School Bullying And Mental Health

Bullying amongst young people is a serious and pervasive problem, and recent rapid advances in electronic communication technologies have provided even more tools for bullies to exploit. School Bullying and Mental Health collates current research evidence and theoretical perspectives about school bullying in one comprehensive volume, identifying the nature and extent of bullying and cyberbullying at school, as well as its impact on children and young people’s emotional health and well-being. There are many negative consequences of bullying, and children and young people who have been victimised often suffer long-term psychological problems, such as increased levels of anxiety, depressive symptoms, social isolation, loneliness and suicidal ideation. Perpetrators of bullying also have a heightened risk of experiencing problems such as anxiety and depression, as well as eating disorders and antisocial behaviour. Founded on rigorous academic research, this important book tackles the negative consequences of bullying, and bullying culture itself, by examining the social and cultural contexts that perpetuate such behaviour from childhood through adolescence and potentially into adulthood. Containing contributions from an international team of authors, this book explores current interventions to prevent and reduce school bullying and to alleviate its negative effects on the mental health of children and young people. In-depth discussion of the profound implications of this research for researchers, practitioners and policymakers makes this book essential reading for those interested in bullying culture and the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.

Bullying is a multifaceted phenomenon and is connected to a variety of individual, relational, familial, schooling, and cultural variables. In this book, the authors present current research in the study of the predictive factors, coping strategies, and effects on mental health of school bullying. Topics discussed include the parental views of children's bullying experiences, coping strategies, and their association with parenting practices; personal and environmental predictors of school bullying and its emotional consequences; coping strategies of secondary school students experiencing bullying; bullying/victimisation in preschool children; discordances in adolescents' adoption of perspectives on bullying and their importance for dealing with the problem; school bullying and health problems; the modifying factors, impact on psychosocial well-being and intervention strategies of bullying in childhood and adolescence; why do bullies bully?; the role of father involvement in children's bullying behaviour; and the implementation of a state-wide bullying prevention program and its impact on schools and communities.

Bullying has long been tolerated as a rite of passage among children and adolescents. There is an implication that individuals who are bullied must have "asked for" this type of treatment, or deserved it. Sometimes, even the child who is bullied begins to internalize this idea. For many years, there has been a general acceptance and collective shrug when it comes to a child or adolescent with greater social capital or power pushing around a child perceived as subordinate. But bullying is not developmentally appropriate; it should not be considered a normal part of the typical social grouping that occurs throughout a child's life. Although bullying behavior endures through generations, the milieu is changing. Historically, bulling has occurred at school, the physical setting in which most of childhood is centered and the primary source for peer group formation. In recent years, however, the physical setting is not the only place bullying is occurring. Technology allows for an entirely new type of digital electronic aggression, cyberbullying, which takes place through chat rooms, instant messaging, social media, and other forms of digital electronic communication. Composition of peer groups, shifting demographics, changing societal norms, and modern technology are contextual factors that must be considered to understand and effectively react to bullying in the United States. Youth are embedded in multiple contexts and each of these contexts interacts with individual characteristics of youth in ways that either exacerbate or attenuate the association between these individual characteristics and bullying perpetration or victimization. Recognizing that bullying behavior is a major public health problem that demands the concerted and coordinated time and attention of parents, educators and school administrators, health care providers, policy makers, families, and others concerned with the care of children, this report evaluates the state of the science on biological and psychosocial consequences of peer victimization and the risk and protective factors that either increase or decrease peer victimization behavior and consequences.

School Bullying and Violence: Interventions for School Mental Health Specialists provides readers assessment and intervention strategies for responding to students who have experienced cyberbullying, bullying, and violence. The book also describes how to intervene and respond to student perpetrators of cyberbullying, bullying, and violence.

This book addresses, and seeks to harmonise, different paradigms for understanding school bullying. It sets out to examine two paradigms for conceptualising bullying, and the worldviews that underpin them. It uses a complex systems perspective to bring the two paradigms together in a holistic fashion. By doing so, it creates an integrated framework for conceptualising the many individual, relational and societal factors that are in dynamic interaction and play a part in promoting or reducing school bullying. This book draws upon a number of disciplines by way of background, including evolutionary, child development and social psychological theories of group behaviour and identity. It proposes that the human need for belonging is central to understanding bullying, and situates the topic within an understanding of gender and children’s human rights, bringing philosophical and moral perspectives to bear. It discusses practical ways forward, presents a systemic approach to bullying and application of complex adaptive systems methods to bullying research and evaluation. It serves as an introduction to such methods and suggests further creative ideas for policy, intervention practice, and teacher education about bullying.

Multiperspectivity on School Bullying is unique in providing a comprehensive account of school bullying from the perspectives of schools, teachers, parents, students and institutional authorities. It identifies diverse viewpoints and discusses their implications for addressing bullying and thereby improving the mental health and well-being of children. Drawing on findings from studies conducted in a wide range of countries, including those undertaken by the author in his own country, Australia, this book examines experiences of bullying and debates around how bullying can be best understood, managed and discouraged. It outlines what is needed before an agreed understanding of the problem can be reached and more effective anti-bullying programs devised and implemented. The book examines both historical and cultural factors relating to bullying and violence; major theoretical and research perspectives on bullying; views of different social groups affected by bullying; and how different institutional authorities view school bullying. It highlights the need for a multiperspectivity approach to bullying, taking into account and evaluating a variety of viewpoints that are currently held. This book will be of great interest to academics, researchers and students in the fields of bullying, wellbeing and mental health in schools. It will also be valuable reading for educational leaders around the globe.

Bullying and harassment threaten academic achievement and mental health in our schools. Look beyond your work with individual students to address these problems in their larger context! This book presents enlightening empirical studies and reviews of the literature on peer harassment, bullying, and victimization. Designed to expand our knowledge and understanding of these topics, Bullying, Peer Harassment, and Victimization in the Schools: The Next Generation of Prevention documents the widespread nature of the phenomena both inside and outside the United States, identifies risk and protective factors, and provides practitioners with specific, evidence-based guidelines for effective preventive action. From the editors: The problem of bullying, peer harassment, and victimization is a serious one in our schools. It greatly affects the climate for learning and productivity and the emotional health of students and staff. This book presents empirical data and theoretical and legal case reviews to show how pervasive and serious these problems are and how they threaten both academic achievement and mental health within many of our schools. Taking a longitudinal and developmental perspective, the authors begin to outline the next generation of research in this field that will shape knowledge and practice for the next few decades. For practitioners, the book is a call to action, particularly at the school-wide level, focusing on reducing the substantial social/emotional harm done to perpetrators, bystanders, and especially, victims. Bullying, Peer Harassment, and Victimization in the Schools provides vital information on: what mental health professionals can do to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in schools the relationship between middle-school adjustment and bullying aggressive behavior and friendship patterns in immigrant children school-based intervention strategies the relationship between the cultures of childhood and sexual harassmentfrom developmental, domestic violence, and legal perspectives risk factors and protective factors affecting victimization and more! It has been estimated that bullying affects more than half of the students in American schools. This book can add significantly to your ability to combat and prevent this pervasive problem. Use it to improve the quality of education received by students in your community!

"The book describes childhood bullying from the vantage point of those victims, bullies, and bystanders who are now adults ... discusses how lives have been changed, and explores the range of reactions adults exhibit. The research gathered for this book, through interviews with over 800 people, points out that even adult decision-making is often altered by the victimization they experience as children at the hands of peers, siblings, parents, or educators."--From publisher description.