was significantly greater than peer-self agreement and teacher-self agreement in perception of aggression. These results were consistent with findings by Ledingham, Younger, Schwartzman, and Bergeron (1982) that children with social difficulties (e.g., aggression and withdrawal) might not perceive their own social problems the same way as their peers and teachers do. PURPOSE OF CURRENT STUDY The current study compared three groups of students: bullies identified by self-report, bullies identified by peer nomination, and students not identified as bullies by self-report or peer nomination (nonbully group). We addressed three primary questions: (a) How do self-reported bullies and peer-nominated bullies compare in the frequency and type of bullying behaviors? (b) How do self-reported and peernominated bullies compare in levels of general selfconcept, attitudes toward aggression and bullying, and disciplinary infractions? And, (c) how do self-reported and peer-nominated bullies differ from peers who do not bully? METHOD Participants The stud), was conducted in a middle school serving 581 students (176 sixth graders, 205 seventh graders, and 200 eighth graders) in a mixed rural and suburban area of central Virginia. Students completed a confidential survey at school during the fall semester se·mes·ter n. One of two divisions of 15 to 18 weeks each of an academic year. [German, from Latin (cursus) s . Of the 581 students, 416 (72%) completed the survey. Participant ages ranged from 10 to 14. Thirty-four percent of the students were in the sixth grade, 35% were in seventh grade, and 31% were in eighth grade. Approximately 78% of the participants identified themselves as Caucasian, 12.3% as African-American, 3.9% as Hispanic, 2.4% as Asian-American, 1.0% as Native American, and 1.9% as other. Approximately 30% of the students received free or reduced school lunch. On sixth-grade Stanford 9 testing, the student averages were at the 56th percentile percentile, n the number in a frequency distribution below which a certain percentage of fees will fall. E.g., the ninetieth percentile is the number that divides the distribution of fees into the lower 90% and the upper 10%, or that fee level for language arts language arts pl.n. The subjects, including reading, spelling, and composition, aimed at developing reading and writing skills, usually taught in elementary and secondary school. , 66th percentile for math, and 61st percentile for reading. Measures The School Climate Survey (Brockenbrough, 2001) is a self-report questionnaire using items and scales from previously developed instruments to assess physical, verbal, and social bullying. The survey items used were similar to those on the Physical, Verbal, and Social Manipulation subscales of Mynard and Joseph's (2000) Multidimensional mul·ti·di·men·sion·al adj. Of, relating to, or having several dimensions. mul  ti·di·men Peer-Victimization Scale. The six items designed to
assess the frequency and type of bullying behavior asked students to
report the number of times in the past month that they had engaged in
physical bullying ("I hit or kicked someone on purpose" and
"I grabbed or shoved someone on purpose"), verbal bullying
("I threatened to hurt someone or take their things" and
"I said mean things to someone or called someone names"), and
social bullying ("I told others not to be someone's
friend" and "I did not let someone join what I was
doing"). The correlations between pairs of items in this sample
were r = .61 for physical bullying, .36 for verbal bullying, and .31 for
social bullying.Five items were selected from the Beliefs Measure (Slaby & Guerra, 1988) and the Safe Schools Survey (Cornell & Loper lope intr.v. loped, lop·ing, lopes To run or ride with a steady, easy gait. n. A steady, easy gait. [Middle English lopen, to leap, from Old Norse , 1998) that assessed student attitudes toward aggression and bullying: "If someone threatens you, it is okay to hit that person"; "It feels good when I hit someone"; "If you fight a lot, everyone will look up to you"; "Sometimes you have only two choices--get punched or punch the other kid first"; and "If you are afraid to fight, you won't have any friends." The 5-point Likert responses ranged from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." The Cronbach's alpha Cronbach's  (alpha) has an important use as a measure of the reliability of a psychometric instrument. It was first named as alpha by Cronbach (1951), as he had intended to continue with further instruments. for the
