NCJ Number
194465
Date Published
2001
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This study investigated how children conceptualized bullying in school settings, and how they differentiated bullying from teasing.
Abstract
The Expect Respect program uses a prevention model that addresses social acceptance of bullying among students, teachers, and school staff. Its primary aim is to improve peer relationships and communication skills among students. It attempts to help bullies understand the boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate behavior, and teaches targets of bullies skills for responding to such behavior. The study was designed to learn about students' descriptions of problems they experienced or witnessed, and to provide data for comparing boys' and girls' conceptualizing of bullying and teasing. Forty volunteer students from four schools participated in the study, which consisted of a semi-structured interview designed specifically for the program. The report includes the questions put to the students and their responses as well as statistical analyses of the responses. A major finding of the study is that surveys that simply ask students to report whether they "feel safe" at school, or if bullying is a problem, may have results that are artificially low. Even many students who describe personal incidents that, based on their own definitions of bullying would be considered bullying, report that bullying is not a problem in schools. Tables, references, appendixes