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What kind of precautions can be taken to prevent bullying at school?

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What kind of precautions can be taken to prevent bullying at school?

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Students who bully their schoolmates can probably think that others should obey themselves. To make them obey themselves they can tend to harm their schoolmates.

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Students who are afraid of being excluded can tend to damage other students. By doing that they think they gain power and they can claim their status by having that power.

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Students who lack of self-esteem can tend to harm others because they think they can keep their status by suppressing others

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Bullying can affect adversely students' psychology in the future.

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Familial events can lead to changes in students' minds and behavior and if parents ignore this, it just gets worse.

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Generally, bodied students bully the weak ones. This is sort of showing off their physical supremacy and an effort to be cool or famous among their peers.

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1-What are the common features of bullies?
2-What kind of responsibilities do parents have to be able to prevent bullying at schools?
3-What is the ratio of bullied students in Turkey?

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What is the correlation between getting bullied and suicidalness?

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What is the correlation between getting bullied and suicidalness?

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Students who are bullied show lower performance in classes.

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Bullying can occur on social media, too. It is called cyberbullying. A student's bully can easily create a burner account to verbally insult them.

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Students from minority groups (racial minorities, immigrants, disabled people, different sexual orientations, etc.) get bullied more than their peers.

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What effects can bullying have on the mental health of students?

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What effects can bullying have on the mental health of students?

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What percentage of students have gone through some sort of bullying?

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What percentage of students have gone through some sort of bullying?

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Television and internet effects children's attitude towards their friends.

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Television and internet effects children's attitude towards their friends.

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Children can be effected from what they watch on television. Also, on the internet there are lots of bad examples from which they can learn bad behaviour.

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are you okay? | Award-Winning Short Film

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When students have different grades sometimes jealousy arises and ;therefore, students tent to feel anger about their friends. Which causes bullying among students.

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RODNAE Productions adlı kullanıcının Pexels fotoğrafı

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RODNAE Productions adlı kullanıcının Pexels’taki bu fotoğrafını ücretsiz indirin

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Is the grade level (also age)  of the students important in terms of bullying?

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Is the grade level (also age)  of the students important in terms of bullying?

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How can be the wounds of the adults who were victims of bullying when they were children healed?

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How can be the wounds of the adults who were victims of bullying when they were children healed?

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Seeking for money, to the nickname, using slang, humiliation through bad behavior, fighting,

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- It was not mentioned widely until 1862 when news arose that a soldier died because of bullying.

-In the 18th century, it was limited to physical and verbal bullying.

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Bullying has been a critical issue in schools for decades. Looking back to the 18 th century peer-on-peer harassment was just as commonly seen as it is today. Of course, during that time bullying was newly recognized and little understood. What may be seen as violent behavior today might not have been in that time. While bullying in schools remains a critical issue, throughout the years several events and studies have taken place that have made a significant impact on bullying and have expanded its meaning in many ways.

The term bullying has changed drastically over time. In the 18 th and 19 th centuries bullying was mainly viewed as physical or verbal harassment commonly linked with, "...death, strong isolation or extortion in school children..." (Koo, 2007). Any type of aggressive behavior was simply seen as mischief and a normal part of childhood. In fact, according to Koo (2007), bullying was thought of as an innocent "misadventure" or "misbehavior" among schoolboys (p110). This type of bullying was clearly observed at King's Boarding School in the U.K when a twelve-year old boy was killed from bullying behaviors by his older classmates (Koo, 2007, p110). The schoolboys involved were not held accountable for his death because the school viewed the behavior as a normal misadventure among the teens (Koo, 2007). It may be fair to say that this situation would be viewed much different today and that the bullying behaviors then were viewed as a normal part of growing up among children.

The term bullying was not publicly recognized until a well known newspaper made a publication of this behavior. In 1862, after almost seventy-two years of publications the daily newspaper, The Times wrote their first story on bullying when they reported a soldier allegedly died due to bullying (Koo, 2007, p109). The Times were the first to voice the critical issues of bullying and the major consequences that can follow (Koo, 2007). The writer especially highlighted how the soldier underwent "systematic bullying" in the army and was treated as an, "...object of constant vexations and attack" (Voo, 2007, p110). This story may have been shocking to many people because society then did not view the behaviors that caused this death to be harmful. In that time bullying was accepted by many as normal behavior. However, as bullying became more prevalent, it began to draw more attention from researchers who wanted to know more about this new phenomenon.

Historically, the most significant turning point for bullying took place in the mid 1970s. Dan Olweus, a research professor of psychology, was the first to conduct an intensive study on bullying among students using his own systematic researching methods (Voo, 2007, p112). He created the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP), which had significant results in reducing school bullying (Hazelden Foundation, 2007). Olweus's efforts contributed greatly to the fight against bullying because it brought awareness, initiated other professionals to conduct research, and vastly expanded the meaning of bullying (Voo, 2007). Olweus's efforts have made a great impact on school violence and helped to bring safety back into schools.

Indeed, school violence has never ended. In fact, the consequences of bullying reached its peak when two teen boys shot and killed many of their classmates after allegedly being victims of bullying. In 1999, Columbine High School experienced one of the worst high school shootings in history. This event caused worldwide devastation due to the situation itself, and because it uncovered the raw truth behind bullying. In the same time frame, bullying took another negative turn. With easy access to the internet, many teens have started using cyber space as a play ground for bullying. As more teens have resorted to using cell phones and social networks to communicate, cyber bullying has become a major issue. Presently, cyber bullying is on the rise due to social networks such as facebook and twitter where information can travel in seconds to a countless number of people.

In response to these matters the federal government has created laws to crack down on these behaviors. Similar to the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, legislators have implemented programs such as, No Child Left Behind to help keep schools safe (Edmondson & Zeman, 2001). In fact, to assure school safety the federal government has linked school funding to school safety laws, giving schools no option but to implement these law in order to receive funding (Edmondson & Zeman, 2001). To greatly lower school violence, the government has to create policies that hold bullies accountable and support victims. Linking school funding to school safety laws is an effective way to ensure schools are becoming safer for students.

Today, bullying is viewed much differently than it was in the 1800's. It took many years for the term to be identified for the serious problems it presents. Due to researchers like Dan Olweus, gaining true understanding of bullying is now possible. Educators have been able to gain insights of these issues so they can help stop them from occurring. Indeed, with the growth of technology bullying will be difficult to track and school administrators will have to stay current as electronics continue to change. It is difficult to determine what the future of bullying will be, yet as the government continues to mandate school safety laws and begins to strictly hold bullies accountable for their actions, schools will become a safer place for children.

Edmondson, L., & Zeman, L. (2011). Making School Bully Laws Matter. Reclaiming Children & Youth, 20(1), 33-38.

Hazelden Foundation, (2007). Olweus Bullying Prevention Program Research and History. Retrieved from http://www.hazelden.org/web/go/olweus

Koo, H. (2007). A Time Line of the Evolution of School Bullying in Differing Social Context. Asia Pacific Education Review, Vol. 8, No. 1, 107-116. Retrieved from https://webspace.utexas.edu/lab3346/School%20Bullying/Koo2007/Koreabullyinghistory2007.pdf

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Bullying has been a critical issue in schools for decades. Looking back to the 18 th century peer-on-peer harassment was just as commonly seen as it is today. Of course, during that time bullying was newly recognized and little understood. What may be seen as violent behavior today might not have been in that time.

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-According to a study, there are several factors included gender, social background, etc. which affect bullying.
- When we consider grade level( age), in secondary school bullying is more than in primary school.
-However, as the students get older they can better cope up with bullying.

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J. Loes Pouwels , Tirza H. J. van Noorden , Antonius H. N. Cillessen ,

Antonius H. N. Cillessen

Radboud University
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Tirza H. J. van Noorden

Radboud University
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Corresponding Author

J. Loes Pouwels

Radboud University

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Correspondence J. Loes Pouwels, Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Email: pouwels@essb.eur.nl Search for more papers by this author

Funding information: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, Grant/Award Number: 406-12-110

Abstract

This study examined grade differences in the social status profiles and prevalence of bullying participant roles. Participants were 598 primary school students (grades 4-6), 545 students in the lower-grades of secondary school (grades 7-8), and 1491 students in the upper-grades of secondary school (grades 9-11). Students' participant roles, popularity, and social preference were measured with peer nominations. Bullies, assistants, and reinforcers (i.e., bullies/followers) were as popular as defenders in primary school, but more popular than defenders in secondary school. These differences depended on the gender of the reference group. Bullies/followers were more popular than defenders among other-gender peers in the lower-grades of secondary school but not among same-gender peers. In the upper-grades of secondary school, bullies/followers were more popular than defenders among all peers. Grade differences in social preference were small. The grade differences in popularity profiles of the roles were in line with grade differences in prevalence rates. Bully/follower roles were more common in secondary school than primary school among girls and the defender role was less common in secondary school among boys. This suggests that bully/follower roles are more rewarded with social status in secondary school than in primary school.

1 INTRODUCTION

Bullying can be seen as a group process in which students have different participant roles. It is a subtype of aggression in which one or more individuals (bullies) repeatedly and intentionally attack, humiliate, or exclude other persons (victims) who have difficulties defending themselves (Salmivalli, ). In addition to bullies and victims, others participate in different roles in the bullying process: assistants, who join ringleader bullies in attacking a victim; reinforcers, who are not actively involved in the bullying, but reinforce bullies by, for example, providing an audience or laughing at the victim; defenders, who actively intervene and try to stop the bullying, tell the teacher about it, or try to comfort the victim; and outsiders, who do not take sides with either the bully or the victim (Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Björkqvist, Österman, & Kaukiainen, ).

In the last decades, multiple anti-bullying programs have been developed to target the group process of bullying. Some of them have reduced bullying and victimization effectively in primary schools, but their effectiveness is considerably lower in secondary schools (Kärnä et al., ; Yeager, Fong, Lee, & Espelage, ). One reason for the low effectiveness of anti-bullying programs in secondary schools may be that the social status profiles of the participant roles differ between childhood and adolescence. The increased importance of social status in adolescence (LaFontana & Cillessen, ) may affect the group process of bullying in important ways. In this study, we tested the idea that bullying is associated more strongly, and defending less strongly, with popularity in secondary school than in primary school. Because of these changing reward values of bullying and defending, secondary school students may not want to give up bullying behavior and may refrain from defending. This could explain why anti-bullying programs are less successful in secondary school than in primary school in reducing bullying and promoting defending. In order to examine these developmental trends, in this study we compared the social status profiles and prevalence rates of the participant roles of bullying in Dutch schools between the upper-grades of primary school (grades 4-6, ages 8-12), the lower-grades of secondary school (grades 7-8, ages 12-14), and the upper-grades of secondary school (grades 9-12, ages 14-18).

1.1 Theoretical framework

When examining peer status profiles, two types of peer status typically are distinguished: social preference and popularity (Parkhurst & Hopmeyer, ). Social preference indicates how well-liked students are by their peers whereas popularity is a measure of visibility, dominance, and attention in the peer group (LaFontana & Cillessen, ). In primary school, the social status profiles of the participant roles have been examined in multiple studies (Goossens, Olthof, & Dekker, ; Olthof, Goossens, Vermande, van der Meulen, & Aleva, ; Salmivalli et al., ). In general, across these studies, bullies, assistants, and reinforcers (i.e., bullies/followers) were popular and disliked, defenders popular and liked, victims unpopular and disliked, and outsiders unpopular and average in social preference. However, this pattern may be different in secondary school, when popularity takes on a different meaning.