attitudes toward aggression and bullying scale was .72.The general-self scale, modified from the Self-Description Questionnaire-I (Marsh, Smith, & Barnes, 1983), contained eight items to measure the student's overall self-perception (e.g., "In general, I like being the way I am," and "Overall, I have a lot to be proud of"). Each item was measured on a 5-point Likert scale Likert scale A subjective scoring system that allows a person being surveyed to quantify likes and preferences on a 5-point scale, with 1 being the least important, relevant, interesting, most ho-hum, or other, and 5 being most excellent, yeehah important, etc ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree." Alpha for the general-self scale was .65. The school's administrative offices provided a record of the number and type of school-wide discipline referrals in the months following the survey administration (October through April). A discipline referral form was filled out when students were referred to the main office for behavioral problems. Some examples of common behavioral referrals were bus discipline problems, disruptive disruptive /dis·rup·tive/ (-tiv) 1. bursting apart; rending. 2. causing confusion or disorder. behavior, and fighting. From these records, scores were tabulated for each student for total discipline referrals, detentions, and suspensions from school. Surveys were excluded if (a) demographic items were left blank or marked with an unusable value (missing or inappropriate grade level, gender, age); or (b) the validity item "I am telling the truth on this survey" was marked "neither agree nor disagree," "disagree," or "strongly disagree." Previous studies have supported the use of similar validity items to detect surveys in which the students either did not read carefully or identified themselves as not answering honestly (Cornell & Loper, 1998). Procedures The School Climate Survey was administered to consenting students approximately one month after the start of the school year. Students were told not to write their name on the survey, but to seal it in an envelope with their name printed on the outside. Each student was assigned as·sign tr.v. as·signed, as·sign·ing, as·signs 1. To set apart for a particular purpose; designate: assigned a day for the inspection. 2. a code number that was used to compare students' self-report answers to the peer nomination data. Students were presented with a standard definition of bullying adapted from the Olweus Bully/ Victim Questionnaire: We say someone is bullying when he or she hits, kicks, grabs, or shoves you on purpose. It is also bullying when a student threatens or teases you in a hurtful way. It is also bullying when a student tries to keep others from being your friend or from letting you join in what they are doing. It is not bullying when two students of about the same strength argue or fight. (Olweus, 1993) Following this definition, students were asked to report the number of times they had bullied others in the past month ("By this definition, I have bullied others in the past month"). Response categories were "never," "once or twice," "about once per week," and "several times per week." Students were classified as self-reported bullies if they had admitted to bullying their peers "about once per week" or more. Peer nomination data were collected 2 weeks following the self-report survey administration. Using the same bully definition from the original survey, students were asked to nominate nom·i·nate tr.v. nom·i·nat·ed, nom·i·nat·ing, nom·i·nates 1. To propose by name as a candidate, especially for election. 2. To designate or appoint to an office, responsibility, or honor. up to three students in their class as bullies on a confidential and anonymous form. Five hundred and fifteen students (88.6%) completed the nomination forms. We considered that a single nomination might not be sufficient indication that a student actually engaged in bullying behavior, so we established a criterion of two or more nominations to be categorized cat·e·go·rize tr.v. cat·e·go·rized, cat·e·go·riz·ing, cat·e·go·riz·es To put into a category or categories; classify. cat in the bullying group. Detailed analyses of various cutoff points are reported elsewhere (Brockenbrough, 2001; Cornell & Brockenbrough, 2004). RESULTS Thirty surveys (7%) were excluded for inappropriate responses to the validity item ("I am telling the truth on this survey"). The final sample (N = 386) consisted of 186 (48%) males and 200 (52%) females. Approximately 34% of the sample were in the sixth grade, 37% were in seventh grade, and 29% were in eighth grade. The number of bully nominations ranged from 0 to 22. Two hundred and sixty students (67.7%) received no bully nominations, 54 students (14.1%) received one nomination, 21 students (5.5%) received two nominations, and 49 students (12.7%) received more than two peer nominations. Our final sample included 305 students (79.4%) classified as non-bullies and 79 students (20.6%) classified into one of the two bully groups: 9 self-reported bullies and 70 peer-nominated bullies. The correlation between self-reported bullying and peer nomination was