Bullying
Bullying Individuals who are overweight or obese
- 1 in 3 children are overweight or obese - Often viewed in a negative manner by peers as being mean, lazy, unattractive, less intelligent, and less socially skilled - Often are socially marginalized, stigmatized, and rejected by peers - Encounter peer victimization at rates twice as high as their peers - 25% of teachers were shown to have negative attitudes
Bullying in Physical Education
- 11% of the students reported experiencing physical bullying - 14% experienced verbal bullying - 13% experienced social bullying - Bullying was one of the major reasons students dropped out of physical education
Prevalence of Bullying (in the US_
- 28% of all students grade 6-12 reported experiencing bullying - 71% of all students have witnessed a bullyinh incident take place while at school - 30% admitted to being a bully - Out of 24 million students surveyed 625,000 reported being bullied once or twice a week
Individuals who are LGBT and bullying report
- 82% have reported being verbally harassed - 38% reported being physical harassed - 18% reported being physically assaulted (punched, kicked, or injuried via a weapon) - 55% have reported experiencing some form of cyberbullying in the past year
Prevalence of Bullying Children with Disabilities
- 83% of children with learning difficulties - 82% of children who are disfluent (who stammer) - 70% of children with ASD and other characteristics such as OCD - Other disabilities commonly bullied includes: behavior disorders, emotional disorders, physical disabilities, and chronic medical illness
Cyberbullying
- A form of social bullying - Is when a child, preteen, or teen is: tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed, or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen, or teen using the internet, interactive and digital technologies, or mobile phones - 43% of teens surveyed claimed that they had experienced some form of cyberbullying in the pervious year - Prevalence of cyberbullying was reported to be higher in females than males - Was most prevalent among 15 and 16 year olds
Suggested Interventions for students who are LGBT
- A student call that addresses LGBT student issues (often called Gay-Straight Alliance [GSA]) - A curriculum that includes positive representations of LGBT people, history, and events - Educators who are supportive of LGBT students and provide a safe place - Comprehensive policies and laws that explicitly address bias-based bullying and harassment - Suicide-prevention programs available to students
Who are the victims of bullying?
- All children are possible victims - Those who are different in some way are particularly vulnerable ( LGBT, overweight, obese, or have a disability)
Other Prevention and Intervention Strategies (Part 3)
- Be a positive role model of good character - Use the introduction or closing to (discuss behaviors, emphasize expectations, praise those who were cooperative and kind) - Decrease competition and high contact activities - Use teams to build a sense of respect, trust, and protection - Avoid elimination games - Design a bully prevention contract for all students to sign - Design a behavioral contract for bullies
Teachers need to do ____ to help their students that are considered to be overweight or obese
- Be made aware of their attitudes and the implication of their attitude on the student and his/her peers - Change their attitude to decrease victimization
What is Bullying?
- Bullying is repeated exposure to purposeful attempts to injure or inflict discomfort and pain on another individual through words, physical contact, gestures, or exclusion from a group
Regardless of form bullying is always
- Deliberate and aggressive - Intentional - Unprovoked - Aimed to cause distress or pain - Recurring - A demonstration of a clear balance of power where the victim cannot defend him/herself
Characteristics that make students with disabilities more vulnerable
- Differences in physical attributes - Academic difficulties - Anxiety - Tendency to internalize problems - Shyness, submissiveness, passivity, and an external locus of control (including overprotective parents) - Uncooperative - Disruptive behavior - Aggressive - Language and communication difficulties - Difficulty interpreting nonverbal cues, communication messages, and teh feelings associated with those messages - Poor conversational skills - Inappropriate social behaviors or deficits in social competence - Low social status
Examples of physical bullying
- Hitting, kicking, pushing - Spitting on someone - Tripping or pushing - Taking or breaking someone's things - Locking someone in a room or closet
Physical bullying
- Involves hurting a person's body or possessions
Relational or Social Bullying
- Involves hurting someone's reputation or relationships
Experiences of those often involved in bullying
- Lack of connection - Feeling that they do not belong - Academic problems - Psychological difficulties - Social relationship problems - Anger - Aggression - Being violent - Hyperactivity Sadness - Depression - Anxiety - Insecurity - Loneliness - Low self-esteem
In physical Education (bullying for children with a disability)
- Lack of social and physical skills are apparent 0 Children with disabilities reported feeling that their activities were too difficult, that they were often left out of activities - Only 20% of teachers were reported to have intervened to help children with disabilities who were being bullied
Examples of relational or social bullying
- Leaving someone out on purpose - Telling others not to be friends with someone - Spreading rumors about someone - Embarrassing someone in public - Rejecting others from activities - Making others do things they do not want to do - Playing inappropriate jokes on someone - Ridiculing or humiliating someone - Threatening or terrorizing someone - Sending inappropriate notes or writing things on the wall about someone - Stealing or damaging another's property
What physical educators can do to help stop bullying?