As not everyone can be popular, youths behave strategically to become more popular than others. An effective way to become popular is to use bistrategic control strategies that combine prosocial with coercive or aggressive behaviors (Hawley, ; LaFontana & Cillessen, ; Reijntjes et al., ). According to Moffitt (), aggressive behaviors are valued in secondary school because of the maturity gap that youths experience in adolescence: although they are mature biologically, they remain dependent on adults socially (Moffitt, ). Youths experience this gap around the time they transfer from primary to secondary school and enter a new peer group with older youths in which antisocial behavior is more common (Moffitt, ). They may imitate these more 'adult-like' behaviors of their older peers to obtain a sense of increased autonomy and adult status (Moffitt, ). For the same reason-antisocial behavior signaling maturity and autonomy-youths become more attracted to aggressive peers (Bukowski, Sippola, & Newcomb, ), including peers who bully and follow bullies, as bullying is a subtype of aggression. Prosocial behavior does not signal 'adult like allure' and thus defending, as a form of prosocial behavior, loses its association with popularity. Consistent with these ideas, Caravita, Di Blasio, and Salmivalli () found that bullying was related more strongly and defending less strongly to popularity in the lower-grades of secondary school than in primary school.

Theory and empirical evidence thus suggest larger status differences between the bully/follower and defender roles in the first grades of secondary school than in primary school. However, the levels of social preference and popularity of all participant roles have not yet been examined across a large grade range. It is therefore unclear whether differences between roles further vary between the upper-grades and lower-grades of secondary school. The distinction between the lower- and upper-grades is theoretically important. Directly after the transition from primary to secondary school, new peer groups are formed. Adolescents' participant role involvement may be less fixed in this period, and their display of aggression and bullying may not have resulted in popularity yet. In the upper-grades of secondary school, the structure of the peer group has been established and is more hierarchical (Schäfer, Korn, Brodbeck, Wolke, & Schulz, ). Here, bullies/followers may have obtained popular status. Bullies may continue to bully to maintain a more powerful position than followers. This suggests that differences between the participant roles may be larger in a more hierarchical setting. Therefore, in this study we examined whether the differences in social status between the roles were larger in the upper-grades of secondary school than in the lower-grades of secondary school.

With development, youths increasingly interact with other-gender peers (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, ). Adolescents become especially interested in other-gender peers who display antisocial behaviors (Bukowski et al., ). Antisocial peers are attractive romantically because their behavior is seen as mature (Moffitt, ). Bullies/followers may therefore be even more popular among other-gender peers than among same-gender peers whereas defenders may be even less popular among other-gender peers than among same-gender peers. This question has not yet been examined empirically as previous studies did not assess grade differences in other-gender social preference profiles of bullies and victims (e.g., Dijkstra, Lindenberg, & Veenstra, ; Olthof & Goossens, ) and did not link other-gender popularity to grade differences in bullying involvement or aggression (e.g., Troop-Gordon & Ranney, ).

1.2 Grade differences in prevalence of the participant roles

Grade differences in the status profiles of the participant roles also may be reflected in their prevalence, as roles that are more rewarded with status may be pursued more and may therefore be more common. Studies have shown that youths increase their aggression, bullying, or following behavior over time in order to become popular (Duffy, Penn, Nesdale, & Zimmer-Gembeck, ; Juvonen & Galván, ; Ojanen & Findley-Van Nostrand, ). Because popularity is prioritized more in secondary school than in primary school and because aggression (but not purely prosocial behavior) is an effective way to attain popularity (Cillessen & Mayeux, ; Reijntjes et al., ), we expected the prevalence of the bully/follower role to be higher in secondary school than in primary school. In addition, in line with the idea that prosocial strategies are less effective than coercive and bistrategic strategies to obtain popularity in adolescence (Reijntjes et al., ), adolescents who prioritize popularity over being prosocial are not likely to defend victims of bullying (Duffy et al., ). Defending may therefore be less common in secondary school than in primary school. Although there are these theoretical reasons why the prevalence of the participant roles may differ between grade levels, the prevalence rates of previous studies cannot be compared directly as the study samples differed in location, measurement of the roles, and criteria for the roles.

Although the prevalence of the bullying role may be higher in secondary school than in primary school, the prevalence of the victim role may be lower. Given the more advanced development of social skills (Pellegrini & Long, ), adolescents may respond increasingly adequately to potential bullying situations (Smith, Madsen, & Moody, ). This may result in a smaller number of victims who are harassed by multiple bullies in secondary school than in primary school. Accordingly, previous studies have found that the prevalence of peer victimization declines as children grow older (see, e.g., Haltigan & Vaillancourt, ; Ladd, Ettekal, & Kochenderfer-Ladd, ).

1.3 The present study

The overall purpose of this study was to examine the participant roles of bullying in different grades. The first aim was to examine differences in the popularity and social preference profiles of the participant roles between primary school (grades 4-6, ages 8-12), the lower-grades of secondary school (grades 7-8, ages 12-14), and the upper-grades of secondary school (grades 9-12, ages 14-18). Because aggression is increasingly valued in the peer group (Bukowski et al., ), the popularity profiles of the participant roles may change with age. In primary school, we expected that bullies/followers would be more popular than defenders, who would be more popular than outsiders, and that victims would be less popular than all other roles. We also expected that defenders would be the most preferred, followed by outsiders, followed by bullies/followers, and that victims would be the least preferred of all roles. In secondary school, we expected that bullies/followers would be more popular than in primary school, and defenders and victims less popular. We expected that the differences in popularity between bullies/followers and defenders would be even larger in the upper-grades of secondary school than in the lower-grades. For social preference, we expected that victims would be more disliked in the lower-grades of secondary school than in primary school or the upper-grades of secondary school.

We further examined whether the grade-related differences in the status profiles of the participant roles depended on the gender of the reference group. This was done because cross-gender interactions in peer relations are more common in higher-grades (Rubin et al., ), and status among same-gender vs. other-gender peers may contribute uniquely to the group process of bullying in secondary school. We expected that the status differences between the participant roles would be larger for popularity and social preference among other-gender peers than among same-gender peers, especially in the upper-grades of secondary school. We also explored the role of gender of the participant, but did not have specific hypotheses about how grade differences in the status profiles of the roles would vary between boys and girls.

2 METHOD

2.1 Participants and procedure

In each sample, parents were sent a letter explaining the study details. They were asked to return the letter if they did not want their child to participate in the study. Informed assent was obtained from the children. Table 1 presents an overview of the inclusion of schools, classrooms, and participants and their demographic characteristics by grade level. The participation rate was 95% in primary school, 98% in lower-grades secondary school, and 82% in upper-grades secondary school. The final sample consisted of 598 primary school, 545 lower-grades secondary school, and 1491 upper-grades secondary school students.

aClassrooms with >75% boys/girls were included.

bThe received number of nominations by students who were absent/did not speak Dutch were included.

cThe given nominations were excluded as the questionnaire was not completed in a serious way (received nominations were taken into account).

dSecondary school students were segregated in the following educational tracks: VMBO = pre-vocational track; HAVO = intermediate secondary education; VWO = college preparatory.

Data were collected during a 1-hr classroom session. Primary school students completed the measures on paper. Secondary school students participated in a computerized sociometric assessment. Each student was provided with a mini-laptop computer on which they filled in the questionnaire in their own classroom. See for more information van den Berg and Cillessen (). For each sociometric question, the classroom was the reference group and students could nominate both same-gender and other-gender peers. They were allowed to nominate an unlimited number of peers. All measures were addressed in the same order for each grade level.

2.2 Measures

2.2.1 Participant roles of bullying

Students' participant roles of bullying were assessed with the Dutch translation (Pouwels et al., ) of the shortened Participant Role Questionnaire (PRQ) (Kärnä et al., ; Salmivalli & Voeten, ). Students were provided with statements describing different behaviors in bullying situations and were asked to nominate classmates who showed these behaviors. The PRQ has one scale with three questions for each participant role: bully (e.g., 'Who starts bullying?'), assistant (e.g., 'Who joins in the bullying, when someone else has started it'), reinforcer (e.g., 'Who comes around to watch the situation when someone is being bullied?'), defender (e.g., 'Who tells the others to stop bullying'), and outsider (e.g., 'Who does not take sides with anyone'). Victimization was examined by asking students to nominate classmates for four items (e.g., 'Who is victimized by being neglected or excluded?,' see Pouwels et al., ). For all participant role items, students could nominate an unlimited number of peers, but could also nominate no one.

For each student, the number of nominations received was counted and standardized to z-scores within classrooms. We then computed a mean score for each original participant role subscale, which we again standardized within classrooms for the ease of interpretation. Cronbach's alphas are presented in Table 2.

aIn line with Pouwels et al. (), in the upper-grades secondary school sample, one item ('Who goes and gets the victims for the bully') of the assistant scale was excluded as this led to an improvement of Cronbach's alpha of the scale in the upper-grades secondary school sample (.63 vs. .70).

Students were assigned to the participant roles based on the criteria of Salmivalli et al. (). They were assigned to a role if they scored above the classroom average on the scale for that role ( z  > 0). If students scored above average on more than one scale, they were assigned to the role for which they had the highest scale score. The difference between their highest and second highest scale score had to be at least .10. We did not assign a role to 11% of the students (N = 280), because the difference between their highest and second highest scale was smaller than .10 or because they did not score above the classroom average on any scale.

In line with Pouwels et al. (), bullies, assistants, and reinforcers were assigned to one combined bully/follower role. This was done because separating bullies from assistants and reinforcers would result in groups within each grade and gender that were too small to analyze the data reliably. For example, only six girls could be assigned to the bully role in primary school whereas 39 girls could be assigned to the combined bully/follower role. Previous research supports the combination of bully, assistant, and reinforcer roles, as their status profiles are relatively similar in adolescence (Pouwels et al., ).

2.2.2 Social status among same-gender and other-gender peers

We examined social status by asking students to nominate classmates who were popular ('Who are most popular?') and unpopular ('Who are least popular?'), and who they liked ('Who do you like the most?') and disliked ('Who do you like the least?'). For each question, students had to nominate at least one classmate. For each student we calculated the number of nominations received from same-gender peers and other-gender peers for each item, and standardized them into z-scores within classrooms. This was done separately for boys and girls, to control for differences in gender distribution between classrooms, in addition to differences in classroom size. Popularity among same-gender peers was determined by taking the difference between the standardized numbers of most popular and least popular nominations received from same-gender peers. Social preference among same-gender peers was determined by taking the difference between the standardized numbers of liked most and liked least nominations received from same-gender peers. We again standardized the difference scores within classrooms and gender. Scores for popularity and social preference among other-gender peers were calculated in the same way using the nominations received from other-gender classmates.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Grade differences in same-gender and other-gender status of the bullying participant roles

Our first aim was to examine grade differences in the social status profiles of the participant roles, and whether these differences depended on gender of the participant and reference group (same-gender vs. other-gender). We analyzed popularity and social preference in separate models. For each, we conducted a 4 (Participant Role: Bully/Follower, Defender, Outsider, Victim) × 3 (Grade Level: Primary School, Lower-Grades Secondary School, Upper-Grades Secondary School) × 2 (Participant Gender: Boy, Girl) × 2 (Reference Group: Same-Gender, Other-Gender) ANOVA, with reference group as a repeated measures factor.

