Interesting report launched yesterday.
Strategies that have been found to be effective in addressing cyberbullying include;
-problem focused coping strategies,
-involving and educating parents,
-positive school climate,
-clear school policies on dealing with cyberbullying,
-training for teachers and school staff, and
-involving students in forming policies and deciding sanctions.
Report available here
The effects of bullying in childhood can last a lifetime, both for the child who’s bullied and for his or her tormenter.
But according to a Duke University study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, while young adults show long-term ill effects of having been bullied in childhood, those who did the bullying might actually be healthier than their peers in one important measure.
The report is based on findings from the longitudinal Great Smoky Mountains Study, which started in 1993 and followed 1,420 children from western North Carolina. Researchers interviewed the participants at up to nine points in time, first when they were children and adolescents (aged 9 to 16) and again when they were young adults (aged 19 to 21). The study was led by William Copeland, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.
Earlier reports, including some from the Great Smoky Mountains Study, showed that young adults who were bullied as children can have long-term mental health problems such as anxiety disorders, panic disorder, and depression.
But this is the first indication that being the bully might actually be protective. The reason this escaped earlier notice, according to Copeland, is that previous work lumped together two kinds of bullies: those who were also sometimes bullied themselves (whom he calls bully-victims) and those who were “pure bullies.”
Bully-victims “have the worst long-term emotional problems and poor health outcomes,” Copeland and his co-authors wrote. By separating them out of the analysis in this new study, they wrote, it became clear that “pure” bullies “gain benefits from bullying others without incurring costs and may be healthier than their peers, emotionally and physically.”
Protective Effect of Bullying?
The current study measured blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP)—a biomarker of chronic inflammation that’s been linked to cardiovascular risk and metabolic syndrome—over several points in time during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. CRP is a sign of stress on the body, Copeland said, and “a harbinger of health problems down the road.”
CRP levels increased in all participants as the study subjects got older, the scientists found. But those who had been bullied had the highest level of increase, and former bullies had the lowest. Those who were bully-victims fell somewhere in between, at about the same level as participants who had not been involved in childhood bullying at all.
“There seems to be a protective effect for the bullies because of this enhanced social status, or their success that comes along with being a good bully,” Copeland said. The pattern was present even after controlling for body mass index, substance use, health status, and exposure to other types of trauma.
But Catherine Bradshaw, deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence in Baltimore, Maryland, cautioned against overinterpreting the lower CRP levels in bullies. Rather than a health benefit, the lower CRP levels might just reflect a difference in the bullies’ underlying biology, not unlike biological differences that have been seen elsewhere in children and adults with patterns of aggressive behavior.
And even if the Duke findings are evidence that being a bully might be good for people, at least along this one dimension, it shouldn’t be read as a license to bully, she said.
There are “well-documented studies, both short- and long-term, showing that kids who are involved in bullying do have other problematic outcomes,” Bradshaw said. For instance, children who bully are more likely to be members of gangs, carry a weapon, and have truancy problems.
Copeland added that the enhanced social status of bullies that he believes might account for their lower CRP levels can and should be achieved in more morally acceptable ways. Varsity sports, anyone?
Bully 4u and the National Anti-Bullying Centre DCU, have joined together to host a national cyber bullying conference.The conference titled “Understanding and Managing Cyber Bullying” will be held on the 1st of September 2014 in the main Conference Centre at Dublin Castle.
The conference will be of particular interest to; Principals, Deputy Principals, Guidance Counsellors, Boards of Management, Parents Associations, Academics, Legal Profession, Health Care Professionals, Parents,etc.
Attendance at this conference will support individual school management’s education requirements under the government’s anti bullying guidelines.
The conference will be opened by Mr. Sean Kelly MEP -MEP of the Year for Research & Innovation 2012 & Digital Agenda 2014.
Chaired by Ms. Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD – Chair of Education & Skills Committee, Member of Health & Children Joint Oireachtas Committee.
“Children and Internet Safety-Some Recent Developments”. Dr Geoffrey Shannon – Government Appointed Special Rapporteur on Child Protection
“Cyberpsychological interventions in cyberbullying: Tackling technology facilitated online aggression” Mary Aiken – Director RCSI CyberPsychology Research Centre. Her research looks at the impact of emerging technology on human behaviour, including the negative aspects such as cyberbullying.
“Youth online communication and safety: Ask.fm experience”. Liva Biseniece – Ask.fm Director of External Relations
“Don’t be taught a lesson. Liability of schools and personal liability of teachers under health and safety law. An interactive training session with a health and safety lawyer.” David Fagan – Business Legal
Other speakers (with details to follow);
– Clive Byrne, Director NAPD.
