University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences. / Department of Sociology

Bullying permeates all grade levels in schools. Despite antibullying initiatives implemented in a Midwest school district, bullying continued to occur. One aspect of bullying that is not often examined is the perceptions of bystanders, especially at the middle school level. The purposes of this quantitative survey design study were to examine (a) the frequency and level of bullying by grade level, (b) the relationship between middle school bystanders' willingness to intervene and grade level, and (c) perceptions of bullying interventions and grade level. Latané and Darley's bystander effect theory was the theoretical framework for this study. Descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis were used to examine survey data from 548 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who reported being bullied or observed bullying at school. Descriptive statistics results were that the majority of students were bullied occasionally (6th grade 57%, 7th grade 63%, and 8th grade 57%), while a smaller group of students (6th grade 22%, 7th grade 20%, and 8th grade 25%) were bullied every day. Chi square results indicated there was no significant relationship between bystanders' willingness to intervene in bullying situations and their grade level. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between students' perceptions regarding impact of intervening for Grades 6 and 8, but not for Grade 7. It was concluded that, within this particular group, bullying was occurring in unsupervised areas in middle school, and few students were reporting an intent to help a student being bullied, despite their perceptions that intervening would be effective. It is recommended that students receive bystander intervention training that may reduce bullying. This endeavor may contribute to positive social change by providing bystander students with the skills necessary to intervene in incidences of bullying to reduce bullying in schools.

After an extensive literature review, results indicated research has been conducted examining the links between traditional bullying and suicide, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning (LGBTQ) identification and cyberbullying, as well as LGBTQ identification and suicide. However, it appears as though there is a dearth of studies examining the link between young adults identifying as LGBTQ who have experienced cyberbullying and the subsequent suicidal behaviors. The following research study attempts to answer the question of whether cyberbullying mediates the relationship between cyberbullying and suicidal behaviors. / School of Education / School Psychology / PhD / Dissertation

Thesis (M.Phil.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2006. / "Submitted to Department of Applied Social Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy" Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-129)

Studies show that teachers lack training and confidence when it comes to intervening effectively in bullying situations. The goal of this study is to respond to the appeals of pre-service teachers for more formal training on bullying, including prevention and intervention strategies. A two-hour PREVNet workshop that provides information on bullying, bullying prevention and bullying intervention is offered in four Canadian Teacher Education classes. Two unique questionnaires, each consisting of simulated bullying incidents in a school context and a set of teacher interventions, were developed, piloted with a group of experienced teachers, and used to assess the effect of the workshop on teachers’ reported interventions in bullying situations. The results of a series of repeated measures ANOVAs reveal a marginally significant effect of the workshop on pre-service teachers’ reported interventions (N = 66), with the greatest improvements revealed in participants’ responses to children who bully.

Researchers have consistently shown that as a society, we have failed to protect a large number of Aboriginal children and youths from violence and aggression across multiple contexts. Aboriginal children and youth are at a disproportionate risk of being involved in violent victimization ranging from homicides, family violence, and physical and sexual abuse compared to the rest of Canadian children and youth. However, the extent to which Aboriginal children and youths are involved in bullying remain largely unknown. In the present study, data from a Canadian population-based study was used to examine ethnic and sex differences in children’s and youths’ involvement of different forms of bullying (general, physical, verbal, social). Participants were categorized into three broad ethnic groups: Aboriginal, Caucasian, and ethnic minority. Results indicated that across the forms of bullying, Aboriginal children and youths were more frequently involved than their non Aboriginal peers. Sex differences also emerged, such that, Aboriginal boys were more frequently physically victimized than their non Aboriginal, same sex peers while no ethnic group differences were found for girls. The results highlight the need for an Aboriginal-specific bullying policy and specialized programs and services at school to support this vulnerable group of Canadian school-aged children.

Faculty of Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies

Studies show that teachers lack training and confidence when it comes to intervening effectively in bullying situations. The goal of this study is to respond to the appeals of pre-service teachers for more formal training on bullying, including prevention and intervention strategies. A two-hour PREVNet workshop that provides information on bullying, bullying prevention and bullying intervention is offered in four Canadian Teacher Education classes. Two unique questionnaires, each consisting of simulated bullying incidents in a school context and a set of teacher interventions, were developed, piloted with a group of experienced teachers, and used to assess the effect of the workshop on teachers’ reported interventions in bullying situations. The results of a series of repeated measures ANOVAs reveal a marginally significant effect of the workshop on pre-service teachers’ reported interventions (N = 66), with the greatest improvements revealed in participants’ responses to children who bully.

Researchers have consistently shown that as a society, we have failed to protect a large number of Aboriginal children and youths from violence and aggression across multiple contexts. Aboriginal children and youth are at a disproportionate risk of being involved in violent victimization ranging from homicides, family violence, and physical and sexual abuse compared to the rest of Canadian children and youth. However, the extent to which Aboriginal children and youths are involved in bullying remain largely unknown. In the present study, data from a Canadian population-based study was used to examine ethnic and sex differences in children’s and youths’ involvement of different forms of bullying (general, physical, verbal, social). Participants were categorized into three broad ethnic groups: Aboriginal, Caucasian, and ethnic minority. Results indicated that across the forms of bullying, Aboriginal children and youths were more frequently involved than their non Aboriginal peers. Sex differences also emerged, such that, Aboriginal boys were more frequently physically victimized than their non Aboriginal, same sex peers while no ethnic group differences were found for girls. The results highlight the need for an Aboriginal-specific bullying policy and specialized programs and services at school to support this vulnerable group of Canadian school-aged children.

As technology advances, it appears that the adolescent age group is becoming more aligned with the various forms of communication that are available such as cell phones with texting, instant messaging on the Internet, as well as social networking websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Bullying with these forms of communication technology has become known as Cyberbullying (Li, 2006). Communication technology use across Canada has been steadily increasing over the past few decades (Statistics Canada, 2010). With this increase, it is not surprising that adolescents are increasing the amount of time that they spend with communication technology (i.e. cell phones and Internet) whether it is school related use or socializing. Communication technology makes it more difficult for victims of cyberbullying to avoid the bullying and potentially increases the side effects that a victim may feel. This study explored how adolescents experience cyberbullying. More specifically, in order to set the context for the study, it was explored how adolescents use communication technology (i.e. internet, cell phone, etc.) and whether there are differences between genders. Then, with specific focus on cyberbullying, how adolescents respond to the cyberbullying experience (as victim or perpetrator) and what views or attitudes adolescents had regarding cyberbullying were explored. Anonymous questionnaires regarding cyberbullying and student life satisfaction were completed by 334 students in Grade 11 and 12 in a southern Saskatchewan high school. Approximately 33 percent of participants indicated being a victim of cyberbullying, 20 percent reported cyberbullying others, and almost 60 percent witnessed cyberbullying. Females reported experiencing stronger feelings in response to being cyberbullied than males and also felt more guilt than males when cyberbullying others. Those females who had experienced cyberbullying victimization tended to hold more negative attitudes towards cyberbullying (i.e., thinking cyberbullying is harmful) than males. Males who tended to bully others more frequently tended to have more positive attitudes toward cyberbullying (i.e., thinking cyberbullying was a normal part of adolescence) than females. Participants also offered potential solutions on how to stop cyberbullying that included increasing education and awareness as well as using blocking and privacy features of Internet devices. Other findings indicate that participants who were not involved in cyberbullying, either as a victim or cyberbully, were more likely to report higher levels of life satisfaction than those involved in cyberbullying.