3.1.1 Grade differences in same-gender and other-gender popularity of the bullying participant roles

The ANOVA for popularity yielded a main effect of participant role, F(3, 2331) = 332.45, p < .001, η p ²  = .30. Bonferroni post hoc comparisons showed that bullies/followers were significantly more popular than defenders, who were significantly more popular than outsiders. Victims were significantly less popular than all other roles.

Our main question was whether the differences between the participant roles on popularity depended on grade, and whether this grade effect varied between same-gender and other-gender popularity. The analysis yielded a significant participant role × grade level × reference group interaction, F(6, 2331) = 2.63, p = .015, η p ² = .007. To examine this effect further, we tested the univariate effects of participant role for each grade level separately for same- and other-gender popularity. Within each grade level, a main effect of participant role on same- and other-gender popularity was found (see Table 3). This main effect increased in strength by grade for both same-gender and other-gender popularity. Thus, the differences in popularity between the participant roles were larger in adolescence than in childhood.

In order to examine which roles differed from each other in each grade level, Bonferroni post hoc comparisons were conducted. In primary school, among both same- and other-gender peers, bullies/followers and defenders were significantly more popular than outsiders who, in turn, were significantly more popular than victims. This pattern replicated for same-gender popularity in the lower-grades of secondary school. However, for other-gender popularity, there was a difference in popularity between bullies/followers and defenders, with bullies/followers being more popular than defenders. In upper-grades secondary school the latter pattern was found for both same-gender and other-gender popularity. These results suggest that the difference in popularity between bullies/followers and defenders was larger in secondary school than in primary school. This difference was already visible in the lower-grades of secondary school for popularity among other-gender peers but not (yet) among same-gender peers.

In order to understand the data further, we conducted another set of univariate effects analyses to identify whether the increased difference in popularity between bullies/followers and defenders by grade was due to grade-related differences in popularity among bullies/followers, defenders, or both. Therefore, we tested the univariate effects of grade level by participant role separately for same- and other-gender popularity. No significant grade effects on same-gender popularity were found for each role. However, there was a significant effect of grade on other-gender popularity for bullies/followers, F(2, 2331) = 3.80, p = .02, η p ² = .003, and a marginally significant effect for defenders, F(2, 2331) = 2.99, p = .05, η p ²  = .003. No grade effects for other-gender popularity were found for outsiders and victims. Bonferroni post hoc comparisons showed that bullies/followers were more popular among other-gender peers in lower-grades secondary school than in primary school. In contrast, defenders were more popular among other-gender peers in primary school than in the upper-grades of secondary school. Thus, the larger difference in popularity between bullies/followers and defenders in the higher-grades than in the lower-grades was due to higher levels of popularity according to other-gender peers among bullies/followers in the higher-grades than in the lower-grades and lower levels of popularity among defenders.

Finally, we examined whether there were any main effects or interactions of gender of the participant on same-gender or other-gender popularity. No main effects of or interactions including gender of the participant were found. Thus, the increased difference between bullies/followers and defenders by grade for same- and other-gender popularity was found for both boys and girls.

In summary, differences between the participant roles in popularity were larger in secondary school than in primary school. In primary school, bullies/followers were as popular as defenders whereas in secondary school, they were more popular than defenders. These grade differences depended on the gender of the reference group but not on gender of the participant.

3.1.2 Grade differences in same-gender and other-gender social preference of the bullying participant roles

The ANOVA for social preference also yielded a main effect of participant role, F(6, 2331) = 142.64, p < .001, η p ²  = .16. Bonferroni post hoc comparisons showed that defenders were significantly more preferred than outsiders, who were significantly more preferred than bullies/followers. Victims were significantly less preferred than all other roles.

Our main question was whether the differences between the participant roles in social preference depended on grade, and further varied between same- and other-gender preference. The ANOVA yielded a significant participant role × grade level × reference group interaction, F(3, 2331) = 2.34, p < .030, η p ² = .01. Univariate follow-up analyses yielded main effects of participant role on same- and other-gender social preference for each grade level. The most consistent finding was that across all grades, victims were significantly less preferred than all other roles by both same- and other-gender peers. There were only minor variations in the participant role comparison by grade. These variations are shown in detail in Table 4, but because the effect sizes were small, they are not discussed further.

In addition, we examined grade differences in social preference among same- and other-gender peers for each role. We tested the univariate effect of grade level for each participant role separately for same- and other-gender preference. No significant grade effects on social preference were found for bullies/followers, defenders, and outsiders. However, a significant effect of grade on same-gender social preference was found for victims, F(2, 2331) = 5.03, p = .007, η p ²  = .004. Bonferroni post hoc comparisons showed that in lower-grades secondary school, victims had lower social preference among same-gender peers than in upper-grades secondary school. For victims' other-gender social preference, there was no grade effect.

Finally, we examined whether there were any main effects or interactions of participant gender on same-gender and other-gender social preference. No main effects of gender or interactions including gender of the participant were found. Thus, the grade differences in the same-gender and other-gender preferences for the roles did not vary for boys and girls.

In summary, overall, grade differences in social preference profiles of the participant roles were relatively small. Compared with all roles, victims were least preferred in all grades. Victims' social preference among same-gender peers was lower in the lower-grades of secondary school than in the upper-grades of secondary school.

3.2 Prevalence of the participant roles by age and gender

Our second aim was to examine grade differences in the prevalence of the participant roles. Table 5 shows the distribution of the roles (Bullies/Followers, Defenders, Outsiders, Victims) by grade level (Primary School, Lower-Grades Secondary School, Upper-Grades Secondary School) for boys and girls. A χ ² test indicated no association between roles and grade level, χ ²(8, N = 2,784) = 10.86, p  = .21, in the total sample.

We repeated this test for boys and girls separately. For boys, there was a significant association between roles and grade levels, χ ²(8, N = 2,784) = 25.65, p = .001. Adjusted standardized residuals showed that the bully/follower role was not under- or overrepresented in a certain grade. In primary school, defenders and victims were overrepresented whereas outsiders were underrepresented. In the upper-grades of secondary school, the victim role was underrepresented.

For girls, there was also a significant association between roles and grade levels, χ ²(8, N = 2,784) = 27.5, p = .001. Adjusted standardized residuals showed a different pattern for girls. For girls, the bully/follower role was underrepresented in primary school. The defender role was overrepresented in the lower-grades of secondary school. The outsider role was overrepresented in primary school and underrepresented in the lower-grades of secondary school. The victim role was not under- or overrepresented in any grade.

Finally, we also examined whether there were gender differences in the participant roles at each grade level. χ ² tests indicated significant associations between roles and gender at each grade level, as χ ²(4) ranged from 76.09 to 179.96 (all p's < .001). Adjusted standardized residuals showed that across grades, boys were overrepresented in bully/follower roles and girls in defender roles (see Table 5). Girls were also overrepresented in outsider roles, but only in primary school and in the upper-grades of secondary school.

In summary, there were no grade differences in the prevalence of the participant roles in the total sample. However, when broken down by gender, there were grade differences in the prevalence of the defender, outsider, and victim roles for boys, and in the bully/follower, defender, and outsider roles for girls.

4 DISCUSSION

This study sheds light on grade differences in the group process of bullying. We compared status profiles and prevalence of the bullying participant roles between primary school (grades 4-6, ages 8-12), the lower-grades of secondary school (grades 7-8, ages 12-14), and the upper-grades of secondary school (grades 9-12, ages 14-18).

4.1 Grade differences in the social status profiles of the participant roles

We did not find large grade differences in the associations of the participant roles with social preference. Across all grades, defenders were liked most, followed by outsiders, bullies, and victims. Although there were significant roles differences in certain grades, the effect sizes for these role differences were small.

Victims were consistently rejected throughout primary and secondary school. In the lower-grades of secondary school, they were more rejected by their same-gender peers than in primary school and in the upper-grades of secondary school. When new peer hierarchies are established after the school transition (Pellegrini & Long, ), youths may be especially likely to dissociate themselves from low-status peers to avoid losing status (Juvonen & Galván, ). Rejected youths may therefore be less likely to be defended and run a great risk of being bullied. Moreover, bullies strategically pick on victims with a low status among their own gender (Veenstra, Lindenberg, Munniksma, & Dijkstra, ; Veenstra et al., ) as this may minimalize bullies' loss of status among same-gender peers.

4.2 Grade differences in the prevalence of the participant roles

The next aim of our study was to examine whether the grade differences in social status of the participant roles were reflected in grade differences in the prevalence of the roles. Because popularity is pursued by many adolescents, we expected them to engage in participant role behavior that led to popularity. Specifically, the increased association between bullying/following and popularity may be reflected in more bullying/following in secondary school than in primary school. Similarly, the decreased association of defending with popularity may be reflected in less defending in secondary school than in primary school.

Our findings partly confirmed these expectations. Among boys, the defender role was less common in higher than in lower-grades whereas the outsider role was more common in higher than lower-grades. Among girls, the bully/follower role was more common in higher than in lower-grades whereas the defender role was particularly common in the lower-grades of secondary school. These findings could be explained by developmental changes in boys' and girls' social goals. As youths grow older, the priority of popularity over prosocial behavior increases more strongly for boys than girls (LaFontana & Cillessen, ), suggesting that boys' motivation to be popular comes at the expense of prosocial behavior. As defending is a form of prosocial behavior and less associated with popularity than bullying, boys may become less willing to defend in secondary school. As this suggests that boys are less willing to get involved in solving their peers' problems in early adolescence, this may explain the higher prevalence of the outsider role in secondary school than in primary school.

Girls show an increase in both agentic and communal goals with age (Caravita & Cillessen, ), which may explain why the prevalence of both the bully/follower and defender roles were higher in the first grades of secondary school than in primary school. On the one hand, girls increasingly pursue status and power in the peer group as they grow older. Girls may therefore be especially likely to display (relational) bullying during the first grades of secondary school when a new hierarchy is being established, as relational aggression can lead to high popularity (Cillessen & Mayeux, ; Ojanen & Findley-Van Nostrand, ). Indeed, although overt aggression decreases from childhood to adolescence for both genders, relational aggression was more likely to increase for girls than for boys (Vaillancourt, Miller, Fagbemi, Côté, & Tremblay, ).

4.3 Strengths, considerations, and suggestions for further research

Strengths of this study were the direct comparison of grades, large sample size, and the examination of grade differences in same- and other-gender social status. Despite these strengths, our design and measures also imposed some limitations on the conclusions. The lower-grades secondary school sample consisted of two schools and our grade comparisons were cross-sectional. Therefore, we do not know how stable participant role involvement was over time and which role transitions occurred. Moreover, we could not test the direction of effects between status and bullying involvement over time. For that, longitudinal research is needed. The use of peer nominations of participant role involvement also influences the generalizability of our findings. For example, the number of girls with a bully/follower reputation was higher in secondary school than primary school, but this does not mean that the number of bullying incidents was also higher.

4.4 Practical implications

5 CONCLUSION

This study showed that the group process of bullying and the role of social status in this process varies by grade. Popularity plays a more prominent role than social preference in explaining grade differences in the group process of bullying. Research and practitioners should take the role of popularity into account when studying the bullying participant roles in adolescence and when designing effective anti-bullying programs for secondary schools.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by Research Talent Grant 406-12-110 awarded to J. Loes Pouwels by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. The authors are grateful to the students, parents, teachers, and school administrators who made this research possible. We also thank the research assistants who assisted with the data collection.