- Modify the following to meet the needs of all children ( environment, information presented, outcomes, learning activities, team games (rules, scoring, equipment, organization)) - Teach students with disabilities social skills (independence, assertiveness, communication skills, conflict management skills)
Prevalance of Bullying According to the National Center for Educational Statistics
- More females than male student report being bullied at school (23%F 19%M) - Higher percentage of males report being physically bullied (6%M 4%F) and threatened with harm (5%M 3%F) - Bullied students reported that bullying occurred in the following places: hallway or stairwell at school (42%), inside the classroom (34%), cafeteria (22%), outside on school grounds (19%), on the school bus (10%), and in the bathroom or locker room (9%) - 43% of bullied students report notifying an adult at school about the incident - More than half of bullying situations (57%) stop when a peer intervenes on behalf of the student being bullied
Profile of a Bully (Traditional type of bully)
- One who is not well accepted by others and who exhibits emotional and social problems OR - One who is popular, usually social adept, is respected, is often a leader, has strong self-concept, usually physical attractive, wears clothes that are considered in style, and is often a good athlete
What happens in physical education or on a sports team in regards to bullying
- Physical contact may be used to intimidate - There is an undercurrent of social status and peer pressure and students/athletes may be allowed to wield their powers over others - Students/athletes allowed to tease or call names intimidating others - Students/athletes allowed to choose teams which may lead to social exclusion - Students/athletes encouraged to engage in rough physical play that may get out of hand
Other Prevention and Intervention Strategies (Part 2)
- Post "no bullying zone posters" - Create and post rules of no tolerance - Use well-accepted students as role models of good behavior - Praise efforts to collaborate - Use Hellison's model of TPSR - Infuse character education into your curriculum
Other Prevention and Intervention Strategies (Part 1)
- Provide adequate supervision in critical areas - Place paraprofessionals close to victims - Provide safe place - Provide a safe person's contact info - Provide awareness through movies, videos, newsletters, assemblies, posters, websites, other social media
Physical educators can also reconnect with the bully
- Recoonect with the bully instead of dsicipling with suspension or expulsion - Help the bully develop more compassionate relationships with themselves and others - Establish a good relationship with the bully - Show the bully that you care about, trust, and respect him/her (it is the behavior that you disapprove of) - Be gentle rather than tough - Teach bullies empathy and social skills - Make it safe for the bully to be vulnerable to others and to feel connected and safe Give the bully positive responsibilities in the group to develop security - Provide opportunities for bully to take positive leadership role - Provide opportunities for the bully to achieve meaningful accomplishments resulting in a sense of personal achievement. self-respect, and respect from others - Praise all appropriate positive behaviors
Verbal bullying
- Saying or writing mean things about another person
Sexting
- Sending nude or semi-nude picture of their self to others through cell phone or other internet communication - 24% of high school students (14-17 year old) have sexted at one time or another - 33% of college students (18-24 years old) have sexted at one time or another
State Anti-Bullying laws
- Since 2005 49 states have developed Anti-Bullying Laws - None of the states provide resources to implement programs
Empower the victims to stand up for themselves
- Teach the victims to be assertive in bullying situations and handle the problem on their own there is an increase in self-esteem of the victim
Examples of verbal bullying
- Teasing - Name calling - Taunting - Inappropriate sexual comments - Threatening to cause harm - Verbally harassing an individual - Making offensive statements based on diversity
Examples of cyberbullying
- Telephone calls - Texting - Emails - Posting abusive or provocative statements, personal information, rumors, or threats on social media - Putting contact information about someone on sexual service sites
What students need to be taught if they cyberbullied
- Tell an adult they trust - Ignore the messages - Resist the urge to retaliate or respond - Save the evidence of the bullying - Report the bullying to the service provider - Block the bully - Be safe online (password protect)
Children with disabilities bullying experience
- Twice as likely to be a victim - Twice as likely to be a bully-victim than children without disabilities
To create a safe learning environment it is critical for physical educators and coaches
- Understand what bullying is - Be aware of the signs of bullying - Know how to prevent bullying - Be involved in the development and implementation of anti-bullying programs - Educators need to be a major player in stopping bullying
What else Physical educators can do to help stop bullying (to increase positive peer interactions)
- Use cooperative learning activities to build friendships - Teach disability awareness to build empathy - Foster open communication about special needs and appropriate responses - Provide explanatory information - Help others to understand and empathize with their peers with disabilities
Four basic types of bullying
- Verbal bullying (54%) - Physical bullying (21%) - Relational or social bullying (51%) - Cyberbullying (14%) - Incidence by either the bully or the victim at least once in the previous 2 months - Boys are more likely to engage in verbal or physical bullying - Girls are more likely to engage in social exclusion and spreading of rumors
Common Characteristics of Bullies
- View violence in a positive way - Have a need to dominate and subdue others to get recognition - Have a need to get their own way - May brag about their actual or imagined superiority over others - Tend to have a stronger status need than peers - Have a history of being easily frustrated and displaying impulsive, defiant, and aggressive behaviors - Are usually good at talking their way out of difficult situations - Have difficulty conforming to rules and expectations - Tend to have less parental involvement - Have issues at home - Engage in other antisocial behaviors including cheating, stealing, vandalism, and getting drunk - Associate with "bad" companions who bully others - May have a bad attitude about school - May get lower grades
Empower onlookers to support victim (teach onlookers to)
- Walk away - Speak up (tell bully he/she is wrong) - Be a friend (less likely to bully a child with friends) - Ask others for help - Get the help of an adult
Possible Interventions to Create a Safe Environment
Implement anti-weight teasing rules - Potray these students in the same manner as you would racial or gender discrimination attitudes