Two sides of the coin: the bully and the bullied

Bullying has become a worldwide phenomenon that produces serious individual and societal consequences when it is ignored. There are two sides of the coin that require consideration when psychiatric-mental health (PMH) nurses conduct assessments of situations that involve bullying behaviors. Both the bully and the bullied can incur serious, negative, and debilitating psychological effects. In some cases, physical injury and/or death occurs as a result of bullying. Deciphering the biopsychosocial mental health issues associated with bullying is challenging. PMH nurses have the clinical expertise to develop coping interventions and strategies that stop bullying, as well as enhance the mental health and wellness of both those who bully and who are bullied. This article presents PMH nursing biopsychosocial strategies for both sides of the bullying coin. Exemplars are provided to aid implementation of the strategies.     

Lifestyle, harassment at work and self-assessed health of female flight attendants, nurses and teachers

Health-related lifestyle, harassment at work, and self-assessed health of female flight attendants in comparison to that of female nurses and female primary school teachers were surveyed. A higher proportion of flight attendants than nurses or teachers were smokers, 26% vs. 15% and 17% respectively; and consumed alcohol at least once a week, 40% vs. 21% and 16%. Repeated sexual harassment at work was more common among the flight attendants, 31% vs. 8% and 4%; whereas bullying, physical violence and threats were less prevalent among the flight attendants (12%) than among nurses (19%). Flight attendants were on average somewhat taller, but weighed on average less, 63.8 kg vs. 72.4 kg and 72.7 kg respectively. Repeated exposure to sexual harassment, bullying, violence and threats was related to less physical and psychological well-being in all the groups. Teachers scored on average significantly lower than did the flight attendants on general health and physical well-being, while nurses did not.     

Not <Emphasis Type="Italic">Merely</Emphasis> TLC: Nurses’ Caring Revisited

The profession and practice of nursing has been studied from quite diverse scholarly perspectives in the United States and abroad. Feminist critiques focus on the gendering of caring and its knowledge/skill features, while professionalization advocates view emotive caring as secondary to other critical activities necessary for the occupational advancement of nursing. Based on ethnographic observations 30 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nurses across different units working at a large urban hospital, this paper examines how nurses define caring as knowledge-based, skilled work. Specifically, nurses described four types of skills—observational, analytical, interactional, and comforting—that they deploy in the accomplishment of caring work at the bedside. My findings go beyond previous literature in this area by showing how nurses think of caring work in line with occupational strategies that emphasize their biomedical knowledge and diagnostic skills and uphold an advocacy or intermediary role in health care. I argue that while this ideological work may reassure nurses of their professional identity and critical role in health care, it may also reinforce the dilemma of nurse professionalization by obscuring the organizational nature of caring, as it remains an unsupported dimension of their work.     

Risk and protective factors, longitudinal research, and bullying prevention

This chapter presents the results from two systematic/meta-analytic reviews of longitudinal studies on the association of school bullying (perpetration and victimization) with adverse health and criminal outcomes later in life. Significant associations between the two predictors and the outcomes are found even after controlling for other major childhood risk factors that are measured before school bullying. The results indicate that effective antibullying programs should be encouraged. They could be viewed as a form of early crime prevention as well as an early form of public health promotion. The findings from a systematic/meta-analytic review on the effectiveness of antibullying programs are also presented. Overall, school-based antibullying programs are effective, leading to an average decrease in bullying of 20 to 23 percent and in victimization of 17 to 20 percent. The chapter emphasizes the lack of prospective longitudinal research in the area of school bullying, which does not allow examination of whether any given factor (individual, family,. or social) is a correlate, a predictor, or a possible cause for bullying. This has important implications for future antibullying initiatives, as well as implications for the refinement of theories of school bullying. It is necessary to extend the framework of the traditional risk-focused approach by incorporating the notion of resiliency and investigating possible protective factors against school bullying and its negative consequences.     

Short-term stability and prospective correlates of bullying in middle-school students: an examination of potential demographic, psychosocial, and environmental influences

Stability and change of bullying over a four-month interval was examined in 516 middle school students (grades 6-8). The stability coefficient was .65 for the entire sample. There was a significant increase in bullying behavior from Time 1 to Time 2 for 6th grade students; no significant change in bullying was found among 7th or 8th graders. For 6th graders, a greater confidence in using non-violent strategies was associated with less bullying at Time 2, while beliefs supportive of violence and misconduct, less positive adult influences, and more negative peer influences were associated with greater likelihood of bullying at Time 2. Higher levels of impulsivity, anger, and depression were also associated with greater levels of bullying over time. Several explanations for the increase in bullying behaviors among 6th graders are discussed and linked to intervention efforts.     