Abstract

This study examined grade differences in the social status profiles and prevalence of bullying participant roles. Participants were 598 primary school students (grades 4-6), 545 students in the lower-grades of secondary school (grades 7-8), and 1491 students in the upper-grades of secondary school (grades 9-11). Students' participant roles, popularity, and social preference were measured with peer nominations. Bullies, assistants, and reinforcers (i.e., bullies/followers) were as popular as defenders in primary school, but more popular than defenders in secondary school. These differences depended on the gender of the reference group. Bullies/followers were more popular than defenders among other-gender peers in the lower-grades of secondary school but not among same-gender peers. In the upper-grades of secondary school, bullies/followers were more popular than defenders among all peers. Grade differences in social preference were small. The grade differences in popularity profiles of the roles were in line with grade differences in prevalence rates. Bully/follower roles were more common in secondary school than primary school among girls and the defender role was less common in secondary school among boys. This suggests that bully/follower roles are more rewarded with social status in secondary school than in primary school.

1 INTRODUCTION

Bullying can be seen as a group process in which students have different participant roles. It is a subtype of aggression in which one or more individuals (bullies) repeatedly and intentionally attack, humiliate, or exclude other persons (victims) who have difficulties defending themselves (Salmivalli, ). In addition to bullies and victims, others participate in different roles in the bullying process: assistants, who join ringleader bullies in attacking a victim; reinforcers, who are not actively involved in the bullying, but reinforce bullies by, for example, providing an audience or laughing at the victim; defenders, who actively intervene and try to stop the bullying, tell the teacher about it, or try to comfort the victim; and outsiders, who do not take sides with either the bully or the victim (Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Björkqvist, Österman, & Kaukiainen, ).

In the last decades, multiple anti-bullying programs have been developed to target the group process of bullying. Some of them have reduced bullying and victimization effectively in primary schools, but their effectiveness is considerably lower in secondary schools (Kärnä et al., ; Yeager, Fong, Lee, & Espelage, ). One reason for the low effectiveness of anti-bullying programs in secondary schools may be that the social status profiles of the participant roles differ between childhood and adolescence. The increased importance of social status in adolescence (LaFontana & Cillessen, ) may affect the group process of bullying in important ways. In this study, we tested the idea that bullying is associated more strongly, and defending less strongly, with popularity in secondary school than in primary school. Because of these changing reward values of bullying and defending, secondary school students may not want to give up bullying behavior and may refrain from defending. This could explain why anti-bullying programs are less successful in secondary school than in primary school in reducing bullying and promoting defending. In order to examine these developmental trends, in this study we compared the social status profiles and prevalence rates of the participant roles of bullying in Dutch schools between the upper-grades of primary school (grades 4-6, ages 8-12), the lower-grades of secondary school (grades 7-8, ages 12-14), and the upper-grades of secondary school (grades 9-12, ages 14-18).

1.1 Theoretical framework

When examining peer status profiles, two types of peer status typically are distinguished: social preference and popularity (Parkhurst & Hopmeyer, ). Social preference indicates how well-liked students are by their peers whereas popularity is a measure of visibility, dominance, and attention in the peer group (LaFontana & Cillessen, ). In primary school, the social status profiles of the participant roles have been examined in multiple studies (Goossens, Olthof, & Dekker, ; Olthof, Goossens, Vermande, van der Meulen, & Aleva, ; Salmivalli et al., ). In general, across these studies, bullies, assistants, and reinforcers (i.e., bullies/followers) were popular and disliked, defenders popular and liked, victims unpopular and disliked, and outsiders unpopular and average in social preference. However, this pattern may be different in secondary school, when popularity takes on a different meaning.

As not everyone can be popular, youths behave strategically to become more popular than others. An effective way to become popular is to use bistrategic control strategies that combine prosocial with coercive or aggressive behaviors (Hawley, ; LaFontana & Cillessen, ; Reijntjes et al., ). According to Moffitt (), aggressive behaviors are valued in secondary school because of the maturity gap that youths experience in adolescence: although they are mature biologically, they remain dependent on adults socially (Moffitt, ). Youths experience this gap around the time they transfer from primary to secondary school and enter a new peer group with older youths in which antisocial behavior is more common (Moffitt, ). They may imitate these more 'adult-like' behaviors of their older peers to obtain a sense of increased autonomy and adult status (Moffitt, ). For the same reason-antisocial behavior signaling maturity and autonomy-youths become more attracted to aggressive peers (Bukowski, Sippola, & Newcomb, ), including peers who bully and follow bullies, as bullying is a subtype of aggression. Prosocial behavior does not signal 'adult like allure' and thus defending, as a form of prosocial behavior, loses its association with popularity. Consistent with these ideas, Caravita, Di Blasio, and Salmivalli () found that bullying was related more strongly and defending less strongly to popularity in the lower-grades of secondary school than in primary school.

Theory and empirical evidence thus suggest larger status differences between the bully/follower and defender roles in the first grades of secondary school than in primary school. However, the levels of social preference and popularity of all participant roles have not yet been examined across a large grade range. It is therefore unclear whether differences between roles further vary between the upper-grades and lower-grades of secondary school. The distinction between the lower- and upper-grades is theoretically important. Directly after the transition from primary to secondary school, new peer groups are formed. Adolescents' participant role involvement may be less fixed in this period, and their display of aggression and bullying may not have resulted in popularity yet. In the upper-grades of secondary school, the structure of the peer group has been established and is more hierarchical (Schäfer, Korn, Brodbeck, Wolke, & Schulz, ). Here, bullies/followers may have obtained popular status. Bullies may continue to bully to maintain a more powerful position than followers. This suggests that differences between the participant roles may be larger in a more hierarchical setting. Therefore, in this study we examined whether the differences in social status between the roles were larger in the upper-grades of secondary school than in the lower-grades of secondary school.

With development, youths increasingly interact with other-gender peers (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, ). Adolescents become especially interested in other-gender peers who display antisocial behaviors (Bukowski et al., ). Antisocial peers are attractive romantically because their behavior is seen as mature (Moffitt, ). Bullies/followers may therefore be even more popular among other-gender peers than among same-gender peers whereas defenders may be even less popular among other-gender peers than among same-gender peers. This question has not yet been examined empirically as previous studies did not assess grade differences in other-gender social preference profiles of bullies and victims (e.g., Dijkstra, Lindenberg, & Veenstra, ; Olthof & Goossens, ) and did not link other-gender popularity to grade differences in bullying involvement or aggression (e.g., Troop-Gordon & Ranney, ).

1.2 Grade differences in prevalence of the participant roles

Grade differences in the status profiles of the participant roles also may be reflected in their prevalence, as roles that are more rewarded with status may be pursued more and may therefore be more common. Studies have shown that youths increase their aggression, bullying, or following behavior over time in order to become popular (Duffy, Penn, Nesdale, & Zimmer-Gembeck, ; Juvonen & Galván, ; Ojanen & Findley-Van Nostrand, ). Because popularity is prioritized more in secondary school than in primary school and because aggression (but not purely prosocial behavior) is an effective way to attain popularity (Cillessen & Mayeux, ; Reijntjes et al., ), we expected the prevalence of the bully/follower role to be higher in secondary school than in primary school. In addition, in line with the idea that prosocial strategies are less effective than coercive and bistrategic strategies to obtain popularity in adolescence (Reijntjes et al., ), adolescents who prioritize popularity over being prosocial are not likely to defend victims of bullying (Duffy et al., ). Defending may therefore be less common in secondary school than in primary school. Although there are these theoretical reasons why the prevalence of the participant roles may differ between grade levels, the prevalence rates of previous studies cannot be compared directly as the study samples differed in location, measurement of the roles, and criteria for the roles.

Although the prevalence of the bullying role may be higher in secondary school than in primary school, the prevalence of the victim role may be lower. Given the more advanced development of social skills (Pellegrini & Long, ), adolescents may respond increasingly adequately to potential bullying situations (Smith, Madsen, & Moody, ). This may result in a smaller number of victims who are harassed by multiple bullies in secondary school than in primary school. Accordingly, previous studies have found that the prevalence of peer victimization declines as children grow older (see, e.g., Haltigan & Vaillancourt, ; Ladd, Ettekal, & Kochenderfer-Ladd, ).

1.3 The present study

The overall purpose of this study was to examine the participant roles of bullying in different grades. The first aim was to examine differences in the popularity and social preference profiles of the participant roles between primary school (grades 4-6, ages 8-12), the lower-grades of secondary school (grades 7-8, ages 12-14), and the upper-grades of secondary school (grades 9-12, ages 14-18). Because aggression is increasingly valued in the peer group (Bukowski et al., ), the popularity profiles of the participant roles may change with age. In primary school, we expected that bullies/followers would be more popular than defenders, who would be more popular than outsiders, and that victims would be less popular than all other roles. We also expected that defenders would be the most preferred, followed by outsiders, followed by bullies/followers, and that victims would be the least preferred of all roles. In secondary school, we expected that bullies/followers would be more popular than in primary school, and defenders and victims less popular. We expected that the differences in popularity between bullies/followers and defenders would be even larger in the upper-grades of secondary school than in the lower-grades. For social preference, we expected that victims would be more disliked in the lower-grades of secondary school than in primary school or the upper-grades of secondary school.

We further examined whether the grade-related differences in the status profiles of the participant roles depended on the gender of the reference group. This was done because cross-gender interactions in peer relations are more common in higher-grades (Rubin et al., ), and status among same-gender vs. other-gender peers may contribute uniquely to the group process of bullying in secondary school. We expected that the status differences between the participant roles would be larger for popularity and social preference among other-gender peers than among same-gender peers, especially in the upper-grades of secondary school. We also explored the role of gender of the participant, but did not have specific hypotheses about how grade differences in the status profiles of the roles would vary between boys and girls.

2 METHOD

2.1 Participants and procedure

In each sample, parents were sent a letter explaining the study details. They were asked to return the letter if they did not want their child to participate in the study. Informed assent was obtained from the children. Table 1 presents an overview of the inclusion of schools, classrooms, and participants and their demographic characteristics by grade level. The participation rate was 95% in primary school, 98% in lower-grades secondary school, and 82% in upper-grades secondary school. The final sample consisted of 598 primary school, 545 lower-grades secondary school, and 1491 upper-grades secondary school students.

aClassrooms with >75% boys/girls were included.

bThe received number of nominations by students who were absent/did not speak Dutch were included.

cThe given nominations were excluded as the questionnaire was not completed in a serious way (received nominations were taken into account).

dSecondary school students were segregated in the following educational tracks: VMBO = pre-vocational track; HAVO = intermediate secondary education; VWO = college preparatory.

Data were collected during a 1-hr classroom session. Primary school students completed the measures on paper. Secondary school students participated in a computerized sociometric assessment. Each student was provided with a mini-laptop computer on which they filled in the questionnaire in their own classroom. See for more information van den Berg and Cillessen (). For each sociometric question, the classroom was the reference group and students could nominate both same-gender and other-gender peers. They were allowed to nominate an unlimited number of peers. All measures were addressed in the same order for each grade level.