– Dr James O’Higgins Norman, Director National Anti Bullying Centre.
– Colmon Noctor (psychoanalytical psychotherapist, St Patricks Adolescent Service) and Kevin Deering (Bully4u).
A light lunch with tea and coffee will be provided during the day.
Tickets priced at €165 are available to purchase here
Social media posts land people in trouble, so it only makes sense that a slew of mobile apps have cropped up to allow for anonymous social media. Secret, Whisper and Yik Yak liberate users to ask questions and post musings that they would otherwise not post.
While the apps are growing quickly and attracting venture capital funding, their downside has been exposed as well. Concerns have been raised that anonymous “users can too easily spread false rumors, malign people by name and bully their peers,” The Los Angeles Times reported.
Yik Yak, which launched in December, was taken down in Chicago in March when middle and high school students went on it to cyber-bully classmates. Another high school was shut down when an anonymous bomb threat was posted. Yik Yak is now keeping closer watch on posts and has blocked usage of the app at middle and high schools.
Websites such as Ask.fm and 4chan already allow users to post anonymously. The mobile apps are an evolution seen seen as an alternative to Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks becoming “a forum for feel-good comments and self-promotion,” said USC’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism social media expert Karen North.
“People are not hard-wired to keep secrets or even to want to keep secrets,” said North.
San Francisco-based start-up Secret launched in late January and has raised more than $10 million, including $8.6 million from Google Ventures. Chrys Bader-Wechseler, one of Secret’s founders, said “Facebook has ‘become saturated and everybody you know is on it … it’s very hard to share something that’s really personal because it goes out to this mixed audience and it stays permanent on your profile.”
In 2012 443 pupils switched school compared with 441 last year, according to a freedom of information request to Essex County Council.
The charity Family Lives said “stronger partnerships” were needed to support the victims of bullying.
The National Association of Head Teachers said bullying was “one of the most sensitive” issues staff face.
The figures released by the county council do not go into any detail as to the type of bullying the affected children have complained of.
‘Fear of retribution’
But Sion Humphreys, policy advisor to the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said cases of cyber-bullying – in which victims are targeted by bullies over the internet or telephone – was on the rise.
And the perpetrators of cyber bullying, he said, were “often” the parents of other children.
“Despite this awareness and readiness to address bullying,” said Mr Humphreys, “it remains one of the most sensitive and often most challenging behaviours facing adults in schools.”
Reasons for these difficulties, he said, included victims being concerned about sharing information with adults and “fear of retribution allied with the cultural reluctance to ‘grass up’ peers”.
“A second matter is defining bullying. Most children will from time to time be unkind in various ways and this is sometimes perceived as being bullying.
“Whereas such behaviour must be challenged and dealt with appropriately, bullying should be defined as an ongoing and systematic campaign to undermine and hurt others, physically and/or emotionally.
“Schools can only act on the basis of evidence even when gut feeling may dictate that the accusations are grounded. This is difficult for alleged victims and their parents to accept and is understandably a source of frustration and annoyance.”
Suzie Hayman of the charity Family Lives, which runs the BullyingUK website, said: “Any child being bullied is one child too many.
“Family Lives believes there needs to be a stronger partnership between parents, pupils and teachers to increase parental engagement and improve child outcomes.
“Although circumstances vary depending on the type of school, teachers tell us that the tension between a heavy workload and the demands from parents for more time-consuming forms of communications must be eased if engagement is going to improve.”
When a new girl joined our primary school in the final year, the other girls found her highly annoying: she’d barge into games, order us around and try to split up friendships. With hindsight, of course, she was just nervous and trying to fit in. But what did we do? A group of us picked the longest nettles we could find from the school field, then we pinned her against the wall and tormented her with our stingers. In class we hid her pens and paper-bombed her when the teacher’s back was turned.
When we were all hauled up in front of the head a week later, no one really knew whose idea it had been or why we had done something so cruel and unfair. Retribution was swift; there were apologies and tears. We never tried anything like it again.
Back then, the B-word was never mentioned but our behaviour was clearly bullying as defined by psychologists – it was intentional, harmful, repetitive and involved an imbalance of power.
Still a feature of school life today, such behaviour is now discussed more openly. But attention is focused – quite understandably – on the victims and their families. What to do if it’s your child who’s terrorising the playground is a question that rarely gets asked, yet in a recent survey of 1,000 parents, a third admitted that they suspect their child may be guilty of bullying. Some do it just once in a mad power-grabbing moment (as we did), while for others that taste of power becomes a way of life. Whatever the circumstances, parents are confronted with a problem.