virtually zero (r = .003), (1) with only two students fitting both criteria (these two were excluded from subsequent analyses). In total, 62 (79%) of the students identified as bullies were males and 18 (21%) were females. Approximately 34% of the identified bullies were sixth graders, 32% were seventh graders, and 34% were eighth graders. We conducted two planned orthogonal At right angles. The term is used to describe electronic signals that appear at 90 degree angles to each other. It is also widely used to describe conditions that are contradictory, or opposite, rather than in parallel or in sync with each other. comparisons: Non-bullies were compared to identified bullies (self-reported and peer-nominated) and then self-reported bullies were compared to peer-nominated bullies (see Table 1). Identified bullies demonstrated significantly higher levels of bullying behavior than non-bullies: physical, F (1, 382) = 29.44, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] =.072; verbal, F (1, 382) = 18.11, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .045; and social, F(1,382) = 14.143, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .036. There was no significant difference in general self-concept between bullies and non-bullies; however, bullies showed more positive attitudes toward aggression and bullying than did non-bullies, F(1,382) = 17.36, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .043. The bullies and non-bullies differed in overall disciplinary referrals, F(1,382) = 40.44, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .096; detentions, F(1,382) = 31.34, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .076; and suspensions, F (1, 382) = 43.70, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .103. In all three cases, identified bullies received more disciplinary infractions than did non-bullies. There were no statistically significant differences between the two bully groups by gender or grade level. However, the two groups differed in their levels of involvement in bullying behavior. Self-reported bullies endorsed a greater frequency of physical, verbal, and social bullying than did peer-nominated bullies. Univariate analyses showed that the two bully groups differed on their general self-concept scores, F(1, 77) = 8.04, p < .01, [[eta].sup.2] = .095, with the peer-nominated bullies showing higher levels of general self-concept than the self-reported bullies. The two bully groups also differed in their attitudes toward aggression and bullying, F (1, 77) = 18.47, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .193. Self-reported bullies endorsed more positive attitudes toward aggression and bullying than did peer-nominated bullies. Self-reported bullies and peer-nominated bullies differed in disciplinary referrals, F (2, 381) = 22.40, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .105; detentions, F(2, 381) = 17.41, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .084; and suspensions, F (2,381) = 24.06, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .112. In all three cases, peer-nominated bullies received more disciplinary consequences than did self-reported bullies. DISCUSSION Our findings indicate that counselors who rely on student self-report to measure the prevalence of bullies in their school will obtain markedly different results than if they use peer nominations. Self-report surveys of bullying are used much more frequently than peer nominations (Nansel et al., 2001; Olweus, 1997; Rigby & Slee, 1993; Solberg & Olweus, 2003), but this method may greatly underestimate the number of bullies in middle school. Overall, most students did not report involvement in physical, verbal, or social bullying on the self-report survey. Only a small number (N = 9) of students admitted to directly engaging in bullying behaviors. Students might have been unwilling to admit bullying others or they might have been unaware that their behavior was regarded as bullying by others. Despite denying their involvement, 70 students were nominated nom·i·nate tr.v. nom·i·nat·ed, nom·i·nat·ing, nom·i·nates 1. To propose by name as a candidate, especially for election. 