2.2 Measures

2.2.1 Participant roles of bullying

Students' participant roles of bullying were assessed with the Dutch translation (Pouwels et al., ) of the shortened Participant Role Questionnaire (PRQ) (Kärnä et al., ; Salmivalli & Voeten, ). Students were provided with statements describing different behaviors in bullying situations and were asked to nominate classmates who showed these behaviors. The PRQ has one scale with three questions for each participant role: bully (e.g., 'Who starts bullying?'), assistant (e.g., 'Who joins in the bullying, when someone else has started it'), reinforcer (e.g., 'Who comes around to watch the situation when someone is being bullied?'), defender (e.g., 'Who tells the others to stop bullying'), and outsider (e.g., 'Who does not take sides with anyone'). Victimization was examined by asking students to nominate classmates for four items (e.g., 'Who is victimized by being neglected or excluded?,' see Pouwels et al., ). For all participant role items, students could nominate an unlimited number of peers, but could also nominate no one.

For each student, the number of nominations received was counted and standardized to z-scores within classrooms. We then computed a mean score for each original participant role subscale, which we again standardized within classrooms for the ease of interpretation. Cronbach's alphas are presented in Table 2.

aIn line with Pouwels et al. (), in the upper-grades secondary school sample, one item ('Who goes and gets the victims for the bully') of the assistant scale was excluded as this led to an improvement of Cronbach's alpha of the scale in the upper-grades secondary school sample (.63 vs. .70).

Students were assigned to the participant roles based on the criteria of Salmivalli et al. (). They were assigned to a role if they scored above the classroom average on the scale for that role ( z  > 0). If students scored above average on more than one scale, they were assigned to the role for which they had the highest scale score. The difference between their highest and second highest scale score had to be at least .10. We did not assign a role to 11% of the students (N = 280), because the difference between their highest and second highest scale was smaller than .10 or because they did not score above the classroom average on any scale.

In line with Pouwels et al. (), bullies, assistants, and reinforcers were assigned to one combined bully/follower role. This was done because separating bullies from assistants and reinforcers would result in groups within each grade and gender that were too small to analyze the data reliably. For example, only six girls could be assigned to the bully role in primary school whereas 39 girls could be assigned to the combined bully/follower role. Previous research supports the combination of bully, assistant, and reinforcer roles, as their status profiles are relatively similar in adolescence (Pouwels et al., ).

2.2.2 Social status among same-gender and other-gender peers

We examined social status by asking students to nominate classmates who were popular ('Who are most popular?') and unpopular ('Who are least popular?'), and who they liked ('Who do you like the most?') and disliked ('Who do you like the least?'). For each question, students had to nominate at least one classmate. For each student we calculated the number of nominations received from same-gender peers and other-gender peers for each item, and standardized them into z-scores within classrooms. This was done separately for boys and girls, to control for differences in gender distribution between classrooms, in addition to differences in classroom size. Popularity among same-gender peers was determined by taking the difference between the standardized numbers of most popular and least popular nominations received from same-gender peers. Social preference among same-gender peers was determined by taking the difference between the standardized numbers of liked most and liked least nominations received from same-gender peers. We again standardized the difference scores within classrooms and gender. Scores for popularity and social preference among other-gender peers were calculated in the same way using the nominations received from other-gender classmates.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Grade differences in same-gender and other-gender status of the bullying participant roles

Our first aim was to examine grade differences in the social status profiles of the participant roles, and whether these differences depended on gender of the participant and reference group (same-gender vs. other-gender). We analyzed popularity and social preference in separate models. For each, we conducted a 4 (Participant Role: Bully/Follower, Defender, Outsider, Victim) × 3 (Grade Level: Primary School, Lower-Grades Secondary School, Upper-Grades Secondary School) × 2 (Participant Gender: Boy, Girl) × 2 (Reference Group: Same-Gender, Other-Gender) ANOVA, with reference group as a repeated measures factor.

3.1.1 Grade differences in same-gender and other-gender popularity of the bullying participant roles

The ANOVA for popularity yielded a main effect of participant role, F(3, 2331) = 332.45, p < .001, η p ²  = .30. Bonferroni post hoc comparisons showed that bullies/followers were significantly more popular than defenders, who were significantly more popular than outsiders. Victims were significantly less popular than all other roles.

Our main question was whether the differences between the participant roles on popularity depended on grade, and whether this grade effect varied between same-gender and other-gender popularity. The analysis yielded a significant participant role × grade level × reference group interaction, F(6, 2331) = 2.63, p = .015, η p ² = .007. To examine this effect further, we tested the univariate effects of participant role for each grade level separately for same- and other-gender popularity. Within each grade level, a main effect of participant role on same- and other-gender popularity was found (see Table 3). This main effect increased in strength by grade for both same-gender and other-gender popularity. Thus, the differences in popularity between the participant roles were larger in adolescence than in childhood.

In order to examine which roles differed from each other in each grade level, Bonferroni post hoc comparisons were conducted. In primary school, among both same- and other-gender peers, bullies/followers and defenders were significantly more popular than outsiders who, in turn, were significantly more popular than victims. This pattern replicated for same-gender popularity in the lower-grades of secondary school. However, for other-gender popularity, there was a difference in popularity between bullies/followers and defenders, with bullies/followers being more popular than defenders. In upper-grades secondary school the latter pattern was found for both same-gender and other-gender popularity. These results suggest that the difference in popularity between bullies/followers and defenders was larger in secondary school than in primary school. This difference was already visible in the lower-grades of secondary school for popularity among other-gender peers but not (yet) among same-gender peers.

In order to understand the data further, we conducted another set of univariate effects analyses to identify whether the increased difference in popularity between bullies/followers and defenders by grade was due to grade-related differences in popularity among bullies/followers, defenders, or both. Therefore, we tested the univariate effects of grade level by participant role separately for same- and other-gender popularity. No significant grade effects on same-gender popularity were found for each role. However, there was a significant effect of grade on other-gender popularity for bullies/followers, F(2, 2331) = 3.80, p = .02, η p ² = .003, and a marginally significant effect for defenders, F(2, 2331) = 2.99, p = .05, η p ²  = .003. No grade effects for other-gender popularity were found for outsiders and victims. Bonferroni post hoc comparisons showed that bullies/followers were more popular among other-gender peers in lower-grades secondary school than in primary school. In contrast, defenders were more popular among other-gender peers in primary school than in the upper-grades of secondary school. Thus, the larger difference in popularity between bullies/followers and defenders in the higher-grades than in the lower-grades was due to higher levels of popularity according to other-gender peers among bullies/followers in the higher-grades than in the lower-grades and lower levels of popularity among defenders.

Finally, we examined whether there were any main effects or interactions of gender of the participant on same-gender or other-gender popularity. No main effects of or interactions including gender of the participant were found. Thus, the increased difference between bullies/followers and defenders by grade for same- and other-gender popularity was found for both boys and girls.

In summary, differences between the participant roles in popularity were larger in secondary school than in primary school. In primary school, bullies/followers were as popular as defenders whereas in secondary school, they were more popular than defenders. These grade differences depended on the gender of the reference group but not on gender of the participant.

3.1.2 Grade differences in same-gender and other-gender social preference of the bullying participant roles

The ANOVA for social preference also yielded a main effect of participant role, F(6, 2331) = 142.64, p < .001, η p ²  = .16. Bonferroni post hoc comparisons showed that defenders were significantly more preferred than outsiders, who were significantly more preferred than bullies/followers. Victims were significantly less preferred than all other roles.

Our main question was whether the differences between the participant roles in social preference depended on grade, and further varied between same- and other-gender preference. The ANOVA yielded a significant participant role × grade level × reference group interaction, F(3, 2331) = 2.34, p < .030, η p ² = .01. Univariate follow-up analyses yielded main effects of participant role on same- and other-gender social preference for each grade level. The most consistent finding was that across all grades, victims were significantly less preferred than all other roles by both same- and other-gender peers. There were only minor variations in the participant role comparison by grade. These variations are shown in detail in Table 4, but because the effect sizes were small, they are not discussed further.

In addition, we examined grade differences in social preference among same- and other-gender peers for each role. We tested the univariate effect of grade level for each participant role separately for same- and other-gender preference. No significant grade effects on social preference were found for bullies/followers, defenders, and outsiders. However, a significant effect of grade on same-gender social preference was found for victims, F(2, 2331) = 5.03, p = .007, η p ²  = .004. Bonferroni post hoc comparisons showed that in lower-grades secondary school, victims had lower social preference among same-gender peers than in upper-grades secondary school. For victims' other-gender social preference, there was no grade effect.

Finally, we examined whether there were any main effects or interactions of participant gender on same-gender and other-gender social preference. No main effects of gender or interactions including gender of the participant were found. Thus, the grade differences in the same-gender and other-gender preferences for the roles did not vary for boys and girls.

In summary, overall, grade differences in social preference profiles of the participant roles were relatively small. Compared with all roles, victims were least preferred in all grades. Victims' social preference among same-gender peers was lower in the lower-grades of secondary school than in the upper-grades of secondary school.

3.2 Prevalence of the participant roles by age and gender

Our second aim was to examine grade differences in the prevalence of the participant roles. Table 5 shows the distribution of the roles (Bullies/Followers, Defenders, Outsiders, Victims) by grade level (Primary School, Lower-Grades Secondary School, Upper-Grades Secondary School) for boys and girls. A χ ² test indicated no association between roles and grade level, χ ²(8, N = 2,784) = 10.86, p  = .21, in the total sample.

We repeated this test for boys and girls separately. For boys, there was a significant association between roles and grade levels, χ ²(8, N = 2,784) = 25.65, p = .001. Adjusted standardized residuals showed that the bully/follower role was not under- or overrepresented in a certain grade. In primary school, defenders and victims were overrepresented whereas outsiders were underrepresented. In the upper-grades of secondary school, the victim role was underrepresented.

For girls, there was also a significant association between roles and grade levels, χ ²(8, N = 2,784) = 27.5, p = .001. Adjusted standardized residuals showed a different pattern for girls. For girls, the bully/follower role was underrepresented in primary school. The defender role was overrepresented in the lower-grades of secondary school. The outsider role was overrepresented in primary school and underrepresented in the lower-grades of secondary school. The victim role was not under- or overrepresented in any grade.

Finally, we also examined whether there were gender differences in the participant roles at each grade level. χ ² tests indicated significant associations between roles and gender at each grade level, as χ ²(4) ranged from 76.09 to 179.96 (all p's < .001). Adjusted standardized residuals showed that across grades, boys were overrepresented in bully/follower roles and girls in defender roles (see Table 5). Girls were also overrepresented in outsider roles, but only in primary school and in the upper-grades of secondary school.

In summary, there were no grade differences in the prevalence of the participant roles in the total sample. However, when broken down by gender, there were grade differences in the prevalence of the defender, outsider, and victim roles for boys, and in the bully/follower, defender, and outsider roles for girls.

4 DISCUSSION

This study sheds light on grade differences in the group process of bullying. We compared status profiles and prevalence of the bullying participant roles between primary school (grades 4-6, ages 8-12), the lower-grades of secondary school (grades 7-8, ages 12-14), and the upper-grades of secondary school (grades 9-12, ages 14-18).

4.1 Grade differences in the social status profiles of the participant roles

We did not find large grade differences in the associations of the participant roles with social preference. Across all grades, defenders were liked most, followed by outsiders, bullies, and victims. Although there were significant roles differences in certain grades, the effect sizes for these role differences were small.