Risk factors for involvement in cyber bullying: Victims, bullies and bully-victims

Objectives

The purpose of the current study was to examine the frequency of cyber bullying among youth by distinguishing among the three categories of involvement in cyber bullying: victims, bullies, and bully-victims, to compare these to a fourth category of students who are not involved in the three categories of cyber bullying and to explore the factors that contribute to involvement in cyber bullying.

Method

This study utilized a large and diverse sample of 2186 middle and high school students, who completed self report questionnaires during class time. We performed a Multinomial Logistic Regression to examine the relationship between the cyber bullying categories and our independent variables (gender, age, technology use, parental involvement and safety).

Results

Over 30% of the students in this study identified as involved in cyber bullying, as victims or perpetrators, and one in four of the students (25.7%) reported having been involved in cyber bullying as both bully and victim during the previous three months. Students who were involved in cyber bullying were more likely than others to report perpetration of violence toward peers, to use computers for more hours a day, and to give their password to friends. Other risk factors, such as gender, age and safety, were found to be specific only for one category of cyber bullying.

Conclusion

The findings revealed that students are highly involved in cyber bullying. Several unique characteristics emerged regarding the frequency and risk factors of students' involvement in cyber bullying. In traditional bullying the category of bully-victims represents the smallest and most vulnerable group of children, whereas in the current study the bully-victims category emerged as common. In addition, females were more likely than males to be bully-victims, in contrast to research on traditional bullying, in which more males than females are typically involved as bully-victims. In addition, several risk factors were common among the three groups of children, including the amount of hours per day students use the computer, and giving passwords to a friend. These results point to the need for further examination and to focus on the risk factors for students' cyber bullying involvement in each of the three categories.     

A qualitative study investigating adolescents' understanding of aggression,bullying and violence

There is a general consistency across the research literature regarding the definition of bullying. This has filtered down into the construction of governmental and school anti-bullying policies around the world. However, research suggests that children and adolescents are failing to accurately identify cases of bullying. This in turn has implications upon the accuracy of our perception of the extent of the problem of bullying within schools. The current study aimed to investigate how 11–17 year olds understand and differentiate between terms relating to interpersonal peer aggression, violence and bullying. Fifty-seven (twenty male, thirty-seven female) participants were recruited via an opportunity sample. Participants took part in focus group interviews within which they were asked to provide a definition for a list of words relating to both traditional and cyber forms of aggression, bullying and violence. Thematic analysis revealed that the participants held a shared understanding of the terms relating to aggression, bullying and violence. Participants defined each term by describing the behaviors involved, their perception of the level of control the perpetrators of each type of negative peer interaction have and the perception of those involved. The implications of these findings for both policy and future research are discussed.     

Distressed Bullies,Social Positioning and Odd Victims: Young People's Explanations of Bullying

The aim of the present study was to investigate to what degree teenagers agree with bullying explanation statements that could be categorised as the odd victim explanation, bully's social positioning explanation, or the distressed bully explanation. A second aim was to investigate how these types of bullying explanations might be associated with gender and self‐reported prior bullying roles. Three hundred and fifty teenagers, attending three upper secondary schools in a medium‐sized Swedish town, completed a questionnaire. Although the teenagers were prone to agree with all three types of bullying explanations, they were more inclined to think that bullying occurs because the bully wants power or status. Girls were more inclined than boys to think that bullying takes place because the bullies have their own problems. The more the teenagers thought that bullying occurs because the victims are odd, different or deviant, the more they have been involved in bullying situations as bullies or reinforcers. The more the teenagers thought that bullying occurs because the bully has psychosocial problems, the more they have been involved as defenders and the less as bullies or reinforcers in bullying situations.     

Schools,Bullying, and Inequality: Intersecting Factors and Complexities with the Stratification of Youth Victimization at School

Bullying within United States (US) schools is a growing concern among parents, school officials and policymakers. In early 2011, the first‐ever White House Conference on Bullying Prevention was held in hope of addressing bullying within US schools. Although the social, political, and media attention is increasing, it is important to consider the complexities and disparities associated with school bullying. In this article, four of the wide array of influences that increase the vulnerabilities of youth to be a victim of bullying at school are reviewed: (i) race and ethnicity, (ii) being and immigrant, (iii) gender, and; (iv) sexual orientation. Understanding and acknowledging the inequalities associated with school bullying, as well as the policies implemented in response, is instrumental for the US’ efforts towards providing safe, healthy, and democratic learning environments.     

