Frank J. Epifanio, PhD, NCSPRowan University

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Physical Bullying

Verbal Bullying

Relational Bullying

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Which is more prevalent today?

◦Is it the student on the playground who has his lunch money taken? OR

◦The student who has an online blog written about how horrible he is?

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Name calling, teasing, insults Often considered part of a normal stage of

development Teachers may not be sensitive to this type

of bullying (Bauman, 2005) Can easily escalate to physical bullying

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◦ Cyber bullying is a form of relational aggression (bullying) that causes fear, isolation, and humiliation among its victims

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Research has shown that bullying can seriously affect the mental and physical health of children and has a deleterious effect on their academic work.

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Children who are bullied are more likely than non-bullied children to suffer from anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem

Victims are also more likely than their age-mates to think about taking their own lives

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Preliminary research indicates that victims of cyber bullying experience the same mental health risks as victims of school yard bullying

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Teenagers are adept at manipulating photos and posting them online

With camera phones and camera videos they are able to take pictures of fellow students in various situations – lavatories, locker rooms, etc.

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Instant Messaging (IMs)

Electronic Mail

Text Messaging (SMS)

Social Networking Sites

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Chat Rooms

Blogs

Web Sites

Internet Gaming

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Flaming

Harassment

Denigration

Impersonation

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Outing/Trickery

Exclusion/Ostracism

Cyber stalking

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1,501 students across the country participated in a telephone survey about experiences with online bullying◦ 33% of those bullied were bullied via instant

messages (IMs)◦ 32% were in a chatroom encounter◦ 19% were predominately email

Note: This survey did inquire about cell phone usage

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Hypothesis: ◦ Being a traditional bully (one who interacts with

verbal or physical actions) will predict being an electronic bully

◦ Being a victim of traditional bullying will be related to victimization by electronic bullies

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Eighty-four adolescents (ages 13 to 18) completed and “Internet Experience” Questionnaire

Questionnaire included many demographic questions and also many questions about use of electronic devices in general as well as questions regarding various types of bullying

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Text messaging 31%

Internet 15.5%

Camera Phone 9.5%

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Proactive aggression (PA)

Reactive aggression (RA)

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Reactively aggressive children were more likely to◦ Be seen as followers◦ More withdrawn◦ Have a non-reaction to a perceived threat

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“if a child believes that another intentionally created a negative outcome, then the act is interpreted as aggressive and retaliation is seen as legitimate”

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Cyber bullying prevention needs to be part of a school district’s overall bullying prevention efforts

◦ School districts need to establish clear and consistent consequences for bullying behavior that all children understand

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Train all school personnel to prevent and intervene with bullying

◦ Teachers

◦ Administrators

◦ Support personnel

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School wide prevention programs are critical and this prevention needs to infused throughout the curriculum.

Cyber bullying and bullying prevention need to be part of the district’s character education program

Cyber safety also needs to be taught at every level of technology training for students and staff

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Teach kids to use the save feature

◦ Save the evidence

Print copies of messages and websites

Use the save feature instant messages

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Teach kids to use the blocking feature

◦ Ignore, delete, or block the sender

◦ Most e-mail, instant message programs, and cells phones have blocking features

Blocking may not solve the problem – many kids are tech savvy and are able to set up proxy servers to bypass blocks.

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Web spaces usually have a link to report to a moderator

◦ The link for reporting cyber bullying can usually be found on the help menu of most websites

For example My Space has a help center on its site that provides a link for reporting offensive or threatening content

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Students need to know that they can tell a trusted adult.

Many students do not believe that adults will be helpful and they fear retribution if it get out that they “ratted”

Set up a system so that bystanders can anonymously alert adults if they believe a fellow student is being targeted by a cyber bully

Agaston, 2007

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A comprehensive school-wide program must have a parent component.

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Child appears visibly upset after being online

Child appears upset after viewing a text message

Child withdraws from social interaction

Drop in grades

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Encourage parents to share evidence with the school

◦ School personnel can monitor to see if this is taking place during school

◦ School personnel can investigate if student is also a victim of “school yard bullying”

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Set age-appropriate guidelines for internet usage

Communicate about appropriate ways to deal with conflict

Monitor internet use◦ Supervision vs. snoopervision

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Teach children that they are not invisible online

Protect passwords

Determine if they need to notify law enforcement

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