Victims were consistently rejected throughout primary and secondary school. In the lower-grades of secondary school, they were more rejected by their same-gender peers than in primary school and in the upper-grades of secondary school. When new peer hierarchies are established after the school transition (Pellegrini & Long, ), youths may be especially likely to dissociate themselves from low-status peers to avoid losing status (Juvonen & Galván, ). Rejected youths may therefore be less likely to be defended and run a great risk of being bullied. Moreover, bullies strategically pick on victims with a low status among their own gender (Veenstra, Lindenberg, Munniksma, & Dijkstra, ; Veenstra et al., ) as this may minimalize bullies' loss of status among same-gender peers.

4.2 Grade differences in the prevalence of the participant roles

The next aim of our study was to examine whether the grade differences in social status of the participant roles were reflected in grade differences in the prevalence of the roles. Because popularity is pursued by many adolescents, we expected them to engage in participant role behavior that led to popularity. Specifically, the increased association between bullying/following and popularity may be reflected in more bullying/following in secondary school than in primary school. Similarly, the decreased association of defending with popularity may be reflected in less defending in secondary school than in primary school.

Our findings partly confirmed these expectations. Among boys, the defender role was less common in higher than in lower-grades whereas the outsider role was more common in higher than lower-grades. Among girls, the bully/follower role was more common in higher than in lower-grades whereas the defender role was particularly common in the lower-grades of secondary school. These findings could be explained by developmental changes in boys' and girls' social goals. As youths grow older, the priority of popularity over prosocial behavior increases more strongly for boys than girls (LaFontana & Cillessen, ), suggesting that boys' motivation to be popular comes at the expense of prosocial behavior. As defending is a form of prosocial behavior and less associated with popularity than bullying, boys may become less willing to defend in secondary school. As this suggests that boys are less willing to get involved in solving their peers' problems in early adolescence, this may explain the higher prevalence of the outsider role in secondary school than in primary school.

Girls show an increase in both agentic and communal goals with age (Caravita & Cillessen, ), which may explain why the prevalence of both the bully/follower and defender roles were higher in the first grades of secondary school than in primary school. On the one hand, girls increasingly pursue status and power in the peer group as they grow older. Girls may therefore be especially likely to display (relational) bullying during the first grades of secondary school when a new hierarchy is being established, as relational aggression can lead to high popularity (Cillessen & Mayeux, ; Ojanen & Findley-Van Nostrand, ). Indeed, although overt aggression decreases from childhood to adolescence for both genders, relational aggression was more likely to increase for girls than for boys (Vaillancourt, Miller, Fagbemi, Côté, & Tremblay, ).

4.3 Strengths, considerations, and suggestions for further research

Strengths of this study were the direct comparison of grades, large sample size, and the examination of grade differences in same- and other-gender social status. Despite these strengths, our design and measures also imposed some limitations on the conclusions. The lower-grades secondary school sample consisted of two schools and our grade comparisons were cross-sectional. Therefore, we do not know how stable participant role involvement was over time and which role transitions occurred. Moreover, we could not test the direction of effects between status and bullying involvement over time. For that, longitudinal research is needed. The use of peer nominations of participant role involvement also influences the generalizability of our findings. For example, the number of girls with a bully/follower reputation was higher in secondary school than primary school, but this does not mean that the number of bullying incidents was also higher.

4.4 Practical implications

5 CONCLUSION

This study showed that the group process of bullying and the role of social status in this process varies by grade. Popularity plays a more prominent role than social preference in explaining grade differences in the group process of bullying. Research and practitioners should take the role of popularity into account when studying the bullying participant roles in adolescence and when designing effective anti-bullying programs for secondary schools.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by Research Talent Grant 406-12-110 awarded to J. Loes Pouwels by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. The authors are grateful to the students, parents, teachers, and school administrators who made this research possible. We also thank the research assistants who assisted with the data collection.

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The participant roles of bullying in different grades: Prevalence and social status profiles

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J. Loes Pouwels , Tirza H. J. van Noorden , Antonius H. N. Cillessen , Antonius H. N. Cillessen Radboud University Search for more papers by this author Tirza H. J. van Noorden Radboud University Search for more papers by this author Corresponding Author J. Loes Pouwels Radboud University Erasmus University Rotterdam Correspondence J.

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- Identify the bullying event
-Take action
-Reevaluate what you felt about it
-Appreciate your own being
-Be active in the society
-get help
-Be concerned about yourself
-Be patient

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Discover How to Move Beyond the Lasting Effects of Bullying

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Scars from middle school bullying can last a lifetime. Learn 10 ways you can heal from the bullying you experienced as a child.

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6 Ways Teacher Can Prevent Bullying in Schools

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6 Ways Teacher Can Prevent Bullying in Schools

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As you can read the article here, some of the ideas that may help teachers prevent bullying:
-Teachers should talk about bullying.
-Teachers should be visible throughout the day.
-Teachers should watch for bullying indicators.
-Teachers should maintain open communication.
-Teachers should respond quickly to bullying.
-Teachers should speak with the victim privately.
-Teachers should make their classrooms safe places.
If you want to see all the ideas, you can check the article.

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As an educator, you have a responsibility to create a safe and healthy environment in your classroom-one that protects every student from bullying. This means you must not only identify and address bullying consistently; you also must create a culture of respect and dignity in your classroom.

From physical altercations to rumors and gossip, bullying can have lasting effects on an educational environment. As a result, preventing school bullying is extremely important for educators. Here are 17 ways you can create a safe and positive environment for all your students.

Talk About Bullying

Let your students know how people are affected by bullying. Work to instill empathy and emotional intelligence. Also, ensure your students know the consequences for bullying others at school. They should understand that bullying is not tolerated and will be addressed. It may help to supplement your school's bullying policies with additional guidelines in your classroom that focus on respect and kindness.

Be Visible Throughout the Day

Make sure your students see you anywhere bullying might occur, like the bathrooms, hallways, and even in the lunchroom. You also may want to make yourself visible near the school buses in the afternoon and during recess if you can. Also, be sure your school has proper supervision in all bullying hot spots.

Remember, kids who bully are opportunists. They know where the teachers are most of the time and will wait until the coast is clear to target another student. Make sure there are very few opportunities for students to bully others.

Watch for Bullying Indicators

Be sure you are able to recognize the most common types of bullying as well as cyberbullying indicators. Also, be aware that boys and girls often bully differently. For instance, boys may resort to physical bullying and girls are more likely to use relational bullying like ostracizing another student.

Look for what is called "gateway indicators." These are initial behaviors that students display that are often gateways for more intentional types of bullying. Some possible gateway indicators include rolling eyes, laughing under their breath, making jokes, turning their back on others, and using sarcasm. If you see these behaviors, look a little closer. There may be subtle forms of bullying taking place already.

Empower Student Bystanders

Strive to empower the bystanders in your class. Encourage them to stand up against bullying behavior or to report it to you or another adult. Remind them that research has shown that bullying ends when one person takes a stand. Then provide safe and confidential ways that they can report bullying incidents.

Keep Your Ear to the Ground

Victims of bullying are often afraid or embarrassed to come forward. As a result, you may need to rely on other students to let you know when bullying is occurring. Identify your class leaders early in the school year and check in with them. Let them be your eyes and ears when you cannot be present.

Also, be sure you make it safe for them to alert you of potential issues. No student wants to be called a snitch. So, make sure you implement ways for them to get information to you without the rest of the students knowing who it came from.

Maintain Open Communication

Strive to build a rapport with all your students. Get to know them as individuals. Greet each student every day and ask how things are going. Watch for signs that they might be experiencing bullying. Do your best to find out about their interests and goals. And if they are struggling, offer support or direct them to school resources where their specific needs can be met.

Increase Bullying Awareness Among Parents

Engage parents in your bullying prevention programs. Increase awareness through PTA/PTO meetings, conferences, newsletters, and social media. Encourage parents to support school rules and bullying intervention strategies. If a parent reports a bullying incident, be sure to investigate it right away. Try to partner with parents to reduce bullying incidents in your classroom.

Prevent Cliques in Your Classroom

One way to help prevent social cliques from forming in your classroom is to assign students to groups when they have a group project. When you allow kids to pick their own groups, this opens the door to bullying opportunities. It also allows cliques to strengthen, and it creates an opportunity for kids to ostracize others.

When you select the group, you are ensuring that your students learn to work with those outside their circle of friends. Pre-selected groups also give students the opportunity to learn how to work with different types of people.

Be an Anti-Bullying Advocate

Ensure that your school has effective anti-bullying goals and policies. Talk with other staff members about developing a culture that holds students who bully accountable and doesn't blame the victim. Some people mistakenly believe that victims of bullying bring it on themselves. But bullies must always own the bullying behavior. Encourage everyone to adopt this mindset.

Build Community

Foster a sense of community in the classroom and school. When students feel like part of a community, schools can decrease bullying incidents, improve school climate, and facilitate healing for anyone who has been affected by bullying.

When students feel connected to their school, their peers, and their teacher, they do better. Do what you can to create a sense of community among your students. Create a team atmosphere where everyone feels like they belong and the students learn to support one another.

Respond Quickly to Bullying

When you spot bullying, address it right away. Avoid normalizing bullying with statements like "kids will be kids." If you minimize bullying, you are sending a message that bullying is OK.

When you do that, kids are less likely to feel safe in school and the bullying will likely escalate. Bullies expect their victims to keep silent about their actions. Surprise them and call them out. Bullying is no longer an effective tool for them if they are disciplined when they engage in it.

Speak With the Victim Privately

Create an environment where your students feel safe talking with you. Empathize with how they are feeling and provide ideas for overcoming bullying. Make a commitment to help the victim resolve the issue.

Also, don't try to talk to the victim in front of the bully. The victimized student won't be as forthcoming or truthful about what happened with the bully present. Fear of retaliation often keeps victims silent. Make sure you schedule a safe time to talk with the victim when the bully will not be aware of the meeting.

Speak With the Bully Separately

When you meet with students that bully others, don't allow them to blame the victim. Instead, encourage them to own their behavior. Address the bullying behavior and administer the appropriate discipline.

Then, give them ideas for behaving differently in the future. You may even require them to research bullying and write a report about it. The key is to teach kids who bully others how harmful their behavior is to other people.

Develop Appropriate Interventions

Both the victim and the bully need intervention and support. For instance, the victim may need to speak with ​a guidance counselor to regain self-esteem. The bully also may benefit from speaking with the guidance counselor (separately) to learn better ways of communicating.

Bullying is not the same as a conflict. It is an unbalanced situation where one student has more power than the other and uses that power to intimidate, humiliate, and wound the other student. Peer mediation or other types of group counseling are not effective in bullying situations.

Keep a Close Eye on the Situation

Keeping tabs on both the bully and the victim is an important step in making sure bullying ends. Watch how they interact in your classroom. Keep an eye on them at lunch and pay attention to what happens at recess. Make a few surprise visits to the bus area. Observing how your students interact with each other will help prevent future bullying incidents.

Check in With Both the Victim and the Bully

In private conversations, ask your students how things are going and if they're having any problems. Give the victim tools for dealing with future bullying incidents and for regaining self-confidence. Encourage the bully to make good choices.

Also, don't hold a grudge against students who bully. Give them an opportunity to put the past in the past. With the proper support and encouragement, they can learn to treat others with respect and kindness.

Make Your Classroom a Safe Space

When you have a bully in your classroom, this impacts the entire class, not just the victim. For many students, the classroom can suddenly feel like an unsafe place-even if they were never targeted by the bully. Not only do they experience fear and emotional distress, but they also may have trouble concentrating.