“It can happen in any family,” says bullying expert Dieter Wolke, professor of psychology at the University of Warwick. “We often assume this is a problem of poor children from troubled homes, but you find bullies in every social class.”
So how can you tell if your child is a bully? Professor Wolke warns that he or she will often start on siblings. Watch out, too, if your son or daughter frequently speaks disrespectfully about other children, says Luke Roberts, national co-ordinator of the Anti-Bullying Alliance. He says that Year 7, the first year of secondary school, is a key time for bullying, as children try to work out where they fit into their new, larger peer group.
Intimidation doesn’t have to be physical, either. Once children get to secondary school, there tends to be a gender split: boys bully with their fists while girls use psychological tactics – socially isolating victims and spreading rumours – which makes the problem that much harder to spot.
Luke Roberts has worked with girls’ schools where teachers have strenuously denied that bullying was taking place. “The school would say, ‘We don’t have bullying here.’ No, maybe not physical, but there was a lot of emotional violence going on – who was in the group, who was invited to which party, who was being left out.”
Parents, too, are often very reluctant to listen to accusations. “It can be very unsettling because of what it implies about your parenting,” adds Roberts. “It’s no wonder that parents often say, ‘It can’t be my child.’ But allegations should never be dismissed out of hand.”
Former teacher Márianna Csóti, author of How to Stop Bullying, advises any parent in this situation to question their child closely. “If your child steadfastly denies bullying, check the story with other sources and find out who witnessed the incident,” she says. “If you still can’t get a clear picture, tell your child to leave the victim well alone, and that if there is any further complaint you will have to take the other child’s side.”
Csóti suggests informing the other parents what you have said to your child, and asking for their child to keep his or her distance too. Then advise the school, so it doesn’t become a battle between two sets of parents.
If your child admits to bullying, explain the devastating impact this can have on another child. Talk also about friendships and what it takes to be a good friend.
To solve the problem long-term, you need to understand what is causing it – and that may mean some soul-searching. Parents shouldn’t necessarily blame themselves, says Csóti, but it is worth looking into your family for any underlying causes.
“If parents are overly strict, there can be a sense of powerlessness that children find hard to accept. They need some control in their lives so they find it elsewhere,” says Karen Sullivan, author of Bullying. “Alternatively, some children of very busy parents seek attention in other ways.”
Whatever happens, you shouldn’t feel that you’ve raised a monster, especially if it’s an isolated episode. “Many bullies are just normal children who are undergoing a period of stress, perhaps from exams or family difficulties,” adds Sullivan.
If there seems to be a problem, make sure your child has the opportunity to talk and express their feelings at home. Give them a few responsibilities – such as looking after a pet – so they can shine at something and lift their self-esteem, says Sullivan. Allow them to make some decisions about their lives and encourage empathy and kindness by demonstrating it yourself. Also check that your academic expectations aren’t too high. If anger is a problem, find better ways for your child to release all that emotional energy – through sport, perhaps. If your child is a ringleader, channel their leadership skills in more productive ways, maybe through an organisation such as Sea Scouts or Air Cadets.
“It’s never nice to admit your child is a bully, but we shouldn’t feel struck down by guilt,” says Sullivan. “Talking it through with your child and having the courage to get everyone in the family to make changes can make all the difference.”
Researchers said the effects of bullying were as serious as sexual or physical abuse by an adult or childhood neglect.
A major long-term study found children who were bullied were more likely to experience depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and poor physical health when they were 50-years-old than those who had not been victimised.
Senior author, Professor Louise Arseneault, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, said: “When we compared the effects to other childhood adversities such as being put in care, abuse by an adult or neglect, it is of the same scale. It is should be put in the same bracket.
“Some children will be set on a pathway towards problems for the rest of their lives. We need to take bullying seriously and do all we can to prevent it and help those children when it does happen.”
The British National Child Development Study includes data on all children born in England, Scotland and Wales during one week in 1958.
A team at King’s College London examined data on 7,771 children whose parents provided information on their child’s bullying when they were aged seven and 11.
More than one in four had been bullied occasionally and around one in seven frequently.
They then underwent several tests throughout their lives and gave feedback on their own health.
At age 50 they were less likely to have qualifications, less likely to live with a spouse or partner and have less social support.
Those who had been bullied had lower scores on a word memory test designed to measure cognitive IQ even when their childhood intelligence levels were taken into account.
Prof Arseneault said: “Previous studies have shown that bullying really gets under the skin and affects the biology at a cellular level. The word recall test indicates bullying victims were showing signs of early ageing. We are conducting further research to push this finding further.”