Understanding Bullying in an Affluent,Academically Rigorous U.S. High School: A Grounded Theory Analysis

Students and staff members from a U.S. high school were asked to discuss their understanding of bullying within the context of their school social environment. Findings from the grounded theory analysis suggest that understandings of bullying are socially constructed and that how bullying is understood is influenced by context and by the negotiation of identity within that context. Furthermore, subjects focused on drama, a form of social interaction considered far more common than bullying. Findings suggest that research on bullying may benefit from shifting its emphasis on defining bullying and establishing prevalence, to exploring youths' contextual and developmental perspectives.     

Bullying victimization,negative emotions,and substance use: utilizing general strain theory to examine the undesirable outcomes of childhood bullying victimization in adolescence and young adulthood

Bullying victimization has been directly associated with a variety of negative outcomes, but there are still many unknowns as to how deleterious emotional states resulting from victimization influence other undesirable events. The current study draws on Agnew’s general strain theory to examine multiple outcomes of youth victimized by repeated bullying prior to adolescence. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 were used to examine indicators of diminished moods and negative emotions on substance use for bullying victims in adolescence and again during young adulthood. Findings from various LISERL models indicate that bullying victimization directly increases diminished moods for males and females in adolescence. Additionally, childhood bullying victimization directly increases substance use in adolescence and young adulthood for males but not females. Finally, diminished moods in adolescence and negative emotions in young adulthood increase substance use for females but not for males. Policy implications and limitations for this analysis are discussed.     

Agreement among students', teachers', and parents' perceptions of victimization by bullying

Bullying is a growing problem in many schools today, and accurate perceptions of bullying and victimization in schools are necessary in order for programs aimed at intervention for bullying behaviors to be effective. The current study examined agreement among students', teachers', and parents' perceptions of victimization across gender and grade level by surveying 137 students in grades 3–8, and their parents and teachers using a common measure of bullying. Overall, students reported the highest levels of victimization, and teachers reported the lowest levels of victimization. This pattern was consistent across gender, but inconsistent across grade level. Students and parents had moderate agreement correlations on levels of victimization, whereas teachers and students had low agreement correlations on levels of victimization. Overall, when students and parents or teachers disagreed, the disagreement was an underestimate, rather than an overestimate on the adult's part.     

Understanding weaknesses in bullying research: How school personnel can help strengthen bullying research and practice

School personnel (teachers, administrators, counselors, staff, and social workers) would greatly benefit from a stronger understanding of bullying dynamics. In order to heighten their understanding, we must strengthen bullying research. Despite more than 40 years of bullying research, a number of methodological weaknesses continue to plague the field of bullying. First, there is a lack of a common definition of bullying, making it difficult to compare results across studies. Second, some researchers use one-item measures of bullying, a practice that lacks content validity and fails to assess the entire scope of the bullying dynamic. Third, many measures fail to assess all forms of bullying. Fourth, researchers often fail to provide a definition of bullying or to even include the word “bullying” in their measures, thus conflating the measurement of bullying and aggression. Finally, most scales measure the prevalence of bullying and fail to assess the motivations for bullying or reasons why youth are bullied or bully others. The current article provides an overview of these five weaknesses present in bullying research, presents possible solutions, and discusses implications for school personnel.     

Workplace bullying, emotions, and outcomes

This study examines emotional experiences as potential mediators between exposure to workplace bullying and job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention to leave the organization, respectively. A total of 5,520 respondents participated in the study. Drawing upon affective events theory (AET), the results show that emotions partly mediate these relationships and, hence, support the notion that emotions play a central part in the relationship between bullying and essential occupational outcomes.     

School and Community Service Providers' Perspectives on Gay,Lesbian and Questioning Bullying

ABSTRACT

Existing literature details many forms of harassment against sexual minority youth, including those behaviors that are present in schools. School and community service providers, such as counselors and psychologists, often witness first-hand the bullying that occurs in schools. Through their direct contact with sexual minority youth, they remain knowledgeable of current school environments facing these youth. Their perspectives on bullying of this population, however, are lacking. Sixteen school and community service providers participated in face-to-face, in-depth interviews regarding their perceptions and observations of general bullying and specific bullying of GLBTQI youth. The principles of grounded theory are used to analyze the data, which resulted in themes on bullying of GLQ youth. Results on these themes are presented in six main categories: Types and Locations of Bullying, Characteristics of Victims, Characteristics of Bullies, Effects of Bullying, Victim Response, and “Non-Targets.” The perspectives of the service providers give support for existing literature on the nature of bullying of sexual minority youth, and provide anecdotal information on victim approaches seen to be effective at combating or preventing sexual minority bullying.     

