Running head: Bullying 1

Bullying

Matthew Blase

Arizona State University

Bullying 2

School Violence

Part 1, Annotated Bibliography

Bannink, R., Broeren, S., van de Looij-Jansen, P. M., de Waart, F. G., & Raat, H. (2014). Cyber

and traditional bullying victimization as a risk factor for mental health problems and

suicidal ideation in adolescents. ​PLoS ONE​, ​9​(4). Retrieved from

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094026.

This two year long study, which was written by Rienke Bannink, Suzanne Broeren, Petra M. van

de Looij – Jansen, Frouwkje G. de Waart, and Hein Raat, and published on April 9, 2014, and

examined the issue of bullying, with their study taking place in Rotterdam, Netherlands. In their

study, they examined whether traditional bullying or cyberbullying causes adolescents who are

bullied to have mental health problems or suicidal ideation. One aspect of the study was to

examine whether these issues had different effects on girls and boys. The children who were

tested in this study were “first-year secondary school students” (para. 2), which would mean

freshman in high school, in the United States. The researchers obtained their data by providing

questionnaires to the students, and reviewing their answers. The results showed that for boys,

neither traditional bullying nor cyberbullying caused mental health problems (para. 3). In

contrast, the results for the girls showed that both types of bullying were connected with mental

health problems. The results also showed evidence of traditional bullying was connected with

suicidal ideation (para. 4).

It is clear that this study is very credible and gives reasonable data on the topic of bullying. The

study took two years to conclude, and went into detail on the different types of effects that can

result from both cyber and traditional bullying. This study was for the Rotterdam Youth Monitor
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(RYM), which is a monitor of mental health for people living in Rotterdam or nearby. What this

reference does is provide people with referrals and help for their mental health needs. The RYM

is also incorporated in their preventative youth healthcare system (para. 11). This study goes over

information that has a lot to do with what this essay on bullying is all about, the data shows the

effects of cyber and traditional bullying and gives insight on the patterns between genders

relating to this issue.

“It is possible that for example blocking online bullying messages, an option not available for

face-to-face bullying, lessens the impact of cyber bullying on mental health while, in contrast,

the possible breadth of audience on for instance websites may heighten the impact [3].” (para. 8).

“There was a significant interaction between gender and traditional bullying victimization (p=

0.08) (Model 3a) in the total sample (Table 3). Among boys, traditional bullying victimization

was not significantly related to mental health problems in the fully-adjusted model (OR 1.03;

95% CI 0.72-1.47). Among girls, traditional bullying victimization was significantly related to

mental health problems in the fully-adjusted model (OR 1.41; 95% CI 1.02-1.96)” (para. 24).

“This study shows that both traditional and cyber bullying victimization were associated with

mental health problems in girls but not in boys, after controlling for baseline problems. Only

traditional bullying victimization was associated with suicidal ideation after controlling for

baseline suicidal ideation.” (para. 28).

Beyazit, U., Simsek, S., & Ayhan, A. B. (2017). An Examination of the Predictive Factors of

Cyberbullying in Adolescents. ​Social Behavior and Personality: An International

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Journal,​ ​45​(9), 1511+. Retrieved from

https://www.sbp-journal.com/index.php/sbp/article/view/6267

In this study, written by Utku Beyazıt, Şükran Şimşek, Aynur Bütün Ayhan, and published in

October 2017, the researchers underwent an examination on high school students in Kirsehir,

Turkey. The goal of the study was to get a better understanding of the predictive variables of

cyberbullying in students. The study determined that the chances of a person being a cyberbully,

increases with age, especially when he or she begins making social media accounts (para. 18). It

noted that when parents control their children’s internet use, the chances of cyber bullying

decreases considerably (para. 29).

These authors produced an unbiased examination on the problem of understanding

predictiveness of cyberbullying. Later in the study, the authors maintain their stance, when

explaining that their study had limitations (para. 24). Just after this, the authors made

recommendations for future research related to the topic and provided reasons why more

research on this topic is important (para. 28). This study addressed many key variables relating

to the issue of adolescent bullying. One key variable is that as a child ages, the chances of that

child being a “bully” increases (para. 18). Knowing this, it is clearly important that schools

across the United States the rest of the world take important steps to teach about the negative

effects of bullying to high school students, and even first year students in college. The benefit of

such teaching would lead our schools toward a more positive direction in school safety.

“Other researchers have asserted that cyberbullying typically occurs among older adolescents

and young adults on college campuses” (para. 18).

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“… our results showed that exposure to cyberbullying was among the most important predictors

of cyberbullying others.” (para. 19).

“…in addition to discussing rules with children, parents should take additional proactive steps,

such as placing the computer in a common area at home rather than the child's bedroom,

monitoring the amount of time their children spend on the Internet, and using Internet protection

programs.” (para 29).