It was also found people who were bullied as children were more likely to report that they had poor health.
The study said that due to the techniques used to measure mental and physical health it is likely their findings are an underestimate of the long-term effects of bullying.
Dr Ryu Takizawa, lead author of the paper from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, says: “Our study shows that the effects of bullying are still visible nearly four decades later.
“The impact of bullying is persistent and pervasive, with health, social and economic consequences lasting well into adulthood.”
The researchers said in the American Journal of Psychiatry that bullying may trigger a cycle of victimisation that lasts a lifetime.
Barbara Macintosh, of the Mental Health Foundation and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, said we know what can help children but it is not happening in practice.
She said: “This is a shocking report, it shows how really serious the effects of bullying are It is so unnecessary for adults to be suffering in their 50s from events in school.
“We hope this will be a catalyst to spur action.
“We would like to see all schools and children’s organisations have a much clearer and more systematic approach to dealing with bullying.”
Prof Dieter Wolke, Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Warwick Department of Psychology, this was an important study which should be taken seriously by schools, communities and the health service.
He said: “By the time a child turns 18 they will have spent many more hours with peers than with their parents yet peers are often overlooked when someone is in distress, they are always asked about their relationship with their parents.
“Children don’t dress like their parents or listen to the same music as them – their peers are a much more important influence than has been realised. It is a terrible thing to be excluded by your peers.”
He said parents should be alert to bullying between siblings as this often translates to school and not be too harsh in their parenting or to overprotective as this discourages children from reporting bullying.
Health professionals must also be alert to physical signs of distress that could have their roots in bullying, such as persistent headaches or stomachaches which children often report when they are anxious.
He said: “Parents should always talk to their child before they go running to the school. And help your child make friends, let them have sleepovers and things like that, because having friends protects against victimisation.”
Emma-Jane Cross, chief executive and founder of BeatBullying, said: “With current generations facing even greater threats from cyberbullying and trolling than those in the study, we can only assume that the consequences of bullying could be even more damaging for future generations.
“We need an urgent review of how bullying and cyberbullying is tackled in this country led by an anti-bullying tsar – covering the role of industry, schools and Government, and ensuring that children who are bullied receive the counselling support they desperately need.”
Teachers are facing “vile” abuse from children as young as seven on social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Instagram, according to research.
Figures show that more than a fifth of teachers have been the victim of “cyberbullying” from pupils and even their parents in the last year.
The study showed social media was being used to make offensive remarks about teachers’ personal appearance, classroom performance and sexuality, with websites also used to circulate malicious claims about alleged inappropriate behaviour and drunkenness.
In one case, pupils set up a bogus Facebook account in a teacher’s name, saying: “I will rape every Year 8 pupil who comes to the school.”
Other pupils found a picture of an unconscious drunk who resembled a particular teacher – then posted it on Twitter and distributed it to other children.
The mother of a teenager who took his own life wants social media sites to be obliged to provide gardai with information that will identify people who post abusive messages.
Elaine Hughes says that although the garda investigation into her son’s death has closed, she feels it cannot be truly concluded until the people who “bullied” her son on Facebook have been held to account.
Ms Hughes’ son Darren Hughes Gibson (17) died in August 2012 in Balbriggan and although she has been able to access his Facebook page, the coroner only saw the abusive messages he had been subjected to days before his inquest in March.
She has been in touch with other families who lost a child through suicide and who claimed they had been bullied on social media prior to their deaths.
Dutch police this week arrested a man they believe targeted the Canadian teen, Amanda Todd, prior to her death in 2012.
Since her suicide, anti-cyber-bullying legislation has been passed in Canada.
“On the day Darren was found we started to hear the rumours but unfortunately most of them turned out to be true,” Ms Hughes told the Herald.
She said her son had received sinister posts from people on Facebook threatening to break his legs or hurt members of his family.
“Family was everything to Darren,” she said.
She said she had no idea at the time this had been going on and has warned parents to be vigilant about what their children get up to on social media.
“I feel social media sites need to be taken more seriously. It’s every day of every week we hear that someone is missing and they’re getting younger and younger,” Ms Hughes said.
She said Darren’s three younger siblings had been left devastated by his death and although it will be two years this August, there are constant reminders about the older brother they lost.
“You can’t just ban them from going on social media sites either. With phones and everything they will find a way if they want to get on it.
“I think these sites should be legally obliged to share this information,” she said.
We are delighted to have been selected by Nobullying.com as one of top 100 Anti-Bullying websites from the past year. NoBullying.com are an Anti-Bullying website based in Northern Ireland, aimed at educating, and helping to stop bullying in particular, cyber bullying.
The article can be read here