Tag Archives: Bullying

TeachME: New CEU Courses

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VIOLENCE AND BULLYING AMONG SCHOOL-AGED YOUTH

Youth violence is widespread in the United States and it impacts the health of individuals, families, schools, and communities.  The purpose of this brief continuing education course, developed using information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is to provide an overview of the prevalence and characteristics of teen violence and bullying and to address prevention efforts. Risk and protective factors, research findings, and strategies to help youth who are exposed to violence and bullying are also discussed.

EXPLORING THE COST OF HIGH-QUALITY EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION

Growing evidence about the benefits of high quality care for young children has led to a strong commitment at the federal and state levels to improve the quality of early care and education (ECE). Along with measures of quality, measures of implementation and cost of early childhood education are needed to shed light on what it takes to achieve high quality within a program. This continuing education course summarizes the findings of a literature review conducted as part of the Assessing the Implementation and Cost of High-Quality ECE (ECE-ICHQ) project funded by the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The project’s goal is to create a technically sound and feasible instrument that will provide consistent, systematic measures of the implementation and costs of education and care in center-based settings that serve children from birth to age five.

For more on these new courses and many more, visit TeachME CEUs

This Bullying Social Experiment Is Incredibly Eye-Opening (VIDEO)

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No one is immune from bullying. Whether you are the oppressor, the victim or the witness, you are part of a cycle that needs to end.

A new video shows just how much power a bystander has. “By watching an act of bullying with the thought of, ‘I was going to step in if it kept going,’ you may be too late,” says a description for video, created by FouseyTUBE.

This video highlights that passive bystanders are as much to blame as the actual bully because they have the capacity to do something. This doesn’t necessarily mean directly intervening, the video points out. It could mean getting a more able-bodied person to step in, filming or calling for help.

At the end of the video, a group of people ignore the violence — perhaps because of a diffusion of responsibility, a phenomenon that psychologists say happens when a task is placed before a group of people, but each assume the other will take action. When everyone has this same thought, however, no one does anything.

Full story of the bullying experiment at the Huffington Post

Bullying among boys easily dismissed?

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At the end of first grade, 7-year-old Cameron Hale, an easy-going, cheerful little boy from a tiny rural town in western Washington, suddenly didn’t want to go to school anymore.

When Cameron adamantly refused to have a play date with a good friend, his mom, Kim Hale, 36, knew something was wrong with her middle child. His change in behavior just didn’t make sense.

“Cameron finally broke down in tears and told me that several boys at school had been teasing him relentlessly, making fun of his hair, his clothes, calling him names, and not letting him play at recess. And one of those boys was his good friend,” Kim says.

While the friend wasn’t actively participating in the teasing, Cameron told his mom that he was doing nothing to stop it, which made it all even worse.

At first Kim stayed silent, hoping the mean behavior would disappear over the summer. But when it picked up again at the start of second grade, Kim went to the principal with her concerns. Kim says that the principal dismissed the charge and convinced her that the behavior wasn’t bullying, but instead, it was simply boys being mean.

Full story of bullying among boys at CNN

Here’s The Best Way To Beat A Bully

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Six out of 10 teenagers say they witness bullying in school once a day, and 160,000 students miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students, according to bullying statistics.

Bullying is a big problem in America’s schools, and for National Bullying Prevention Month, education groups are trying to inform kids and adults about what they can do to stop bullies.

Popular wisdom often portrayed in movies and TV shows would have you believe that kids should fight back against bullies, but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ bullying website says that’s not a good idea.

Here’s their advice:

Look at the kid bullying you and tell him or her to stop in a calm, clear voice. You can also try to laugh it off. This works best if joking is easy for you. It could catch the kid bullying you off guard. If speaking up seems too hard or not safe, walk away and stay away. Don’t fight back. Find an adult to stop the bullying on the spot.

Full story of beating the bully at Business Insider

Sibling Bullying: What’s the Big Deal?

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Sibling bullying is a type of violence that is prevalent in the lives of most children, but little is known about it, researchers say.

Clemson University psychology professor Robin Kowalski said the phenomenon has been overlooked.

Kowalski and and co-author Jessica Skinner explored the extent to which sibling bullying is viewed to be normal and the perceived differences between victims and perpetrators. They recently published their findings in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

The purpose of the study was to profile sibling bullying by examining prevalence rates, the extent to which siblings perceive sibling bullying to be normative and victim-perpetrator differences in perceptions of sibling bullying.

Seventy-five percent of the participants in the study reported being bullied by a sibling and 85 percent reported bullying a sibling.

Full story of sibling bullying at Science Daily

Teen recalls bullying stirred thoughts of suicide

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Michael Miller clearly remembers the day he was called a “fat faggot.” It was in 2006, the year he was in seventh grade, and Miller had already gotten a strong taste of bullying from day one of middle school.

