The present study explored the experiences of victimization and immigration among immigrant youth in the Peel region in Ontario, Canada. Victimization included the experiences of bullying and ethnic discrimination in the school environment. The study utilized a phenomenological approach to investigate how immigrant youth interpreted their experiences and whether they identified victimization as bullying, ethnic discrimination or both. The effects of victimization on adaptation and acculturation were also explored. Results from individual interviews of six youth (ages 16 or 17) indicated that immigrant youth viewed bullying and discrimination as separate constructs. Themes that emerged from the interviews included the importance of language proficiency; the role of peer affiliations; and factors associated with resiliency. It was evident through their descriptions that immigrant youth face unique challenges, which include adjusting to a new culture and country of residence, establishing a new social circle, and gaining comfort in utilizing the English language.

The present study explored the experiences of victimization and immigration among immigrant youth in the Peel region in Ontario, Canada. Victimization included the experiences of bullying and ethnic discrimination in the school environment. The study utilized a phenomenological approach to investigate how immigrant youth interpreted their experiences and whether they identified victimization as bullying, ethnic discrimination or both. The effects of victimization on adaptation and acculturation were also explored. Results from individual interviews of six youth (ages 16 or 17) indicated that immigrant youth viewed bullying and discrimination as separate constructs. Themes that emerged from the interviews included the importance of language proficiency; the role of peer affiliations; and factors associated with resiliency. It was evident through their descriptions that immigrant youth face unique challenges, which include adjusting to a new culture and country of residence, establishing a new social circle, and gaining comfort in utilizing the English language.

A COMPARISON OF PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS, PARENTS AND SCHOOL PERSONNEL REGARDING BULLYING BEHAVIOR Joan Buchar July 2, 2004 52 Pages Directed by: Richard W. Wilson, J. David Dunn, Lisa L. Lindley Department of Public Health Western Kentucky University Bullying in America's schools is a problem that is, at best, a nuisance and at worst, the suspected cause of school shootings. Bullying is a persistent, physical or psychological abuse of power. It takes many forms from physical assault and name calling to shunning, ridicule or exclusion. The victims are usually powerless to change conditions and often bullying is ignored or dismissed as a "rite of passage". However, serious lifelong results can be experienced by bullies and victims. Victims can suffer from depression and suicidal tendencies; bullies can be at risk for commission of criminal offenses. In order to prevent, reduce or stop bullying in a school, school personnel need to collaborate with families and students to understand the problem and find a solution to it. In this study, students, parents and school personnel were surveyed regarding the perceptions of whether and what types of bullying behaviors occurred at a small, predominately low-income, public elementary school in western Kentucky during the 2002-2003 school year. Responses were also elicited regarding attitudes toward bullying, bullies and victims. The surveys were administered to third, fourth and fifth grade students. Parent and school surveys were returned voluntarily and all responses were anonymous. A chi square test for homogeneity of populations was administered and results reported. Students and teachers reported more bullying occurrences than did the parents. Additionally, school officials believed they did better job handling bullying events than did the parents or students. Finally, students' attitudes toward bullies, bullying and victims differed significantly from both the school officials and the parents.