Harris, E. A. (2017, October 27). At School Where Student Died, Bullying Led to a Suicide

Attempt. Retrieved

from​https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/nyregion/at-school-where-student-died-bullyi

ng-led-to-a-suicide-attempt.html

In a New York Times article entitled, “At School Where Student Died, Bullying led to a suicide

attempt,” written by Elizabeth A. Harris and published in October 2017, Harris explains the

torment that a 6th grade boy suffered, being bullied from middle school all the way to high

school. The article details what the boy went through at his school, the Urban Assembly School

for Wildlife Conservation, located in the Bronx, New York. It noted that that particular school

has a long history of school violence. At one time at the same school, a child was stabbed to

death, and another was wounded, and both incidents were thought to be because of acts of

bullying (para. 6). Acts like these left the students feeling unsafe at their own school grounds, as

well as feeling hopeless (para. 10).

The author examines the documented acts of bullying and school violence that have taken place

at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation. Relating to the topic of bullying, one
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important part of this article puts the importance of this issue into perspective. This part explains

how the boy had told the dean and the school principal about his problems in school, yet the

school did little to nothing about his concerns, which ultimately made the boy’s bullying worse

(para. 11). This relates to the topic of bullying because these types of inactions made by the

school principal and dean, are the very reason this problem has been so relevant for the past

multiple decades.

“His story echoes a frightening pattern at Wildlife Conservation, a school where a student named

Matthew McCree​, 15, was stabbed to death last month by another student, Abel Cedeno, 18, who

said ​he had been bullied​. .... That incident appears to have been the first time Mr. Cedeno and the

two boys had an altercation..” (para. 6)

“The Education Department announced on Friday that the school’s principal, Astrid Jacobo, had

been removed from the school and reassigned to the Bronx Field Support Center, an office

focused on supporting school staff.” (para. 5)

“On Monday, the New York City Council’s education committee is scheduled to hold a hearing

about bullying and harassment in city schools.” (para. 7)

McBride, K. (2016). Bullying Is Not on the Rise and It Does Not Lead to Suicide,

www.poynter.org,​ (2013, October 25). Retrieved from

https://www.poynter.org/newsletters/2013/bullying-is-not-on-the-rise-and-it-does-not-lea

d-to-suicide/
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Kelly McBride, a writer at the Poynter Institute and a teacher, wrote an argumentative article

titled “Bullying Is Not on the Rise and It Does Not Lead to Suicide,” published on October 13,

2013. McBride expresses her opinion on an issue of with whether or not bullying leads to

suicide. McBride explains in her view that there is no evidence that bullying is connected with

suicide. She says that there are false narratives that are placed in the subject of bullying, such as

the bullies being “powerful” and put the socially “weaker” down into a dark place (para. 4).

McBride explains that this narrative is nothing like how bullying actually is, and she explores the

different types of bullying. She believes that it is important for this narrative to stop in order for

people to have a better understanding of the topic (para. 4).

This article clearly shows the opinion that author Kelly McBride has with whether or not

bullying leads to suicide. This article, however, is not fully persuasive. There are multiple parts

where McBride asserts that there is zero evidence of bullying leading to suicide. There was also

no suggestion made having to do whether or not bullying is even connected with suicide in this

article. One statement in this article explains that even if someone who was bullied commits

suicide, it is incorrect to say the reason for the suicide was bullying. Her explanation for this is

that people who commit suicide, do it because of their own mental illness that they have. These

statements do not necessarily justify the claims, and detract from the credibility of the article.

“The common narrative goes like this: Mean kids, usually the most popular and powerful, single

out and relentlessly bully a socially weaker classmate in a systemic and calculated way, which

then drives the victim into a darkness where he or she sees no alternative other than committing

suicide” (Mcbride, 2016).

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“There is no scientific evidence that bullying causes suicide. None at all. Lots of teenagers get

bullied (between 1 in 4 and 1 in 3 teenagers report being bullied in real life, fewer report being

bullied online)” (2016).

“People commit suicide because of mental illness. It is a treatable problem and preventable

outcome” (2016).

Nelson, H. J., Burns, S. K., Kendall, G. E., & Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2019). Preadolescent

children's perception of power imbalance in bullying: A thematic analysis. ​PLoS ONE​,

14​(3), e0211124. Retrieved from

http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/apps/doc/A577623303/OVIC?u=asuniv&

sid=OVIC&xid=ca0021e8

“At the age of 9 to 11 years ​children​ are increasingly likely to be involved in bullying behavior

as they place more and more value on the peer group” (para. 2).

“Furthermore, it has been shown that children's own definition of bullying is different to that of

researchers in that it rarely includes repetition and power imbalance” (para. 3).

“Focus group data were obtained and thematic analysis was undertaken to explore preadolescent

children's perception of power imbalance in bullying. Thematic coding built on existing

knowledge, grouping data that had meaning based on the literature and on new ideas identified

through focus groups” (para. 8).

