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.

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

Thesis (PhD(Beleidstudies))-Universiteit van Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Brock University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-81).

Thesis (M.A.)--Rowan University, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rowan University, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rowan University, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Rowan University, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.