Retrospective studies of college students who recall experiencing bullying during childhood and/or adolescence have found that being the target of bullying may place one at greater risk for depression (Roth, Coles, & Heimburg, 2002; Storch et al., 2001), anxiety disorders (McCabe, et al., 2003; Roth et al.) and interpersonal relationships (Schafer et al., 2004) in comparison to peers who do not recall a history of bullying during childhood or adolescence. However, researchers have found that not all targets of bullying develop such problems in adulthood (Schafer et al., 2004; Dempsey & Storch, 2008). Little attention has been devoted to understanding resiliency among adults who experienced bullying during childhood and/or adolescence (Davidson & Demaray, 2007). The purpose of this dissertation was to 1). Explore gender and racial/ethnic differences in recall of perceived seriousness of past bullying experiences 2). Replicate past findings regarding the association between past experiences with bullying and depression, anxiety, and loneliness in college students 3). Explore whether coping resources accounted for differences in symptoms of distress. A total of 211 college students completed the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire (Schaefer, et al, 2004); The Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1982); UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, 1996) and the Coping Resources Inventory for Stress-Short form (CRIS-SF; Matheny, Curlette, Aycock, & Curlette, 1993). Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to investigate gender and racial/ethnic differences in perceived seriousness of bullying. Hierarchical linear regression was used to test whether coping resources moderated the relationship between psychosocial distress in adults and past experiences with bullying. Females in this study reported that they perceived their experiences with relational bullying during middle/high school to be more serious than males. There were no significant differences between males and females in perceived seriousness of physical bullying during elementary or middle/high school, verbal bullying during elementary or middle/high school or relational bullying during elementary school. Males and females did not differ significantly in the duration of bullying experiences. White students reported that they perceived their experiences with relational and verbal bullying during middle/high school in middle/high school to be more serious. There were no significant differences between the racial/ethnic groups in perceived seriousness of physical, verbal, or relational bullying during elementary school. There also were no significant differences among the racial/ethnic groups duration of bullying. Implications for future research and clinical practice are addressed. Perceived seriousness of bullying and duration of bullying during childhood and adolescence was found to predict depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Coping resources were not found to be significant moderators of distress.

To date, little empirical work regarding workplace bullying has been done in Canada, thus, a more extensive look at this phenomenon in the Canadian context is needed. One-hundred-and-twenty University of Saskatchewan employees at different levels (e.g., faculty, support staff, administration) were recruited to complete an on-line survey designed to test a number of predictions. The primary goals set forth in the present project were threefold: (1) estimate the prevalence of varying workplace bullying behaviours in a Canadian context; (2) examine connections between workplace environments and prevalence of these aggressive behaviours; and (3) explore whether individuals willingness to intervene in aggressive actions they witness is tied to features of the workplace environment and other mitigating factors. In relation to prevalence, employees reported more witnessed bullying, as compared to experienced bullying. Although no gender differences were observed for rates of bullying, participants did report significantly more female than male perpetrators. In accordance with the studys predictions, negative work environments were positively associated with the prevalence of bullying behaviour. However, in general, negative work environments were not tied to bystanders willingness to intervene in aggressive actions. Other mitigating factors were positively linked to a bystanders willingness to intervene in a bullying incident, including: bullying event is considered serious; someone else steps in to intervene first; bullying is considered a recurring event; bystander likes the victim; bystander dislikes the bully; bystander believes victim did not deserve the bullying behaviour; and victim believes intervening will not take a lot of time and energy. Implications, as well as practical applications of these findings are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to explore how having Mexican American friends influences a person?s perception to racial/ethnic (Mexican American) specific teasing. This study sought to extend the research on friendships and prejudice by investigating how friendship influences a person rating of ethnic specific teasing. This study is significant because promoting interracial friendships could be an avenue to alleviate some of the negative effects of racial teasing. Moreover, it may help facilitate and create a more comfortable social environment that might help ethnic minorities in school. Participants were asked to rate vignettes, including characters that were identified as Mexican American, which contained racial/ethnic specific teasing. They were asked to rate the vignettes according to adjectives that were either positive or negative, such as: humorous, friendly, mean, and cruel. Additionally, measures of empathy, social desirability, prejudice, and white racial consciousness were administered. Participants were asked to think of a Mexican American friend and complete a questionnaire, the Acquaintance Description Form F-2, as a way of measuring the intensity and closeness of this friendship. The major hypothesis was that participants who indicated a greater and more intense friendship with their Mexican American friend would rate the teasing as less positive and more disapproving. Analysis found that people have a more disapproving attitude toward teasing to the extent that they have, respectively, at least one Mexican American friend or a higher level of exposure to African Americans. Statuses of white racial consciousness were also found to be strong predictors for how participants rated vignettes. Findings somewhat supported both the Extended Contact Theory and the Intergroup Contact Theory, adding to the literature that finds when groups spend not only time together but quality time together benefits can be expected. Some of these benefits may help to reduce the positive perception of racial teasing and presumably less racial teasing. Future research should explore the relationship between white racial consciousness and attitudes and perceptions of racial specific teasing as a strong associate between the two emerged in this study. Additionally future research may explore whether less positive feelings of racial teasing is related to less racial teasing behaviors.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--Lancaster Bible College, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-66).