When enough slurs, exclusions and taunts added up, Miller found himself at the brink of suicide — close enough to consider details that would save his family as much pain as possible, he said.

“Sixth and seventh grade were the worst. When I got to Central, I remember everyone was on edge a lot. Half the kids we didn’t know came from Ferndale (Elementary School), new groups were starting up, everyone was going through puberty.”

Those foul words didn’t come from a troubled peer, however. They came from a teacher’s lips, Miller said.

“People thought it was funny,” he said. “And that’s when we realized it was OK to do that to each other. As negative as he was, he was a role model. He made it seem OK to harass kids in front of each other. And talk about them when they were out of the room.”

That educator had plenty of company. Starting in fifth grade at Freewater Elementary School, Miller’s classmates started marching to peer pressure about how to dress, whom to talk to and what attitude to adopt, he recalled.

Full story of bullying and suicide at the Union Bullentin

One in Three U.S. Teens Experience Dating Violence, Girls More Likely to Get Physical

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One of Three Teens Experience Dating ViolenceResearch presented today at the American Psychological Association convention in Honolulu shows that about one in three U.S. teens ages 14 to 20 have been victims of dating violence, and about the same amount say they’ve committed relationship violence themselves.

A separate study also unveiled at the convention shows that middle school bullies who engage in non-physical taunts, such as name-calling and spreading rumors, are seven times more likely than other children to commit dating violence when they get to high school.

Michele Ybarra, president and research director of the Center for Innovative Public Health Research, led the study that showed the extent of the dating violence problem. Dorothy Espelage, child development chair at the College of Education at the University of Illinois, detailed the findings showing a link between early childhood bullying and teen dating violence.

Full story of teen dating violence at Health Line

Photos courtesy of and copyright PhotoPin, http://photopin.com/

Empty desks: Suicide’s touch infiltrates school

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Suicide's Touch Infiltrates SchoolStephanie Livingston woke on Dec. 12 to seven text messages from friends asking if she knew what happened to Antonio Franco.

Her mind raced as confusion set in.

Then she got a text from the mother of a former classmate. In a few short words, Antonio was gone.

She didn’t believe it at first. Antonio was one of the smartest kids in class and nice to everyone "no matter what" — he was the last person she believed would kill himself.

"I didn’t know how, exactly. I didn’t know what to believe," the now 17-year-old said this winter, two months after his death.

That same day, rumors about the 16-year-old baseball player’s death started circulating through Fort Collins High School, borne by whispers in the hallways, posts on Facebook and text messages.

Full story of suicides affect on schools at The Sacramento Bee

Photos courtesy of and copyright PhotoPin, http://photopin.com/

Bullying Exerts Psychiatric Effects Into Adulthood

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Bullying Effects into AdulthoodOnce considered a childhood rite of passage, bullying lingers well into adulthood. Bullies and victims alike are at risk for psychiatric problems such as anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and suicide when they become adults, reported a study partially funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) that was published in the April issue of JAMA Psychiatry.

Background

Bullying is a repetitive, aggressive act done to abuse or intimidate others. It can take on various forms—primarily verbal, emotional, and physical, although cyberbullying is also on the rise. Typically these scenes occur inside school or on the playground, but they can also happen at home or at work. A power imbalance usually is involved in which one child or a group of children torments another child who is considered “weaker.” Methods employed by bullies include threats, rumor-spreading, and exclusion.

Most of what experts know about the effects of bullying comes from short-term observational studies. These studies reflect general society’s view that most people overcome these events by the time they become adults.

Full story of bullying effecting into adulthood at Health Canal

Photos courtesy of and copyright PhotoPin, http://photopin.com/

Online Media and Teen Suicide

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Online Media and Teen SuicideIn the wake of 12-year-old Gabrielle Molina’s suicide late last month, devastated parents and startled communities are seeking answers for how to best protect children and teens from the pressures of cyberbullying and digital harassment. Molina, a repeated victim of aggression from peers at school, also may have dealt with recurrent bullying online. A video of Molina fighting another student worked its way onto YouTube before her death, and Molina made reference to cyberbullying events in a suicide note left behind before she hanged herself in her home in Queens Village.

According to a preliminary report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 38,285 deaths were attributed to intentional self-harm in 2011, which represented the 10th leading cause of death for the year. During the same year, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey found that 16% of high school students experienced some form of digital bullying within the past year.

Clearly, the pressures children and teens face online are more considerable now than in years passed. Victims are often unable to separate themselves from bullies who are just a click away online. Hateful text messages and the spreading of inappropriate content on social media, cell phones and video websites also represent serious concerns for parents, law enforcement agencies and educators. In addition to intentional aggression, today’s young people are also more aware when they are left out of social events due to real-time updates on Facebook.

Full story of teen suicide at Huffington Post

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