Bullying Victimization Trajectories for Sexual Minority Adolescents: Stable Victims,Desisters, and Late‐Onset Victims

Sexual minority adolescents are bullied more frequently than heterosexual peers. Research is lacking on their rates of general and sexual orientation bullying victimization. The present study identified (1) the rate, onset, and desistance of general and sexual orientation bullying victimization, (2) the rate of bullying victimization trajectories, and (3) risk and protective factors across trajectories. A life history calendar method and thematic analysis were employed with a sexual minority adolescent sample (N = 52, 14–20 y/o). General bullying began at age 5 and declined after age 12, with sexual orientation bullying increasing throughout adolescence. Late‐onset victim (34.6%) was the most common trajectory, followed by stable victim (28.9%), desister (23.1%), and nonvictim (13.5%). Differences in risk and protective factors were found across trajectories.     

Caring: commitment to excellence or condemnation to conformity?

The art of caring to alleviate illness and to promote health is nursing's unique commitment to society and the health-care industry. How this practice is implemented dictates the success or failure of prescribed strategies. In addition, the way in which caring is implemented defines emotional maturity on both a personal and professional level. Several goals to rehabilitate the psychologically codependent person include: Developing an awareness of the origins of codependency and how early family experiences affect subsequent behavior and beliefs about oneself; Identifying the personal price and payoffs for continuing codependent behaviors; The ability to openly express personal needs, wishes, feelings, and opinions while respecting the rights of others; Learning to discriminate between loving/caring and the destructive control of codependency; and The ability to take responsibility for another rather than being responsible to another. Codependent behaviors are prevalent within professional nursing practice, as evidenced by examples provided from three specialty areas in nursing and the fact that women (who are traditionally assigned the cultural role of caring) constitute the majority of professional nurses. Therefore, it is a professional challenge to each nurse to ascertain whether practices are functional or dysfunctional: is the professional interpretation of caring a commitment to excellence or a condemnation to conformity in the unique delivery of health-care practice?     

Coping with bullying in Australian schools: how children with disabilities experience support from friends,parents and teachers

Little research has been published investigating the experiences of physical and emotional support for children with disabilities in the Australian school context. The aim of this phenomenological study was to explore how children with disabilities experienced support when they were bullied at school. Qualitative interviews with 10 children, aged 8–10 years, were analysed. The children had a range of disabilities, including physical, visual and hearing impairments. The four themes that emerged were: (1) bullying experiences; (2) coping with bullying; (3) importance of friends; (4) adult responses to bullying. The implications of the contributions to this study for bullying research specific to the lives of children with disabilities are discussed, such as providing educational and health professionals with a knowledge of the support that children with disabilities draw on when they experience bullying.     

Bullying among urban Mexican-heritage youth: Exploring risk for substance use by status as a bully,victim, and bully-victim

Little is known about adolescent bullying behavior and its relationship to substance use in ethnic minority populations. In a sample of youth of Mexican heritage, the current study aimed to examine the prevalence of bullying behavior subtypes and its co-occurrence with recent alcohol, cigarette, and inhalant use. Data come from a school-based substance use prevention study in the Southwestern U.S. (n = 809). We explored the prevalence of bullying behavior by status among youth classified as bullies, victims, bully-victims, and rarely-involved bully-victims in an urban context. We also investigated risk of past 30-day use of alcohol, cigarettes, and inhalants by bullying behavior status. Compared to non-involved youth, rarely-involved bully-victims were more likely to use alcohol, bullies were more likely to engage in alcohol and cigarette use, and bully-victims were more likely to use alcohol, cigarettes, and inhalants. In contrast, victims were not significantly at risk of substance use compared to non-involved youth. Chronic bullies and bully-victims are particularly at risk for substance use, with chronic bully-victims reflecting the greatest risk of using multiple substances. Prevention and early intervention programs aimed to reduce bullying can also work to decrease other risky behaviors, such as substance use, and should attend to the growing ethnic diversity among youth.     

Bullying in schools: what is the problem, and how can educators solve it?

This chapter reviews recent research on bullying from an educator's perspective. It is well known that bullying, a serious issue in schools, can be prevented when educators intervene. But research has shown that it is difficult for educators to detect bullying situations in their school and intervene competently and effectively. This chapter examines how educators can detect bullying, how they can best tackle serious cases of bullying, and how they can best prevent bullying in the long run.