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

There are more news in recent years mentioning and discussing school bullying, and to some extent its relationship to cyberbullying. Bullying affects the whole community and has a great impact on pupils and adults (Hamarus & Kaikkonen, 2007). The increased reporting and seriousness of bullying may increase public awareness and concerns about cyberbullying, it brings to question how cyberbullying is different from traditional bullying and whether bullying is a threat to society or a moral panic generated by the media. As a result, this research aims to analyze the difference between traditional bullying and cyberbullying and discover whether there are any correlation factors related to bullying. This research is based on qualitative design with two focus groups and three individual interviews. There were 11 secondary school teachers aged between 23 to 53, who participated in this study. Results suggested the difference between cyberbullying and traditional bullying focuses mainly on the high accessibility, anonymity and more bystanders found on the web. Nonetheless, there are some similarities among traditional bullying and cyberbullying that both have ambiguous definitions and it is hard to define whether bullies are intentionally harm others. Furthermore, it is suggested there are transformations between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, which increases the seriousness of bullying harms. As a result, it seems there is an eagerness in tackling bullying, although one may question whether bullying is a moral panic. Nonetheless, as suggested in this study, there was no moral panic on bullying in Hong Kong as perceived by teachers, teachers on the other hand, did not perceive bullying as a threat as well. However there are some limitations which may vary the research result. Lastly, the results suggested there is more than one way to tackle bullying and not a single efficient tackling strategy. Since this study mainly recruited secondary school teachers, their perception on bullying may be different from the general public since they have more contact with bullying cases. Thus future study is needed with more randomization. Since bullies’ and victims’ voices will also be important in analyzing bullying, it is suggested that future studies can also recruit bullies and victims in sharing their personal experiences. / published_or_final_version / Criminology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

There has been a tremendous increase in the study of school bullying over the past 20 years, where research findings have shown that bullying occurs in school settings regardless of particular country or culture. The vast majority of this research has addressed the behavior of the aggressor (i.e., the bully), whereas relatively few studies have focused on children who are the targets of peer aggression (i.e., the victim). Research findings specific to victims of bullying have shown certain characteristics that indicate increased risk of victimization, such as social isolation, insecurity, and physical weakness.Based on circumstances or manifestations associated with having a disability in a school setting, students with disabilities may have some of the characteristics identified as risk factors for victimization. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether Hispanic students who have disabilities report higher rates of victimization by bullies in comparison to their non-disabled peers, and whether having a particular disability, if any, resulted in more frequent victimization. Forty-three (43) students participated in the study and completed the Reynolds Bully Victimization Scale (BVS) and the Olweus' Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ). The data from these measures were evaluated using Analysis of Variance, Multivariate Analysis of Variance, and Fisher's Exact Test.The results showed that students identified as having a disability obtained significantly higher BVS scores for victimization, and their BVS T-scores reached clinical significance levels significantly more often than those of non-disabled students. However, results from the OBVQ did not yield significant difference between students with and without disabilities. With respect to having different disabilities (specific learning disability, speech language impairment, & mild mental retardation), the results showed no significant differences in victimization rates for the BVS or the OBVQ. Similarly, no significant differences emerged for victimization across grade/school level. Further research is needed in this area, since the present study appears to be the first research in the United States that has attempted to compare bully victimization rates across students having various different disabilities.