Bullying as Abuse (From Youth Justice Handbook: Theory, Policy and Practice, P 50-60, 2010, Wayne Taylor, Rod Earle, and Richard Hester, eds. - See NCJ-229620)

• NCJ Number: 229622
• Author(s): Carrie-Anne Myers
• Date Published: 2010
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This chapter examines bullying in Great Britain's schools as a regular and frequent form of abuse experienced daily by youth, so as to encourage practitioners and others working with youth to see that bullying has become a normalized, accepted type of violence against youth by their peers.

Abstract

Bullying research was pioneered by Olweus (1993), and his definition of "bullying" is generally accepted. He defines bullying in a school setting as when a student is exposed "repeatedly and over time to negative actions on the part of one or more other students." Olweus further defines bullying as involving an imbalance of power between the bully and his/her victims, such that the victim has difficulty defending himself/herself. Bullying is most serious when it occurs regularly. Although bullying has become normalized in the school environment, it has not been ignored by the British Government. School bullying and violence have been high on the government's agenda since the Department for Education and Skills (2000) launched its nationwide anti-bulling strategy entitled, "Bullying: Don't Suffer in Silence." Subsequently, a number of interventions have been undertaken to counter bullying. These include requiring every school in England and Wales to have an anti-bullying policy. The interventions have been predominantly whole-school approaches designed to improve the school environment and that of communities in which schools are located. The dominant aim of these interventions is to make students themselves responsible for the consequences of peer-group behaviors for the school's learning environment. Guidance for positive peer-group behaviors focuses on befriending socially isolated students, mediation/conflict resolution, and counseling. Evaluations of these programs have generally been positive, resulting in significant decreases in the incidence of problem behaviors in schools where they have been used. This chapter briefly discusses "cyberbullying" as psychological bullying through electronic media (mobile phones, Web sites and online chatrooms). 56 references