Rre-establish your classroom as a safe place. This may mean going back to what you did during the first days of school when you talked about the importance of respect and kindness.

A Word From Verywell

Taking steps to prevent bullying in your classroom will go a long way in improving your effectiveness as an educator. Bullying distracts your students from learning, especially if they are anxious about becoming the next target.

Take steps early to establish that you will not tolerate any type of bullying. You will have a greater impact on your students when you address bullying consistently and effectively. Turning a blind eye to bullying causes students to lose faith in you as an educator and as a person.

Verywell Family uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. Ladd GW, Ettekal I, Kochenderfer-Ladd B. Peer victimization trajectories from kindergarten through high school: Differential pathways for children's school engagement and achievement. J Edu Psychol. 2017;109(6):826-841. doi:10.1037/edu0000177

2. Wolke D, Lereya ST. Long-term effects of bullying. Arch Dis Child. 2015;100(9):879-885. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2014-306667.

3. Silva MA, Pereira B, Mendonça D, Nunes B, de Oliveira WA. The involvement of girls and boys with bullying: an analysis of gender differences. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2013;10(12):6820-6831. doi:10.3390/ijerph10126820.

4. Denny S, Peterson ER, Stuart J, et al. Bystander intervention, bullying, and victimization: A multilevel analysis of New Zealand high schools. J School Violence. 2015;14(3):245-272. doi:10.1080/15388220.2014.910470.

5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Warning signs for bullying.

6. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Respond to bullying.

7. Rettew DC, Pawlowski S. Bullying. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2016;25(2):235-242. doi:10.1016/j.chc.2015.12.002.

8. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Effects of bullying.

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17 Ways to Prevent Bullying in Your Classroom

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As an educator, you have a responsibility to create a safe and healthy environment in your classroom-one that protects every student from bullying. This means you must not only identify and address bullying consistently; you also must create a culture of respect and dignity in your classroom.

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We can list them briefly to give an example of how to prevent bullying, the suggestion intervened on the website page:
-Helping kids understand bullying.
-Keeping the lines of communication happen.
-Encouraging the kids to do what they love.
-Modeling how to treat others.

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Parents, school staff, and other caring adults have a role to play in preventing bullying. They can:

Help Kids Understand Bullying

Kids who know what bullying is can better identify it. They can talk about bullying if it happens to them or others. Kids need to know ways to safely stand up to bullying and how to get help.

Encourage kids to speak to a trusted adult if they are bullied or see others being bullied. The adult can give comfort, support, and advice, even if they can't solve the problem directly. Encourage the child to report bullying if it happens.

Talk about how to stand up to kids who bully. Give tips, like using humor and saying "stop" directly and confidently. Talk about what to do if those actions don't work, like walking away

Talk about strategies for staying safe, such as staying near adults or groups of other kids.

Urge them to help kids who are bullied by showing kindness or getting help.

Watch the short webisodes and discuss them - PDF with kids.

Keep the Lines of Communication Open

Research tells us that children really do look to parents and caregivers for advice and help on tough decisions. Sometimes spending 15 minutes a day talking can reassure kids that they can talk to their parents if they have a problem. Start conversations about daily life and feelings with questions like these:

What was one good thing that happened today? Any bad things?

What is lunch time like at your school? Who do you sit with? What do you talk about?

What is it like to ride the school bus?

What are you good at? What would do you like best about yourself?

Talking about bullyin g directly is an important step in understanding how the issue might be affecting kids. There are no right or wrong answers to these questions, but it is important to encourage kids to answer them honestly. Assure kids that they are not alone in addressing any problems that arise. Start conversations about bullying with questions like these:

What does "bullying" mean to you?

Describe what kids who bully are like. Why do you think people bully?

Who are the adults you trust most when it comes to things like bullying?

Have you ever felt scared to go to school because you were afraid of bullying? What ways have you tried to change it?

What do you think parents can do to help stop bullying?

Have you or your friends left other kids out on purpose? Do you think that was bullying? Why or why not?

What do you usually do when you see bullying going on?

Do you ever see kids at your school being bullied by other kids? How does it make you feel?

Have you ever tried to help someone who is being bullied? What happened? What would you do if it happens again?

Get more ideas for talking with children - PDF about life and about bullying. If concerns come up, be sure to respond.

There are simple ways that parents and caregivers can keep up-to-date with kids' lives.

Read class newsletters and school flyers. Talk about them at home.

Check the school website

Go to school events

Greet the bus driver

Meet teachers and counselors at "Back to School" night or reach out by email

Share phone numbers with other kids' parents

Teachers and school staff also have a role to play.

Encourage Kids to Do What They Love

Help kids take part in activities, interests, and hobbies they like. Kids can volunteer, play sports, sing in a chorus, or join a youth group or school club. These activities give kids a chance to have fun and meet others with the same interests. They can build confidence and friendships that help protect kids from bullying.

Model How to Treat Others with Kindness and Respect

Kids learn from adults' actions. By treating others with kindness and respect, adults show the kids in their lives that there is no place for bullying. Even if it seems like they are not paying attention, kids are watching how adults manage stress and conflict, as well as how they treat their friends, colleagues, and families.

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Parents, school staff, and other adults can help prevent bullying.

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Why Students Feel They Need to Bully Others

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Why Students Feel They Need to Bully Others

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As mentioned in the article here, Students bully others for these reasons:
-Power,
-Popularity,
-Payback,
-Problems at home,
-Pleasure,
-Prejudices,
-Peer Pressure.

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Why do kids bully others? In order to help both bullies and their targets, it's important to understand bullying behavior. But to do so, adults need to move past the usual assumptions (say, that all bullies are loners or lack self-esteem).

Research shows that the reasons behind bullying can run the gamut from lack of impulse control and anger management issues to revenge and a longing to fit in. Knowing more about why bullies do what they do can guide the way this behavior is addressed.

Teens who want to be in control or have power are prone to bullying. This may be because they do not feel any power in their own life, which makes obtaining it in social interactions more appealing.

These teens may prefer to only interact with others when it is on their terms. If things do not go their way, they may resort to bullying. Tweens and teens engaging in relational aggression (often called "mean girl" behavior) also may be seeking power.

Athletes and physically strong students (or kids with other types of perceived power) may resort to bullying because of the power they have over weaker or smaller students. Additionally, some athletes bully each other in an attempt to eliminate competition on the team.

Popularity

Sometimes, bullying can be a manifestation of social status. Kids who are popular often make fun of kids who are less popular by perpetuating relational aggression. Popularity also can lead kids to spread rumors and gossip, engage in slut-shaming, and ostracize others.

Meanwhile, kids who are trying to climb the social ladder at school or gain some social power may resort to bullying to get attention. They also might bully others to diminish the social status of another person.

Some teens who have been victims of bullying to look for ways to retaliate or to seek revenge. These kids are often referred to as "bully-victims," and they often feel justified in their actions because they too have been harassed and tormented.

When they bully others, they may feel a sense of relief and vindication for what they experienced. Sometimes, these kids target someone weaker or more vulnerable than them. Other times, they will even go after the person who bullied them.

Problems at Home

Teens who come from abusive homes are more likely to bully because aggression and violence are modeled for them. Kids with permissive or absent parents also may resort to bullying. It gives them a sense of power and control, which is lacking in their own life. And kids with low self-esteem may bully as a way to cover for a low sense of self-worth.

Sibling bullying also can lead to bullying at school. When an older brother or sister taunts and torments a younger sibling, this creates a sense of powerlessness. To regain that feeling of power, these kids then bully others, sometimes even emulating the actions of their older sibling.

Kids who are bored and looking for entertainment will sometimes resort to bullying to add some excitement and drama to their lives. They also might choose to bully because they lack attention and supervision from their parents. As a result, bullying becomes an outlet for getting attention.

Meanwhile, kids that lack empathy often enjoy hurting other people's feelings. Not only do they appreciate the sense of power they get from bullying others, but they may find hurtful "jokes" funny.

Prejudices

It's not uncommon for teens bully peers who are different in some way. For instance, kids may be targeted because they have special needs or food allergies. Other times, kids are singled out for their race, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Some sort of prejudice is often at the root of bullying.

Peer Pressure

Sometimes, kids bully others to fit in with a clique, even if it means going against their better judgment. Often, these kids are more concerned with fitting in and being accepted than they are worried about the consequences of bullying.

Other times, kids will bully because they are simply going along with the group. Fear of not being accepted or fear of becoming the next target can lead kids to bully in groups.

If your child is being bullied, get them help. Contact their school (if it's taking place at school) and a counselor, if needed. Listen to them and let them know you are there for them. Emphasize that it's not their fault. Make a plan to keep them safe.

A Word From Verywell

Making sense of why kids bully others can help victims, parents, and perpetrators alike better understand what is going on-and provide insights into how to stop it. While this does not in any way excuse the behavior, rarely is the bullying really about the person who is getting bullied. Instead, the behavior is often a reflection of the struggles the person who is bullying is going through.

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8 Reasons Why Bullies Engage in Hurtful Behavior

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Bullies target other kids for a variety of reasons. Discover the top eight things that motivate teens to bully others.

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We know that before bullying happens, parents should take action. We know they have a big responsibility on their shoulders but before everything gets worse, there are ways to prevent it.
they should:

- teach their kids to consider others' feelings and get them to empathize with others.
-teach them how they can control their anger
-tell them they can get their points across without showing any kind of physical violence.

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Addressing the signs of bullying early, before the behaviour and its impact get worse, is important to creating a safe and caring school and community.

As a parent, you can help to prevent bullying by teaching your children how to:

be caring of others

get along

deal with angry feelings

be assertive without being aggressive in standing up for themselves

Children need to understand how important it is to report bullying. Parents can help by encouraging children to talk about what is happening at school, in their neighbourhoods, on the bus, etc.

As well, it is important to teach children the difference between telling and tattling.

Tattling is reporting to an adult about someone else's behaviour in order to get them in trouble.

Telling is reporting to a responsible adult about someone else's behaviour in order to help someone - themselves or someone else.

As the parent of a secondary school student, you will continue to monitor and supervise your child's activities. Aside from representing your children, your role will be to help them build the skills to act on their own behalf. When something goes wrong at school, they need to know where they can turn for guidance and support, and what action to expect. Parents and families can help children understand the importance of reporting harassment and guide them through the complaint and investigation process.

Listen carefully to your child

Young children may be reluctant to report bullying, or may not even recognize it. They may think:

Many secondary school students are reluctant to have their parents and families involved. They may think:

you will make the situation worse

even with your help their concerns will be ignored by the school

they will suffer retaliation

the problem isn't that bad

they can handle the problem themselves

Children will talk about the harassment when they know you will listen and help. As you listen and talk to your child, the conversation will help you determine your level of involvement. Consider the following questions:

Does my child need my help or protection?

How can I help my child stay safe?

What information do I need?

Where can I go for help?

Decide how you can help

When your child's safety or ability to function at school is affected, intervention is vital. How you intervene is just as important. When talking to your child about reporting the situation, explain the difference between "ratting" and "reporting." Ratting or snitching is a negative label used by the harasser to discourage children from reporting. It takes courage to report. Reporting is done to help keep someone safe.

