Bullying
Bullying is a widespread and serious problem that can happen anywhere. It is not just a phase young people go through and it is not just innocent teasing. Bullying can cause serious and lasting harm. Following two well publicized incidents of youth suicide in which the victims had been bullied by classmates, Governor Patrick signed into law comprehensive legislation to address bullying in schools. This law requires school leaders to create and implement strategies to prevent bullying, and to address bullying promptly and effectively when it occurs.
Bullying can occur in any setting; at school, at home, out in the community. Often, bullying that has started at school continues after the school day ends through the use of cell phones and the internet (referred to as cyber bullying).
Although definitions of bullying vary, most agree that bullying involves:
- An Imbalance of Power: people who bully use their power to control or harm and the people being bullied may have a hard time defending themselves
- Intent to Cause Harm: actions done by accident are not bullying; the person bullying has a goal to cause harm
- Repetition: incidents of bullying happen to the same person over and over by the same person or group
Bullying can take many forms. Examples include:
- Verbal: name-calling, teasing, taunting, threats
- Social: spreading rumors, excluding people on purpose, intentionally breaking up friendships
- Physical: pushing, kicking, hitting, spitting, punching, gestures, damaging another person’s property
- Cyberbullying: Using the Internet, mobile phones or other digital technologies to harm others
Resources
It Gets Better Project: Responding to a number of students taking their lives after being bullied in school, columnist and author Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry to offer a personal way for supporters to inspire hope for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth facing harassment.The project has received submissions from many public figures and groups. Those submitting messages of hope include activists, politicians, and media personalities, including President Barack Obama. Several hundred donated It Gets Better Project videos are on the project’s blog site: http://www.itgetsbetter.org/video/.
School Bullying Prevention Program Matix: The Community Coalition for Teens in Franklin County put together a matrix summarizing 8 evidence-based bullying-prevention curricula and strategies identified by the Regional Lab at EDC and currently listed on the MA DESE website.
The Bullying Prevention Resource Guide is designed to help communities across the nation with bullying prevention. Here you will find a variety of information and tools ranging from needs assessment to capacity building to program design and development.
Stop Bullying Now: The links on this site will lead you through an exploration of interventions that work to reduce bullying in schools.
Cyberbullying Research Center is dedicated to providing up-to-date information about the nature, extent, causes, and consequences of cyberbullying among adolescents.
Stop Bullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on how kids, teens, young adults, parents, educators and others in the community can prevent or stop bullying.
Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, housed at Bridgewater State University, provides low- or no-cost services to K-12 education, law enforcement, and other professionals that work with children in Massachusetts. Services include school programs, conferences, workshops, consultation, and research, in the area of bullying prevention, cyberbullying education and prevention, and violence prevention.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use is a resource to help mobilize educators, parents, students, and others to combat online social aggression.
Committee for Children is a non-profit organization that houses evidence-based curriculum such as Second Step and Steps to Respect.
Rosalind Wiseman is an internationally recognized author and educator on children, teens, parenting, education and social justice. Her work aims to help parents, educators and young people successfully navigate the social challenges of young adulthood.
Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: Site of one of the foremost bullying prevention curricula on the market today.