2. To designate or appoint to an office, responsibility, or honor. by two or more of their peers as perpetrators of bullying. However, peer nomination methods must be viewed with caution, too, because some students could have nominated classmates as a joke or identified peers that they did not like. For this reason, we selected students who were nominated by at least two classmates. In 49 of 70 cases (70%), students were identified by three or more classmates. There was not a statistically significant difference between identified bullies and non-bullies in general self-concept. This finding is contrary to some reports in the literature (O'Moore & Hillery, 1991) but consistent with the view that at least some aggressive youth may have an overly positive perception of their status (Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996). There were statistically significant self-concept differences, however, between the self-reported bullies and the peer-nominated bullies. Peer-nominated bullies endorsed items such as "I have a lot to be proud of," "I like being the way I am," and "A lot of things about me are good" at a higher level than did self-reported bullies. Rigby and Slee (1993) suggested that a bully's self-concept is maintained by the "sense of power they gain through dominating and humiliating hu·mil·i·ate tr.v. hu·mil·i·at·ed, hu·mil·i·at·ing, hu·mil·i·ates To lower the pride, dignity, or self-respect of. See Synonyms at degrade. those weaker than themselves" (p. 373). Individuals who are able to dominate others may be expected, therefore, to have a similar or higher self-concept than those who are not (i.e., victims) (Bjorkqvist, Osterman, & Kaukiainen, 1992; Olweus, 1993, 1997). The combined group of self-reported and peer-nominated bullies endorsed more positive attitudes toward aggression and bullying than did non-bullies. This finding is consistent with other studies showing a link between bullying and aggressive attitudes (Huesmann & Guerra, 1997; Perry, Perry, & Rasmussen, 1986; Slaby & Guerra, 1988). Pikas (1989) developed the Common Concern Method, a bullying intervention program that focused on changing aggressive attitudes and student interactions. The goal of the model was to foster empathy among bullies for their victims and to help students take ownership of the bullying problem and responsibility for its resolution (Hoover & Oliver, 1996). School counselors should work with bullies to identify the fallacies This is a list of fallacies. Formal fallacies Formal fallacies are arguments that are fallacious due to an error in their form or technical structure.
Peer-nominated bullies endorsed lower levels of involvement in bullying behavior--such as hitting or kicking someone on purpose, threatening to hurt someone, or telling peers not to be someone's friend--than did self-reported bullies. Peer-nominated bullies also were less likely to endorse To sign a paper or document, thereby making it possible for the rights represented therein to pass to another individual. Also spelled indorse. endorse (indorse) v. positive attitudes toward aggression than were self-reported bullies. These findings suggest that bullies who fail to admit their involvement in bullying are also less likely to admit aggressive attitudes and behavior. This means that school counselors cannot rely on indirect measures of bullying such as self-reports of fighting and hitting others to identify possible bullies. Peer-nominated bullies were a high-risk group high-risk group Epidemiology A group of people in the community with a higher-than-expected risk for developing a particular disease, which may be defined on a measurable parameter–eg, an inherited genetic defect, physical attribute, lifestyle, habit, who received more disciplinary infractions over the course of the school year than did other students. In fact, peer-nominated bullies received almost four times as many disciplinary infractions as non-bullies. Furthermore, they were three times as likely to receive detention The act of keeping back, restraining, or withholding, either accidentally or by design, a person or thing. Detention occurs whenever a police officer accosts an individual and restrains his or her freedom to walk away, or approaches and questions an individual, or stops an and they were about six times as likely to be suspended sus·pend v. sus·pend·ed, sus·pend·ing, sus·pends v.tr. 1. To bar for a period from a privilege, office, or position, usually as a punishment: suspend a student from school. from school as non-bullies. These observations provide independent corroboration that students identified as bullies by their peers have behavioral adjustment problems. Peer-identified bullies are good candidates for preventive preventive /pre·ven·tive/ (pre-vent´iv) prophylactic. pre·ven·tive or pre·ven·ta·tive adj. Preventing or slowing the course of an illness or disease; prophylactic. n. counseling services and deserve prompt intervention when behavior problems surface. The few students who were willing to admit bullying others on the self-report survey were probably less concerned about self-disclosure and more willing to admit other aggressive behavior, too. Unfortunately, few of the students perceived as bullies by their peers were willing to admit this behavior on the self-report instrument. Although self-report is widely used in schools to assess the level of bullying (Nansel et al., 2001; Rigby & Slee, 1993), the students identified by this method appear to differ substantially from those identified