5/08: Selected articles picked from an '07-'08 database search on 'bullying' (and related terms). Comments on each of the articles will be posted shortly, but for the moment, here are the articles themselves.

article 1

article 2

article 3

article 4

article 5

NEW: (3/08): Excellent article (from the medical literature, by an emergency medicine specialist) on hazing. It was published in 2002, but I'll post it now since I just came across it (again) in my files- re-reading it reminded me of what an excellent review of the issue it is, and the professional (dispassionate) language required makes the points, examples and analysis an even more powerful statement. Note author's referencing of Hank Nuwer (several times) - it's not often a journalist is cited so prominently in a med lit article - that the author does so is a testimony to how sparse the med lit is on hazing (true in 2002, and still true) and on how important to this issue Hank Nuwer (the leading anti-hazing advocate) has been. Hazing 2002 Finkel

2/08: Articles I've recently read/reviewed but don't have time to describe here. Abstracts, some fuller reprints and the refs are here - all are from the Pediatrics lit, three major journals. And one older article I like, a statement by the Society for Adolescent Medicine - useful to distribute to medical audiences.

Peds refs 2-08

SAM statement

(1/08): Yet another important new study, this one just published in Journal of Pediatrics. The study, by well-known researchers (e.g., Katon), finds associations between 'involvement in bullying' (including those bullying, those bullied and 'bully-victims') and grades (all groups), attitudes toward weapon-carrying (among the 'victim' groups), and sadness and sense of belonging in the school. The study is large (over 5,000 kids) and well-done. Here's the abstract.

J Peds 1-08 bullying and school safety

(12/07): An important article by Brown, Chesney-Lind and Stein and colleagues on the importance of gender in teen violence. Specifically, the article addresses an issue Nan Stein has been raising for years: whether construing sexual harassment and other gender-specific forms of violence as 'bullying' obscures or minimizes the important role gender and cultural attitudes and structures around gender play in the violence. Going further, this article argues that using even the best anti-bullying programs (e.g., the Olweus approach) may not be appropriate in addressing the violence toward women (girls) which is such a big part of what constitutes bullying at school. These are very important issues. Here's the article (abstract and ref):

Gender article 12-07

(12/07):  A bunch of new studies on cyberbullying, published in Journal of Adolescent Health (Dec 07), with link provided by the NY Times. 

Link to the journal is: http://www.jahonline.org/content/suppl07

(Clicking on each study PDF, at the site, should open full article)

(11/07): We often emphasize the role of adult modeling on bullying behavior in children, in particular the importance of the behavior of school staff on students, who are exquisitely observant of (essentially 'on the lookout' for) adult behavior which varies from what such adults would have children do. As just one example (of very many) of the potency of school staff modeling on many behaviors, not only bullying, here's a study mentioned in this week's JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association). The article (Barnett TA, Gauvin L, Lambert M, et al. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 2007:161:842-8) is a (Canadian) study of the relationship between children's tobacco use (smoking, in this case) and staff behavior. Aside from finding concerning (but unsurprising) rates of daily smoking among kids (e.g., 25% of 16 yo girls smoking daily, 21% of 16 yo boys), the authors found that 13 yo girls were "almost 5 times more likely to be daily smokers if they attended schools at which staff were permitted to smoke ... ." (It was also surprising to learn that huge percentages of (Canadian) schools allow both staff and students to smoke, including indoors.)

(10/07): Here's a study which is signifcant because of its authors (Craig and Pepler, who have done early and important past work on bullying) and, more to the point, because of what the study indicates. Craig and Pepler study 2007 The study supports the extremely important idea that children - especially those most targeted - have only limited personal capacity to end their bullying, and that some of the strategies children may use can prolong or worsen the situation. We are still not at the point at which we can reliably distinguish which sub-populations of targeted children can develop and use which strategies in which situations to effectively address their bullying. What this leaves is essentially a philosophical issue, of importance: We already have evidence that adult actions (especially school staff and leaders) can effectively prevent and address most school bullying. We do not have evidence that targeted children can effectively address their own bullying (though children generally can be effective in helping prevent bullying and protect others who are bullied, given appropriate adult structure and support). We understand bullying to arise primarily through adult modeling of bullying behavior and inadequate action to prevent bullying or address it effectively when it occurs. We also know that from the point of view of the bullied child, bullying is an assaultive (often traumatic, persistently damaging) experience. Given these points, why would we expect bullied children (in most cases) to effectively address or prevent their own bullying? Such approaches inevitably convey to bullied children that they (their characteristics, vulnerability, social skills and situation, etc.) are primarily responsible for what has happened to them. Would we say or imply the same to an adult who has been mugged, or in a case of sexual assault? This is the issue.