When your child is the victim

Work with your child to bolster confidence and find ways to deal with the problem. By the time you know that your child is being bullied, it is likely that he or she has tried many ways to solve the problem. Standing up to a harasser may make things worse. Talk to your child about how the incident could be reported.

If your child is the victim of bullying, encourage him/her to report it as soon as possible. Parents of primary/elementary students should contact the school as soon as possible. If your child is older, you may wish to discuss with them how you will proceed. Your child's teacher, guidance counsellor and/or principal are able to work with you to determine:

You may request:

You and your child may also request (and will want to request in more serious cases):

A person of your choice to accompany you to all meetings

Information on how the investigation will be kept confidential

Minutes of all meetings

Gather support outside the school

The school has the primary responsibility to act on your child's concerns about safety within the school setting. When and how the school involves outside agencies depends on how the school views the severity of the incidents. It also depends on the relationships and protocols your school/district has developed with outside agencies.

If at any time you believe your child is in danger, make a report directly to your local police. It helps to have a written record of the incidents and your actions to solve the problem.

When your child is the bystander

Encourage your child to report bullying and practice skills that will help them develop the confidence to speak up. Many elementary school students are reluctant and fearful to step in when they see someone else being bullied. They may believe:

The bully will turn on them

They will make it worse for the victim

The situation may get worse and they will get into trouble

There will be no support or action from other students or from the adults

Bullying affects everyone. It is up to everyone to create safety at school. Silence only makes the problem worse.

When you encourage your child to report bullying, make sure the same safeguards are in place for your child as for the victim. Your child's teacher, guidance counsellor and/or principal are able to work with you to determine:

When your child is the bully

Your child and the school need your support to effectively address bullying, and to provide a safe place for all students and staff. You can help by remaining calm and working with the school to find out why your child bullies others. You may also work with your child to find ways to make amends to the victim. Remember, it is not your child who is unacceptable; it is the behaviour. Support your child in seeking fair treatment during any investigation or discipline process. Schools are encouraged to try alternatives to out-of-school suspensions.

If an investigation or discipline (including suspension) takes place, you should know that:

The school must provide curriculum missed to suspended students under 16 years of age.

There may be services available to your child, such as a psychological assessment or referral to an outside agency that will help your child recognize the seriousness of the behaviour and keep it from happening again.

Your child can choose a parent or other support person to be present at all meetings and interviews.

You should be informed of the appeal procedure.

Whether your child is a victim, bully or bystander, programs may be available in your school district to help. These may include:

bully prevention

anger management

conflict resolution

restorative justice

mentoring

school counselling

peer counselling

peer mediation

social responsibility programs

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What Parents Can Do To Prevent Bullying - Education

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Addressing the signs of bullying early, before the behaviour and its impact get worse, is important to creating a safe and caring school and community. As a parent, you can help to prevent bullying by teaching your children how to: be caring of others get along deal with angry feelings be assertive without being aggressive in standing up for themselves Children need to understand how important it is to report bullying.

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Common Characteristic Features of Bullies

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Common Characteristic Features of Bullies

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Someone can go through different occasions throughout their lives, we cannot know that. But the things happen to them and the outcomes can be certain things that we can even list. These are the common features among the bullies:

-Problems with anger control
-Denying imposed rules
-considering the things they do as normal
-being after fame
-feeling all the control in their hands

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While some kids turn into bullies during preschool, other kids don't start bullying until the teen years. To the surprise of many parents and teachers, sometimes, even the good kids can start bullying.

Learning about the common characteristics of a teenage bully can help you identify the kids who are at risk of becoming a bully. It can also help you better understand why some kids turn into bullies and others don't.

While one teenage bully may primarily attack people online, others may bully their peers at school. Despite whatever method they use to torment their targets, research shows most teenage bullies share these characteristics and exhibit these behaviors:

Impulsive

Anger management problems

Tries to control other people, rather than inspiring others to follow

Easily frustrated and annoyed

Lacks empathy, isn't sympathetic to anyone's needs or desires but their own

Blames a victim for his own behavior by saying things like, "If that geek didn't look so stupid, I wouldn't have to hit him."

Difficulty following rules and little respect for authority

View violence in a positive way, such as a form of entertainment or a good way to get needs met

Boys who bully tend to be physically stronger than other children

Girls who bully tend to be perceived as popular

There is no single cause of bullying among children. A host of different factors can place a child at risk for bullying his or her peers.

However, it has been found that children who bully are more likely than their non-bullying peers to come from homes with certain characteristics. Here are some common family risk factors for bullying:

Lack of Warmth and Involvement on the Part of Parents: This can be because the child lives with a single parent who is not at home or is too tired to give time and attention to a child. It may also result in homes where parents are apathetic about their kids and lack the desire to be involved in their activities.

Overly Permissive Parenting: When children are given few rules and little guidance, they may try to control their peers. Permissive parents don't set limits and they often make children feel entitled.

Lack of Parental Supervision: Without appropriate supervision, teens have to fend for themselves. They may find that being mean, bossy, and demanding gets their needs met temporarily. But since bullies struggle to establish healthy relationships, their behavior backfires in the long-term.

Harsh, Physical Discipline: Parents who use corporal punishment, or those who instill consequences that border on abusive, may raise children to bully others. Teenagers who have been shamed often want to shame others.

Chaos and Conflict: Children who witness bullying in the home or those who are bullied by siblings are more likely to bully others. Constant chaos in the home, such as frequent moves, may also contribute to bullying.

Bullying may stem from underlying psychological issues. Mental health issues, like anxiety, or a behavior disorder, like oppositional defiant disorder, may contribute to bullying. Other teens begin to bully after they've been abused or experienced a traumatic event.

While there is much discussion about what happens to young people are victims of bullying, there's less discussion about the consequences bullies receive. While many of them experience individual consequences, society as a whole can pay a big price for children who bully.

Children who frequently bully their peers are more likely than others to:

Get into frequent fights

Be injured in a fight

Vandalize or steal property

Drink alcohol

Smoke

Be truant from school

Drop out of school

Carry a weapon

If your child is a bully, address the issues head-on. Provide increased supervision, set clear limits, and enforce consequences.

Talk to your teen about bullying. Discuss the consequences it can have on other kids as well as the potential legal, social, and educational consequences it can have on your teen.

If bullying persists, get professional help. A mental health professional may be able to rule out an underlying mental health issue and can teach your teen the social skills he needs to get his needs met without picking on other kids.

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The Most Common Characteristics of a Teenage Bully

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While some kids turn into bullies during preschool, other kids don't start bullying until the teen years. To the surprise of many parents and teachers, sometimes, even the good kids can start bullying. Learning about the common characteristics of a teenage bully can help you identify the kids who are at risk of becoming a bully.

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According to research, the ratio of bullied students in Turkey is between 11% and 50%.

Gökler, R. (2009). Okullarda akran zorbalığı. Uluslararası İnsan Bilimleri Dergisi, 6(2), 511-537.

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The Correlation Between Bullying and Suicidalness

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The Correlation Between Bullying and Suicidalness

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Although studies show no direct correlation between the two matters, both bullying and getting bullied increase the risk of suicidalness as it has a bad influence on the student's mental health.

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A bullied kid has a higher possibility of sleep problems, anxiety, depression, panic disorder, agoraphobia (fear of going outside or going to places they do not feel safe in), and suicidalness.

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Bullying may have a reputation as a schoolyard problem, but its mental health effects go far beyond the schoolyard. Bullied children face an increased risk of social and emotional problems in the short and long term, even into adulthood.

Starting A Conversation About Bullying
When you suspect bullying, it's important not to wait for the child to say something. Initiate the conversation yourself and ask if they're afraid of or uncomfortable around anyone at school.

It's hard to know what to do when a child is being bullied. Don't be afraid to ask. Ask the child to identify adults at school they trust. Find out if there's anything the child thinks you can do to help stop the bullying.

Talk to them about healthy responses, too. Avoid the glib response of "just walk away" and brainstorm with the child: How can they feel mentally strong and safe around the bully?

Some kids enjoy having a snappy comeback for the bully. Others prefer to take refuge at a friend's lunch table. Make sure the child knows that they don't have to be friends with everyone - just one good friend can be enough to make you feel strong.

Remember, having a safe space to talk is hugely important for children's mental health. It's the difference between feeling alone in the face of a bully and knowing that they have someone at their back.

Bullying Prevention Strategies

Every U.S. state requires schools to implement bullying prevention programs, yet one in every five students say that someone has bullied them. What's more, 41% of students who have been bullied think it would happen again.

The problem is that children have their own social worlds, largely under the radar of adult eyes, and it's hard to find a prevention program that will break that barrier. Punishment-based programs don't work, and neither do strategies that require the children to "work it out" among themselves.

Positive school climates. When a school invests time and attention in building positive relationships among students and encouraging every child's mental and emotional health, rates of bullying decrease. This includes giving teachers the tools they need to handle bullying among their students.

Social and emotional learning programs. Children need to learn to manage their feelings and regulate their behaviors. Social and emotional learning programs help by teaching them to understand how they feel and choose positive expressions.

Impact of Bullying

Bullying happens when one child has a physical or social advantage over another, and they use that advantage to act aggressively toward the other.
Short-term effects.
In the short-term, bullying can lead to:

These experiences can seem to fade away over time, but that doesn't mean the child has "gotten over it." Research increasingly shows that children who experience bullying are at a higher risk of mental health problems as they grow into adulthood.
Long-term effects.
The effects of bullying don't go away when a child grows up. Research shows that young adults who are bullied as a child have an increased risk of mental health difficulties, including:

Mental Health Outcomes for People Who Bully
Bullying doesn't just harm the victim. Research shows that young bullies are more likely to be aggressive and act out in other ways.

They're also more likely to feel less positive about the future and develop antisocial personality disorder as adults.

Children who are both bullies and bullied tend to struggle the most as adults.

These children have the highest rates of anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and substance abuse, compared to children who are victims or bullies only.

Responding to Bullying

This cycle of bullying and poor mental health isn't inevitable. It may stop if adults learn to notice bullying and help children diffuse the situation.

Bullying takes many forms. It may be:

‌Physical: Hitting, kicking, punching, etc.

Verbal: Name-calling, teasing, threatening

‌Social: Exclusion, rumors, encouraging other bullies

Virtual: Posting untrue things online, sending threats

You may see some of these things happening, but not always. Bullying often happens when adults leave the room and children are alone together.

Instead, you might notice the effects of bullying, like a child who suddenly doesn't want to go to school or isn't talking to their friends anymore. A bullied child may also show physical symptoms like fatigue, headaches, or changes in eating habits.

Open communication at home. Adults can't intervene when they don't know what's going on, and children won't volunteer information if they don't feel emotionally safe. It's important for parents to encourage children to open up to them so that if bullying does begin, the child knows they can get help.

Remember, children are still developing their managing skills. They need adults' help in navigating their social world, whether that means direct intervention or just the support they need to make it through a tough time. It may seem like a small thing now, but it can transform their mental health in a big way.

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Bullying may have a reputation as a schoolyard problem, but its mental health effects go far beyond the schoolyard. Bullied children face an increased risk of social and emotional problems in the short and long term, even into adulthood. Starting A Conversation About Bullying When you suspect bullying, it's important not to wait for the child to say something.

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In US, %20 students reported being bullied. The percentage of students(12-18-year-olds) who are both bullied at school and online is at %15.

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Almost one out of every four students (22%) report being bullied during the school year (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2015). Rates of bullying vary across studies (from 9% to 98%).