by their classmates. Limitations A limitation of this study was that the sample size of the self-reported bully group was small (9) and did not provide much statistical power for analyses. In addition, in a larger sample it would be possible to identify a third group of students who were identified as bullies by both methods. It is possible that fewer students were willing to identify themselves as bullies on the self-report survey because the survey was not completely anonymous. Students were instructed to put their names on the outside of the survey (so that researchers could match survey respondents In the context of marketing research, a representative sample drawn from a larger population of people from whom information is collected and used to develop or confirm marketing strategy. to school discipline records), but they were assured that their answers would not be revealed to school personnel and would remain confidential. Perhaps this procedure nonetheless discouraged dis·cour·age tr.v. dis·cour·aged, dis·cour·ag·ing, dis·cour·ag·es 1. To deprive of confidence, hope, or spirit. 2. To hamper by discouraging; deter. 3. students from identifying themselves as bullies, although it must be pointed out that 30 students were willing to admit they were not telling the truth on the survey. Moreover, a study of the "Monitoring the Future Monitoring the Future is an annual survey given to 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th graders in the United States to determine drug use trends and patterns. The survey started in 1975, with 12th graders. It was expanded in 1991 to include 8th and 10th graders as well. " survey found little difference between anonymous and confidential conditions for adolescent ad·o·les·cent adj. Of, relating to, or undergoing adolescence. n. A young person who has undergone puberty but who has not reached full maturity; a teenager. self-report (O'Malley, Johnston, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2000). The Monitoring the Future survey is administered annually to nationally representative samples of adolescents and includes a lengthy series of questions concerning personal use of illegal drugs and alcohol, as well as delinquent delinquent 1) adj. not paid in full amount or on time. 2) n. short for an underage violator of the law as in juvenile delinquent. DELINQUENT, civil law. He who has been guilty of some crime, offence or failure of duty. behaviors such as stealing and weapon carrying. In 1998, half of the youths were administered the survey with explicit assurance that their answers were anonymous and so could not be linked to them, while the other half were told that their answers would be held in confidence but were required to report their name and address to the researchers. There were little or no differences in the reporting of sensitive information under the two conditions (O'Malley et al.). Finally, the modest internal consistency In statistics and research, internal consistency is a measure based on the correlations between different items on the same test (or the same subscale on a larger test). It measures whether several items that propose to measure the same general construct produce similar scores. of the measures of bullying behavior, self-concept, and aggressive attitudes could have depressed the correlations with self- and peer-reported bullying. It also would be desirable to obtain additional measures of these constructs, perhaps through teacher ratings or classroom observation, that were independent of the survey instrument. Implications for School Counselors The impact of bullying extends beyond the individual victim to affect many other students (Hoover & Hazler, 1991). Students who observe bullying may fear that they could be the next target, or they may feel guilt), that they stood by and permitted the bullying to take place. Worse, some students may be encouraged to emulate em·u·late tr.v. em·u·lat·ed, em·u·lat·ing, em·u·lates 1. To strive to equal or excel, especially through imitation: an older pupil whose accomplishments and style I emulated. 2. the bully and become bullies themselves. Unnever and Cornell (2003) described a "culture of bullying" in middle school in which students come to expect that bullying will take place and teachers will do little to stop it. Bullying becomes more serious and more difficult to prevent the longer it continues. "By the time these children reach middle school, they have not only developed a pervasive pattern of aggressive behavior but have also acquired sophisticated methods that can make them more difficult to detect as well as discipline" (Bonds & Stoker, 2000, p. 341). In order to implement effective intervention strategies for bullying and aggression, it is necessary to develop better strategies to identify at-risk youth (Atlas Atlas, in Greek mythology Atlas (ăt`ləs), in Greek mythology, a Titan; son of Iapetus and Clymene and the brother of Prometheus. & Pepler, 1998). One clear advantage of peer nomination is that counselors not only can assess the prevalence of bullying, they also can identify students who are possible bullies. Although counselors should not conclude that a student is a bully based on peer nominations alone, they could follow up on the results by interviewing and observing students to determine if bullying is taking place. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Clarke and Kiselica (1997), a major purpose of a school-wide assessment of bullying is to ascertain the current extent of the problem and to identify perpetrators who require counseling services and additional support. Peer nomination and self-report measures should be given in the context of a school-wide assessment of bullying. Teachers must be prepared in survey administration and motivated to create a receptive receptive /re·cep·tive/ (re-cep´tiv) capable of receiving or of responding to a stimulus. classroom environment to attain valid survey results (Cornell, Cole, & Sheras, in press). Cross and Newman-Gonchar (2004) proposed that administrator training may be a critical factor in obtaining more consistent and trustworthy survey data. School counselors can work with teachers to alleviate Alleviate To make something easier to be endured. Mentioned in: Kinesiology, Applied any concerns they may have about survey administration. Sometimes teachers fear that a peer nomination procedure will arouse anxiety in students or be disruptive to the classroom. Students should be advised that the purpose of the survey is to prevent students from being bullied, and that because oftentimes of·ten·times also oft·times adv. Frequently; repeatedly. Adv. 1. oftentimes - many times at short intervals; "we often met over a cup of coffee" frequently, oft, often, ofttimes students are reluctant to come forward and seek help for bullying, or to seek help for their friends who are being bullied, the peer nomination provides them with a means to do so (Unnever & Cornell, 2004). Left et al. (2004) suggested that teachers and school counselors fully debrief de·brief tr.v. de·briefed, de·brief·ing, de·briefs 1. To question to obtain knowledge or intelligence gathered especially on a military mission. 2. students after using the peer nomination procedure. They suggested that teachers explain why students are been requested to rate others in their class and talk about the importance of keeping their responses confidential. In practice, we have observed that peer nominations can be conducted in a straightforward and low-key manner that does not generate undue anxiety or distress among students. Concerns about peer nomination procedures must be weighed against the cost of failing to identify bullies and their victims. The ability to identify bullies and victims of bullying is critically important to any bully prevention effort. Moreover, in cases of severe or chronic bullying, we believe that counselors and teachers have an obligation to use all reasonable means to stop it from continuing. Interventions with identified aggressive youth must begin with behavior management behavior management Psychology Any nonpharmacologic maneuver–eg contingency reinforcement–that is intended to correct behavioral problems in a child with a mental disorder–eg, ADHD. See Attention-deficit-hyperactivity syndrome. (Bonds & Stoker, 2000; Clarke & Kiselica, 1997). Students must receive clear instructions that bullying will not be permitted and will have disciplinary consequences. It is important that students perceive that discipline is "firm but fair" and applied equally to everyone (Sprague & Golly gol·ly interj. Used to express mild surprise or wonder. [Alteration of God.] golly interj an exclamation of mild surprise [originally a euphemism for , 2004). In addition to disciplinary consequences for bullying, schools should make ample use of incentives and rewards for appropriate behavior, consistent with the philosophy of positive behavior support Positive behavior support strives to use a system to understand what maintains an individual’s challenging behavior. Students’ inappropriate behaviors are difficult to change because they are functional, they serve a purpose for the child. (Sprague & Golly, 2004). Counselors should encourage teachers to emphasize positive consequences and recognition for peer behavior that shows empathy, respect, and consideration for others. This approach may be augmented by schoolwide efforts to teach communication and conflict resolution skills, as well as nonviolent attitudes and values (Sprague et al., 2001). Students involved in bullying need assessment to identify potential problems with anger, socio-emotional adjustment, and peer relations. It may be useful to