- Stuart Green

(8/07): There's been a lot of studies published in the past year, but no time to comment or post. However ... (here's one). There's been a line of work going on in Finland which certainly merits comment. I just received an email about the work and replied to it. (see link, below) ...

Comment- Re: article

(8/06): There have been a number of published studies of importance

in the past few months, but time limitations make it impossible to keep an updated posting. However, it's fair to say that the studies generally continue to support our existing understanding of the high prevalence of bullying, its importance as a traumatic and limiting experience of childhood, its basis in school functioning, its adult (long-term) effects and the importance of bystanders to its occurrence. Here's an example of a recent study which supports, in addition, another element of the picture (which we have also come to understand over the past several years) - how early bullying starts. The study: Perren S & Alsaker FD (2006). Social behavior and peer relationships of victims, bully-victims, and bullies in kindergarten. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 45-57. According to a summary published in this month's edition of Clinician's Research Digest, the article supports - among others - the following points, which we consider especially important: (1) that 'uninvolved' (in bullying) students are more likely to befriend other uninvolved students than 'bullies', 'victims' and 'bully-victims'; (2) 'bullies' were more likely to have leadership skills, 'larger social circles' (which was more likely to include other bullies); and (3) that these pattersn were evident in kindergarten.

(5/06): Do bullied children get ill, or do ill children get bullied? A prospective cohort study on the relationship between bullying and health-related symptoms.

Pediatrics 1 May 2006 117(5): p. 1568.
http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;16651310

Verbal abuse by the teacher and child adjustment from kindergarten through grade 6.

Pediatrics 1 May 2006 117(5): p. 1585.
http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;16651312

Bullying Keeps Overweight Kids From Exercise
05.14.06, 12:00 AM ET

SUNDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- Overweight kids who could benefit from sports and regular exercise are often discouraged from doing so by taunts and bullying, a U.S. study finds.

"We found that as rates of peer victimization among overweight kids went up, rates of physical activity went down," lead author Eric Storch, assistant professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Florida, Gainesville, said in a prepared statement.

"When you speak to overweight kids, one of the things you often hear is just this. Kids are targeting them. Kids are picking on them," Storch said. "You're going to end up avoiding these types of situations. The problem clinically is, if kids are avoiding PE (physical education) class or playing sports because of fears of negative peer relationships, their health status is affected."

He and his colleagues studied 100 children, ages 8 to 18, who were overweight or at risk of being overweight.

About a quarter of the children reported significant problems with bullying in the two weeks before the start of the study.

Not only does bullying make overweight children want to avoid gym class, sports or other situations where they face ridicule, it also can lead to depressed feelings that keep these children from wanting to take part in activities.

"When you think about it, it makes intuitive sense, when you consider the hallmark signs of depression -- sadness, fatigue, lack of interest in things you used to like," Storch noted. "When kids are having a tough time with peers, and struggling with depression, then this can translate to reduced rates of physical activity."

The study appears in the April online edition of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.

(2/05): New (3/06 pub. date) article reviewing previously published evidence for programs addressing youth violence, including bullying. The article organizes effective approaches into two broad domains, making a useful distinction: 'universal skills training' (e.g., social skills training for all students) and 'ecological' (focus on changing the culture of a school). In the ecological category, the Olweus bullying prevention program is - as we would expect, given the evidence - strongly endorsed. The article provides a very useful brief description of a solid range of effective programs, of which Olweus' is the most specific (and most effective) for bullying.

Review of approaches to youth violence

(2/05): Article by Michael Greene and Randy Ross on U.S. anti-bullying laws.

