An Introduction to Developmental psychology by A. Slater and G. Bremner (third edition) - Chapter 20

Bullying is the term used to define an individual’s repeated exposure to negative actions by one or more other people. There is a lot of social pressure in the classroom. A key factor is the process of social comparison, where the child compares his performance with his classmates. This comparison is mostly upward and can raise the child’s level of academic performance, but can also result in negative self-perception. Self-worth protection is the tendency of some students to reduce their levels of effort so that any subsequent poor academic performance will be attributed to low motivation rather than a lack of ability.

There is also peer pressure to either work hard or to not work hard. The visible demonstration of a student’s attempt to excel academically has social risks. These social risks can result in reduced striving. Stress levels in relation to academic performance can often be high.

Bullying is a subset of aggressive behaviour characterised by repetition and an imbalance of power. It is systematic abuse of power. The following methods can be used in order to find out about bullying: teacher and parent reports, self-reports, peer nominations, direct observations, interviews.

There are different types of bullying. The traditional forms of bullying include physical, verbal and indirect aggression. Indirect aggression includes spreading rumours and systematic social exclusion. Bias bullying is bullying in which the victim is a member of a particular group. Cyberbullying is a type of bullying which uses electronic devices. Cyberbullying is more difficult to escape from. The bullies also have more anonymity when cyberbullying. Traditional bullying appears to be on the decline while cyberbullying is stable or increasing.

There are four roles in bullying: bully, victim, non-involved, bully-victim. There are passive victims and provocative victims. There are also six participant roles: ringleader bullies, follower bullies, reinforcers, defenders and bystanders.

Many victims of bullying refuse to tell someone that they’re being bullied. The proportion that doesn’t tell anyone increases with age. Boy victims are less likely to tell it anyone than girl victims.

Victims of bullying often experience anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, physical and psychosomatic complaints, greater risk of self-harm and suicidal ideation and some might even commit suicide. It is not sure whether victimisation causes depression and low self-esteem, or that depression and low self-esteem make people more susceptible to bullying.

There are several causes of bullying. Society factors (tolerance of violence), school climate and quality of teacher and pupil relationships are potential causes of bullying, although there are many more. Some children bully others in order to be more popular and show their dominance. School bullying may be an early stage in the development of later antisocial behaviour. A harsh physical discipline at home and an insecure attachment can be predictors for involvement in bullying. Parental-maltreatment and abuse is a likely risk factor in the bully-victim or aggressive victim group. Having poor social skills and little friendship support is a risk factor for being a victim.

All schools (in the UK and Wales) are required to have some form of anti-bullying policy. Classroom activities can be used to tackle issues associated with bullying. These are curricular approaches. This can raise awareness of bullying and develop sips, empathy and assertiveness in confronting bullying. Quality circles are small groups of children who meet to problem-solve issues such as bullying. These groups can help gain insight into bullying. Cooperative group work may enhance interpersonal relationships and reduce victimisation. Careful management of these groups is necessary.

Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) is a UK-based relationships curriculum for developing social and emotional skills, Assertiveness training can help victims or potential victims. Peer support uses the knowledge, skills and experience o children and young people themselves in a planned and structured way to tackle and reduce bullying through proactive and reactive strategies. Peer support helps the peer supporters and the school climate, but it is uncertain whether it has specific benefits for victims of bullying. Redesigning the playground and trained breaktime supervisors can decrease bullying in the playground in primary schools.

Reactive strategies deal with bullying situations when they have arisen. This often comes in the form of sanctions. Direct sanctions may vary in severity and can be used if bullying persists. It includes expelling children if bullying is very severe, or talk with the parents if it is less severe. Direct sanctions are seen as a form of retributive justice, justice based on retribution. Restorative justice refers to a range of practices which focus on the offender or bullying child made aware of the victim’s feelings and the harm they have caused and making some agreed reparation. Restorative justice is based around responsibility, reparation and resolution. The restorative practices used will depend on the nature and the severity of the bullying incident.

The Method of Shared Concern is a counselling based approach for resolving bullying, which aims to sensitise bullying children to the harm they are doing to the victim and encourage positive behaviours to the victim.

There is a distinction between truants and school refusers (school phobics). Truants have no major psychological problem with attending school, but they choose not to. School refusers can be eager to go to school but are unable to because of high levels of anxiety associated with this activity. School refusers will often demonstrate severe emotional and psychosomatic upset. There are often signs of anxiety, depression, sleeping difficulties, irritability and low self-esteem.

At first, it was thought that school refusers had separation anxiety because of an extremely strong bond with loved ones at home. Some differentiate between school anxiety and school phobia. School anxiety is a genuine fear of the school environment and school phobia is related to separation anxiety. School refusers can be put into three categories: separation anxiety, specific phobia and more generalised anxiety or depression.

There is a difference between acute and chronic school refusal. Acute school refusal occurs when absence is preceded by at least three years of normal attendance. This tends to be associated with higher levels of depression. Chronic school refusers tend to be associated with higher levels of neurosis, dependency, low self-esteem, low sociability and parental mental illness.

A specific fear of school is more prevalent in adolescent boys and separation anxiety is more prevalent in young girls. There is no clear relationship between school refusal and intellectual functioning. Understanding what a child gains from their school refusal in any particular case may prove more helpful in planning an intervention than providing a diagnostic label. Refusal is maintained by one or more of four functional categories:

1. Avoidance of stimuli that provoke a sense of general negative affectivity
   Many children are unaware of the specific factors of the fear of school, although some are not willing to discuss it because of embarrassment.
2. Escape from aversive social or evaluative situations
   Some children are afraid to be socially evaluated and this increases their phobia of school.
3. Attention-seeking behaviour
   School refusal is maintained by the attention gained from not going to school (e.g: more sympathy from family) and this can cause a phobia for school because it’ll lead to a reduction of attention.
4. Pursuit of tangible reinforcement outside of school
   The child may find more gratification from other activities outside of school (e.g: watching television). The child may initially refuse school because of a feared event but will maintain this behaviour because of the gratification of events at home.

Clinical assessment of school refusers involves interviews, direct observations of behaviour right before school and self-reports. Interventions are mostly cognitive-behavioural strategies. There are multiple approaches to reducing the fear and anxiety associated with schooling. This includes systematic desensitisation, an approach that aims to reduce or eliminate certain phobias in which the child is first taught how to relax and subsequently is encouraged to employ this ability when asked to consider the objects of their fear. Another approach is emotive imagery, an approach which aims to reduce fear and anxiety and involves associating fearful situations with imagined scenes which conjure up feelings of pride, self-assertion or amusement so that the fearful situation becomes associated with something positive. Cognitive-behavioural therapy can also be used in order to treat school refusal.

The choice of treatment depends significantly upon which of the four functions is being served by the child’s refusal to attend school. The school needs to be sensitive and support the school refusal where it can, in order to assist the situation. Treatment is less likely to be effective if the refusal has persisted for two or more years.