conduct a functional behavior analysis to identify factors that encourage, model, or reinforce the student's behavior, and then to develop an appropriate intervention plan (Skiba, Waldron, Bahamonde, & Michalek, 1998). Students must learn positive alternatives to aggression that replace patterns of bullying and related maladaptive Maladaptive Unsuitable or counterproductive; for example, maladaptive behavior is behavior that is inappropriate to a given situation. Mentioned in: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy behaviors (Clarke & Kiselica, 1997; Hoover & Hazier, 1991). Some school staff members may have the mistaken idea that bullying is normal, unavoidable, and relatively harmless The term harmless may be taken in several ways:
Conclusion This study compared peer nomination and self-report approaches to the identification of middle school bullies. The peer nomination method identified a much larger group of students reported to engage in bullying and found that these students committed more disciplinary infractions than students identified as bullies by self-report. There were no differences between bullies and non-bullies in self-concept, but bullies were more likely to endorse attitudes justifying the use of aggression and minimizing its effect on victims. These findings point to some practical approaches that school counselors can take to identify and intervene intervene v. to obtain the court's permission to enter into a lawsuit which has already started between other parties and to file a complaint stating the basis for a claim in the existing lawsuit. with middle school students who engage in bullying behavior. Endnote See footnote. (1) A previous article (Cornell & Brockenbrough, 2004) concerned with survey methodology examined the correspondence among self-report, peer nomination, and teacher identification of both bullies and victims of bullying using a sample that overlapped with the present study sample. The present article reports new information on the aggressive attitudes, self-concept, and discipline histories of bullies that is not presented in the other article. References Atlas, R., & Pepler, D. (1998). Observations of bullying in the classroom. Journal of Educational Research, 92, 86-98. Baumeister, R. F., Smart, L., & Boden, J. M. (1996). Relation of threatened egotism Egotism See also Arrogance, Conceit, Individualism. Baxter, Ted TV anchorman who sees himself as most important news topic. [TV: “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in Terrace, II, 70] cat to violence and aggression: The dark side of high self-esteem. Psychological Review, 103, 5-33. Bentley, K. M., & Li, A. K. (1995). 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Table 1. Planned Comparisons Between Bullies and Non-Bullies
Self-Report Peer-Nominated
Bullies (1) Bullies (2) Non-Bullies (3)
Measure Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
Physical bullying 4.67 (2.44) 2.89 (l.19) 2.42 (0.78)
Verbal bullying 4.56 (l.13) 2.96 (l.10) 2.62 (0.86)
Social bullying 3.89 (l.45) 2.54 (0.79) 2.35 (0.64)
General self- 28.44 (6.77) 33.13 (4.36) 33.00 (4.50)
concept
Attitudes toward 17.44 (2.30) 11.73 (3.89) 10.24 (4.04)
aggression
Discipline 1.67 (2.50) 4.07 (5.82) 1.08 (2.53)
referrals
Detentions 1.11 (l.69) 2.66 (3.70) 0.78 (2.01)
Suspensions 0.56 (l.33) 1.54 (2.70) 0.27 (0.82)
(1) + (2) vs. (3)
Measure F value [[eta].sup.2]
Physical bullying 29.44 ** .07
Verbal bullying 18.11 ** .05
Social bullying 14.14 ** .04
General self- 0.50 .00
concept
Attitudes toward 17.36 ** .04
aggression
Discipline 40.44 ** .10
referrals
Detentions 31.34 ** .08
Suspensions 43.70 ** .10
(1) vs. (2)
Measure F value [[eta].sup.2]
Physical bullying 13.24 ** .15
Verbal bullying 16.50 ** .18
Social bullying 18.46 ** .19
General self- 8.04 * .10
concept
Attitudes toward 18.47 ** .19
aggression
Discipline 22.40 ** .11
referrals
Detentions 17.41 ** .08
Suspensions 24.06 ** 11
* p < .01.
** p < .001.
The authors thank Karen Brockenbrough for her work on the middle school survey project. They also thank the staff and students of the participating middle school. Joanna Joanna, in the Bible Joanna, in the New Testament. 1 Wife of Herod's steward Chuza. She was a follower of Jesus and was one who found the tomb empty. 2 Ancestor of St. Joseph. C. M. Cole, MS, is a Ph.D. student in clinical psychology, Curry School of Education The Curry School of Education is a public school of education in the U.S. Located on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, the Curry School offers professional programs designed to prepare individuals for a variety of careers related to the practice of , University of Virginia, Charlottesville. E-mail: jcc8f@virginia.edu Dewey G. Cornell and Peter Sheras are professors at the University of Virginia. |
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