Analysis of US anti-bullying laws

(11/05): Newest study (Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine) supporting link between bullying and school achievement/academic performance. Here's the Reuters write-up, which is a good description. We'll post the full text of the study shortly.

bullying and academics - Archives study

(10/05): There just hasn't been time to post the continuing cascade of bullying-related studies, even the most notable ones. 'Most notable' would include a recent European study of adolescent depression in which the key finding was that prevalence of depression varied significantly according to the school the adolescent (Dutch girls, if I recall) attended. This notion - that problems traditionally considered an expression of a particular child's individual pathology/condition could instead (as the study implicitly suggests) be a function of the characteristic of the social setting, school in this case - seems common sense at one level. But it is a tremendously underexplored and uncredited notion, in both academic and clinical/educational circles. However, it is the most critical underlying notion of our modern understanding of childhood bullying. In the traditional (and inaccurate) understanding of bullying, it was the particular child's individual pathology which was the key (sociopathy, or low self-esteem, etc. in the bullying child; social skills deficits, shyness, etc. in the bullied child). In the modern, evidence-based understanding of bullying, thanks to Olweus' original work and many others since, we see the powerful impact of social institutions (schools, led and shaped by adults) on child behavior. This social context-depression study is actually a new development in the literature. One might think it might not have been proposed if not for what studies of childhood bullying have shown. (Article will be posted here shortly.)

(8/05): Latest evidence-based overview of school violence. Michael Greene's latest article, "Reducing Violence and Aggression in Schools" (published in the July 2005 issue of Trauma, Violence and Abuse ) is a terrific look at the evidence, including an expert distillation of common and distinguishing factors in school violence and in programs which address it. The article is especially useful in identifying what is needed to make approaches work, e.g., the paragraph on p.242 about essential factors in disciplinary approaches. The article is authoritative, places bullying and anti-bullying approaches in its necessary context and would be a useful read (and starting point for review and planning of school programs) for all senior school administrators and professionals. Highly recommended!

"Reducing Violence and Aggression in Schools" by Dr. Michael Greene

(7/05): On bullying and ... school performance, unemployment.

Here are recent publications from the academic literature (the abstracts are provided below; on-line versions of the articles will be posted shortly). The first is yet another study about bullying's negative effects on school performance (London). The evidence continues to build that paying attention to childhood bullying is critical to learning and academic achievement.

Bullying and School Performance

The second study is about bullying's long-term (to adulthood) negative impact on employment (Finland).Studying the adult implications of childhood bullying is still uncommon and much needed: It may be that much which is of concern in adult life has its origins in exposure to childhood bullying.

Bullying and Unemployment

(6/05): New evidence that bullying affects school performance

Juvonen and associates in California have recently published a study which provides more evidence for the impact of bullying on academic performance in school. Juvonen is a well known researcher on the topic, editor of an important book on peer harassment and violence. The study is well down and provides new support for an idea which should be critical in convincing school leaders to (finally) focus adequately on bullying. In Coalition presentations, we typically say that if school leaders stopped 'teaching to the test' and instead effectively addressed bullying in their schools, test scores would 'rise like a rocket'. This should no longer be considered only a speculation, though much further research is of course needed. The paper is also interesting in that the term 'bullying' is never used - Juvonen prefers the term 'peer harassment' for the phenomenon. This may be a trend; it's true that some parents and children seem to associate the term 'bullying' only with younger children (as one parent said just yesterday). But the term 'bullying' is in wide use around the world (in different languages of course), is applied to adult situations as well, and is the standard current usage. We'll have to see if the language changes ... Another interesting point in the paper is that in the introduction, Juvonen uses the figure 75% to refer to the percentage of children who have experienced bullying, on the high end of figures commonly found and cited. Here's the study, so you can read it for yourself: nishina juvonen witkow 2005 - jccap

(5/05): Friendships affect bullying - new study

A recently published study worth noting, in Journal of Interpersonal Violence (6/05), out of University of Kentucky, indicates that friendships of 'high quality' (a best friend, in this case, the relationships characterized by being high on closeness, security, helping, etc., as perceived by a bullied child) are associated with less victimization. This would no be surprise to most of us - encouraging (even creating - through such means as 'friendship circles') friendships for bullied children (who tend to be more isolated, perhaps because they are bullied) is already a recommended strategy. But continuing study and accumulating evidence for what may work is of great importance. So the study is welcome. Something new the study adds is the finding that if a bullying child had a high quality best friend (again, as perceived by the one child of the pair who was involved in the study) they bullied less. Among the study's limitations are its reliance on surveys filled out by child and parents, rather than observation, characterizing friendship quality based on one child's (in the pair) report, etc. (there are always limitations in studies, which is why more studies are always needed ... ) Nonetheless, the study adds to our knowledge and helps affirm the importance of friendships. To the extent possible, adults in a school (as well as parents and community) must help ensure that bullied children have such friendships and - as this study suggests - bullying children do also. Here's the study, so you can read it for yourself:

bollmer jiv paper

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