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Trump, K. (2010, February 11). Dr. Steve Sroka on School Violence Prevention. Retrieved from

https://www.schoolsecurity.org/2010/02/school-safety-interview-dr-steve-sroka-on-schoo

l-violence-prevention-part-one/

In a short interview conducted by Ken Trump, published on February 11, 2010, where he

interviewed Dr. Steve Sroka on the issues of school violence prevention and school safety, Dr.

Sroka explains a few methods to prevent school violence. Those topics included; putting a

human face on school safety, make school safety active in development, make people think that

it is important to prevent school violence, getting inside people's hearts, and school safety should

be looked at as something that can improve learning. Dr. Sroka went in depth on why getting

inside people's hearts using a human face on the front burner of school safety is a very important

step in preventing school violence.

This was a quality interview, addressing the issues of preventing school violence. This video

interview is short, only two minutes and nineteen seconds long, and it could have contained more

information and suggestions from Dr. Sroka. Given Dr. Sroka’s credentials, credibility, and his

high ability to articulate his positions, this video also seemed to lack professionalism. The

interview was filmed in what appears to be a restaurant, with other conversations audible in the

background. This video is relevant to the topic of bullying because it is a different perspective

on the controversial subject that is violence and gives information on how to prevent it.

“Many people have forgotten what [school safety] is even about” (Sroka, 2010).
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“School safety, we have to put a human face on it, we have to have people think it's important to

them” (Sroka, 2010).

“Have to get to the heart before you get to the head” (Sroka, 2010).

Part 3, Investigative Essay

The subject that is bullying, is very controversial and contains many different viewpoints and

ideas of prevention. A lot of people believe that bullying needs to be prevented and stopped, but

people also believe that there needs to be a specific way to approach bullying as a problem. For

example, some people may find it to be an issue for people to approach bullying with the idea

that bullying leads to suicide. Kelly Mcbride, a writer at the Poynter Institute, who wrote the

article titled “Bullying in Schools Does Not Lead to Suicide”, said in the article that, “People

commit suicide because of mental illness. It is a treatable problem and preventable outcome.

Bullying is defined as an ongoing pattern of intimidation by a child or teenager over others who

have less power.” (Mcbride, 2016). Mcbride actually plays as a stakeholder in this topic for

being a teacher and later in the article, she explains her opinion that bullying is not connected

with suicide. Mcbride also explains that there is no evidence of bullying leading to suicide. In a

two year long study written by Rienke Bannink, Suzanne Broeren, Petra M. van de Looij –

Jansen, Frouwkje G. de Waart, and Hein Raat, they went in depth to understand whether or not

bullying leads to mental problems or suicidal ideation. In contrast to what Mcbride said about

bullying, the researchers from the Netherlands found from their participants that, “Traditional
Bullying 11

bullying victimization is associated with an increased risk of suicidal ideation (Bannink, R.,

Broeren, S., van de Looij-Jansen, P. M., de Waart, F. G., & Raat, H., 2014). This piece of

information, in a way, contrasts to what Mcbride said about there being no evidence of bullying

leading to suicide, although, Mcbrides opinion remains that people who commit suicide never do

it because of bulllying, but because of their mental ilnness. And these two pieces of writing both

correlate to the topic of bullying. Mcbride is trying to open people's understanding of the topic

and how psychology is a very important factor in bullying. The important data that came from

the two year long study in the Netherlands explains that there may be a connection between

bullying (traditional) and thoughts on suicide. In a video interview made by Ken Trump who

interviewed Dr. Steve Sroka, an expert on school violence prevention and intervention, drug

prevention, ​HIV​, and teen sex issues (Trump, 2010), the two went over what Dr. Sroka believed

to be the best ways to prevent school violence. These methods included; putting a human face

on school safety, make school safety active in development, make people think that it is

important to prevent school violence, getting inside people's hearts, and school safety should be

looked at as something that can improve learning in school. Dr. Steve Sroka, being an expert on

school violence prevention and intervention, is very deeply a stakeholder in this issue being so

well educated on the subject. In a study made on high school students in Turkey, written by

Utku Beyazıt, Şükran Şimşek, and Aynur Bütün Ayhan, and published in 2017, the researchers

went in depth on the factors having to do with predicting cyber bullying in adolescents. This

research makes it clear that evidence shows that the chances of someone being a cyberbully

increases with age, especially early college students. In another study on pre adolescent

perception of power imbalance in bullying, written by Helen J. Nelson, Sharyn K. Burns , Garth
Bullying 12

E. Kendall , and Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, it was stated that ages 9-11 are at a very high

chance of bullying due to value on peer groups, this relates to the study made in turkey when

talking about the increasing likability of the acts of bullying to take place during these age

groups. Going appropriate lengths in order to help stop bullying is very important, some ways to

do so is to get inside people's hearts and also make school safety be looked at as something that

can improve learning in schools. This should be done with highschoolers and for early college

students because of the fact that the predictiveness increases with these age groups. This is

extremely important to do because of the research that shows evidence of bullying being related

to suicide ideation and also cyber bullying being related to mental health problems.