Some Suggested Solutions to Bullying
By Jennifer Seidel
We all are aware bullying takes place. Despite so much focus on bullying, how often do we reflect about why bullying happens and how to combat it? Despite media attention throughout the past 20+ years, there doesn’t seem to be improvement in the way students treat each other. The website Stopbullying.gov states that “The 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) indicates that, nationwide, 19.5% of students in grades 9–12 report being bullied on school property in the 12 months preceding the survey.” (Stopbullying.gov, 2021) This statistic only recognizes the bullying that is taking place on school property; clearly it takes place in other locations and via other outlets, including social media.
Social psychologists seek to understand behaviors in social situations. Studying bullying allows a social psychologist to gain knowledge about what some of the behaviors and situations are that lead someone to bully another person as well as learn the impact bullying has on an individual.
As I researched bullying, I reviewed three studies to gain more understanding. The first study, from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Pfattheicher et al., 2020), examined the role boredom plays in relation to sadistic behavior. The 4,000 participants of this study were both males and females, 18 years or older and reside in Denmark, Germany, and the United States. The study found that harming other individuals and experiencing pleasure can be attributed to boredom. Further, the results indicated that someone who is bored is more likely to harm others online purely for entertainment.
The second study was documented in an article, Psychology of Violence (Volk et al., 2021), and examined the balance of power between and aggressor and a target. Data was collected from 396 adolescents ages 12-18 in southern Ontario, focusing on their aggressive behavior and motives. The participants were of a variety of ethnicities; most being of average socioeconomic status compared to other Canadians. The participants were scouted from various clubs, sports teams and youth organizations.
The study discusses how adolescent aggression within various balances of power was related to both motivations and psychosocial characteristics. The findings indicated that motivation and psychosocial characteristics are associated with high, equal and low power adolescent aggression. Balance of power also appears to be a factor in aggressive behavior.
The third study, from Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice (Wójcik & Mondry, 2020), placed a focus on the importance of group dynamics in school-related bullying. This study examined middle school students. The findings showed that bullies, victims, and other participants in bullying self-label and have a hard time breaking the patterns of behaviors. Intergroup structures also play an important role in bullying with attention placed on certain rules and status markers.
Putting a stop to bullying is crucial. To be able to reduce or stop bullying, we need to also focus on why it’s happening and tailor solutions accordingly. Some potential solutions that align with the studies mentioned are to reduce boredom, work to change the power structure in school settings, whole-school training, and one-on-one training. We need to determine what can be done about boredom - enrichment could be talent development courses in arts or STEM classes. Boredom could also be addressed by involving the adolescents in groups or sports activities. Providing an outlet for thinking and just keeping their mind active results in less time available to negatively interact with others. When we relate solutions to balance of power, we need to devise ways to switch power so the aggressor has lower power or everyone has equal power. Last, we need to address self-labeling and break that pattern. To do this, full-school training could be offered about bullying and the effects of bullying. Victim impact statements could be utilized to teach the aggressors about the effect their actions have on others. One-on-one interaction would also benefit both the aggressor and the victim. Allowing both to sit together and determine solutions to the problem could be incredibly powerful, with statements directed towards the aggressor such as “how would you feel if the roles were reversed”. Individual coaching and mentoring could also help victims build confidence as well as aggressors learning to direct their behaviors differently.
References
Stopbullying.gov. (2021, October). Frequency of Bullying. Retrieved from Stop Bullying: https://www.stopbullying.gov/bullying/what-is-bullying
Pfattheicher, S., Lazarević, L. B., Westgate, E. C., & Schindler, S. (2020). On the relation of boredom and sadistic aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000335
Volk, A. A., Andrews, N. C., & Dane, A. V. (2021). Balance of power and adolescent aggression. Psychology of Violence. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000398
Wójcik, M., & Mondry, M. (2020). “the game of bullying”: Shared beliefs and behavioral labels in bullying among middle schoolers. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 24(4), 276–293. https://doi.org/10.1037/gdn0000125