Bullying Prevention: Ask Not, “Who Is the Victim?” but, “What Can We Do to Help All Children Involved?”
By Rohima Badri, Ph.D., Researcher and Writer, NoSchoolViolence
Jackie is a 13-year-old African American girl referred to the emergency department with suicidal ideation after assaulting a peer at school ……. As a child, Jackie witnessed domestic violence between her parents and engaged in frequent physical fighting with her siblings. She lives in a violent neighborhood, where she witnessed 2 neighborhood shootings and the death of a friend. In school, she frequently fights with peers and has developed a defiant, belligerent attitude toward school personnel. A family assessment revealed a history of physical abuse, emotional abuse, and emotional neglect. (Excerpts from “From Victim to Aggressor”, Psychiatric Times).
Jackie is one of the 54% of students who witness domestic violence and physical abuse at home and may go on to bully at school. Many people at her school may know Jackie as a student who is impulsive, aggressive, and a person who bullies. It is undeniable that the children targeted by Jackie endured unprecedented trauma that will require support and intervention for many years to come. However, children like Jackie, who have impaired psychosocial and cognitive functions as a result of a history of traumatic experiences, are also victims who require support and positive intervention. To prevent bullying in an effective manner, it is critical to understand and acknowledge that both children who bully and those who are bullied are victims.
Unfortunately, bullying behavior is frequently perceived to occur between two independent entities: a person who bullies or abuses power to intimidate or harm another person and a target who is a vulnerable person, referred to as the "victim". Such rigid categorization and labeling are both dangerous and counterproductive in intervening and preventing aggressive and disruptive behaviors, as well as in fostering healthy dynamics for many numbers of reasons:
● Some students who bully are themselves victims of one or more troubling past or current situations, such as being victims of or witnesses of child abuse, neglect, bullying, or violence in their family environment or neighborhood, to name a few, and thus require assistance and intervention.
● The line between those who bully and those who are bullied is not always clear. Bullying students are sometimes victims themselves. At least 4 to 17 percent of bullied students go on to bully others. This group, dubbed "bully-victims," are more prone to mental health issues (anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations), delinquent behaviors (impulsivity, chronic absence, substance abuse), and violent crime convictions than those who are solely "bully" or "targets," and thus may require additional support.
● Students who bully often are dealt with harsh and punitive punishments such as suspension or expulsion, which, in turn, may increase the risk of antisocial and delinquent behaviors. By the age of twenty-four, boys identified as bullies in junior high school were four times more likely to have been convicted of three or more criminal offenses. More positive and holistic intervention is required to prevent these children from being forever lost to crime and delinquency.
● Some bullying and aggressive behaviors (adolescent-limited antisocial behaviors) are partly associated with typical brain changes in adolescence. When the adolescent child is challenged or frustrated, they react from a primitive limbic system that is poorly regulated and prone to impulsive, aggressive, disruptive, high-risk, and reward-seeking behaviors. It takes until the age of 25 to fully develop the ability to self-regulate social and emotional behaviors through reflection, reasoning, and logical thinking. This is not to say that such behaviors should be tolerated, but rather those actions from these primitive parts of the "flight or fight" brain yield to engagement, connection, and positive interactions rather than punitive punishments or discipline.
A promising start to bullying prevention is to not ask, “who is the victim?” but "how can we assist and support children involved in achieving healthy cognitive, social, and emotional behaviors?"
The following are some examples of positive and healthy ways to bullying prevention:
● Promote nonpunitive, positive interventions: Bullying behaviors are sometimes completely ignored or met with harsh and punitive punishments, both of which are unhealthy and counterproductive to creating a safe and learning-conducive environment for students and the school community. It is critical to send a clear message to the school community that bullying is not tolerated. However, rather than a quick fix such as harsh discipline or expulsion, positive, timely interventions and behavioral support aimed at reforming bullying behavior and the environment will pave the way to prevent bullying in the future.
● Drop the labels: Target the behavior, not the child. Labeling and categorizing students who bully as "bullies" will only reinforce the negative behaviors. Students frequently identify and act in ways that mirror how others label them, internalizing the deviant label and repeating the offense. Labels will also foster a fixed mindset that the behavior is permanent, and that the person will always be an offender in the eyes of their peers, school, and society.
● Cultivate a growth mindset: A growth mindset, which recognizes that a child's behavior and situation are not permanent and can be changed for the better through education and positive intervention will foster a healthy and cooperative environment among peers and school personnel to break the vicious cycle of bullying.
● If you are being bullied or witness bullying, speak up right away: Sixty-four percent of bullied children never tell anyone about it and only 39% of high schoolers who witnessed bullying reported it. Students should be taught how to recognize signs of bullying, how to report them to school personnel, and how to stop bullying if they witness it, among other things.
● Investigate and provide appropriate support: Any report of bullying should be taken seriously, thoroughly investigated, and timely intervened in. Students involved in bullying should receive the necessary assistance, instruction, and learning opportunities in regards to societal norms, acceptable behaviors, and responsibility and accountability.
● Create positive learning space: Encourage open discussion and dialogue about one other's cultures, personal experiences, and socio-emotional challenges. Promote respect, open-mindedness, and positive connections among all students to create a safe classroom environment.
● Connect and engage the community: Connect and engage the educator, parent, and youth communities through ongoing education and awareness training on acceptable and appropriate social norms, the negative effects of bullying, and the importance of early detection and positive intervention. It takes a healthy village to raise a healthy child
Bullying is still a chronic problem for school-age and adolescent children, with far-reaching negative consequences for physical and mental health and well-being. Until we recognize that all children involved in bullying —students who bully, students who are bullied and even bystanders —are victims of bullying, a permanent solution to bullying will remain elusive. The first step in combatting bullying is to remember that, most of the time, "hurt people hurt people".
References
1. DoSomething.org. 11 facts of bullying. Accessed 5, 2021. https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-bullying
2. Fehon, D. (2007). From Victim to Aggressor: Psychiatric Times, 24 (7), 44-47. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/victim-aggressor
3. Gwen Dewar (2008). When bullies get bullied by others: Understanding bully-victims.http://parentingscience.com/bully-victims/. Accessed August 7, 2021.
4. Kathleen, P. A. (2010). Bullying Intervention System: Reducing Risk and Creating Support for Aggressive Students. Preventing School Failure, 54(3), 199–209. DOI: 10.1080/10459880903496289.
5. Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: a developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review. 100(4). 674-701. PMID: 8255953.
6. NVEEE (National Voices for Equality, Education, and Enlightenment), Statistics. Accessed August 5, 2021.
https://www.nveee.org/statistics/