Ask A Researcher

November 2015

What Has Science Taught Us About Bullying?

Wendy Troop-Gordon is an Associate Professor in the department of Psychology at NDSU. She received her doctoral degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2002. Her research focuses on peer relationships in childhood and adolescence, the factors that shape those relationships, and how peer relationships influence mental health and school adjustment.

 

 

 

 

October was bullying prevention month. While much important outreach is conducted during that month, it does not mean that the work stops there. The work to prevent bullying can be carried out year-around, and therefore today is a perfect time to discuss what researchers have learned about bullying and how we can keep all of our children safe at school and in our communities. As a developmental psychologist who studies bullying, parents often ask me for advice because their child has been bullied. Many times what they describe is an incident in which their child has been in a fight with a friend or was made fun of by a peer. These incidents can be painful, and it is important to help children learn how to cope with stress in their peer relationships. However, they are not what researchers would label as “bullying.” Bullying is a very specific pattern of behavior in which one or more children repeatedly aggress against a weaker peer. Children who are bullied are often the targets of their peers’ aggression weekly, or even daily. More concerning is that this bullying may last for years. Not surprising, then, understanding the dynamics that support bullying and the consequences for victims has been at the forefront of developmental psychology for over 30 years.

What Do We Know about Bullying That We Did Not Know Three Decades Ago?When researchers first started studying bullying, they asked the questions everyone wanted answered. Who are the kids who bully? Why are they doing this? Why do some kids get bullied and others don’t? How do we stop this from happening? 
To understand the children who bully, researchers turned to an already extensive literature on children’s aggression. This literature suggested that bullies possess characteristics not that different from what we often picture when we hear the word “bully.” Children who bully were thought to be highly aggressive, socially incompetent, disliked by other kids, and unable to control their emotions. It was also assumed that bullies were typically boys. However, as the research on bullying matured, researchers noticed some counterintuitive findings. Some children who bullied were very popular with their classmates. Some were quite socially skilled. Some were girls. Furthermore, rather than bullying because they could not control their anger, these popular bullies were using aggression effectively to dominate their peers and elevate their own social status.
We now know that children who engage in bullying are quite different than the stereotype portrayed in the media. Children who engage in bullying are often some of the most popular in their school, and they typically have a large number of friends. In addition, rather than showing deficits in their social skills, they are quite socially adept. Not only are they able to understanding others’ feelings, they are able to use this information to aggress against weaker peers.
In contrast, the children they bully are typically overly sensitive, anxious, and submissive to peers’ demands. Children who are bullied are often rejected by kids their own age and have few friends. Not infrequently, children who are bullied are younger than the children who bully them. Researchers have also found that children who violate gender norms, are LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Questioning), or are cognitively impaired are at heightened risk for being bullied. Somewhat surprising was the discovery that some victims, approximately a third, are aggressive (i.e., aggressive-victims). However, their aggression is often ineffectual and elicits further bullying from peers. The consequence is that these children often end up in a vicious circle of being bullied, aggressing against others, and then being bullied again.
Perhaps the most important advancement in the study of bullying is the recognition that bullying is a group phenomenon. Around 85% of bullying occurs in the presence of bystanders, and the behavior of these bystanders is critical to the initiation and maintenance of bullying. Some bystanders are assistants, who aid in the bullying, or reinforcers who laugh and smile. Their behaviors reward the children engaging in the bullying. Other children act as defenders who stand up for the victim, elicit the help of adults, or provide the victim emotional support. Children bully because they want power and popularity in their peer group. The presence of assistants and reinforcers signal that their aggression is having the desired effect. When children act as defenders, the bullying no longer serves as a means of gaining popularity, and we see decreases in bullying among children. It is not surprising, then, that bullying is targeted at weaker peers who are often disliked by others and unlikely to have peers willing to defend them.

What Common Myths Persist that Hurt Anti-bullying Efforts?
Despite huge efforts to educate the public about bullying, a number of myths still abound. Unfortunately, these misconceptions hamper our ability to effectively prevent bullying and address it when it happens.

  • Myth: Bullies hurt others because they suffer from low self-esteem. It is true that children who are aggressive-victims show very low self-esteem. However, most children who bully are quite popular, experience little ridicule from peers, and feel quite good about themselves. In my own research, I find that boys who are popular and bully show decreased depression over time. Dismissing these children’s aggression as simply a manifestation of low self-esteem does not help stop the bullying and, in the long run, will not help the child being bullied.
  • Myth: Bullying is just part of growing up. Only a small percentage of children are bullied, approximately 10-20%. Similarly only a small percentage of children, 5-10%, bully.  Therefore, bullying is hardly an experience most children encounter. This myth is particularly dangerous because it implies that bullying is a rite of passage that everyone goes through and survives unscathed and stronger for the experience. In reality, children who are bullied show long-term risk for depression, anxiety, substance use, suicidal ideation, and other mental health problems. My own research shows that being the target of bullying changes how children think about their peers and cope with interpersonal problems leading to later depression and aggression. Furthermore, my research has shown that children who are bullied fare worse if they have parents who believe bullying is just a normal, childhood experience.
  • Myth: Victims should just stand up for themselves. Often when talking about bullying, people will tell me a story about when they were picked on. The story ends with them simply punching or kicking the other child, never to be bothered again. What these stories miss is that bullies often choose victims who are unable to stick up for themselves. Moreover, research has shown consistently that when children who are bullied report that they respond by trying to get revenge, their bullying actually escalated, and they experienced increased emotional distress.
  • Myth: Bullying is socialization. People often believe that bullying is a means of getting children to change their behavior. For example, people believe that making others feel bad for being overweight will get them to eat better. In reality, such bullying does not change behavior, but rather increases risk for related psychological problems (e.g., eating disorders).  In my own research, I have tested the common assumption that children act in gender typical ways because they get bullied if their behavior violates gender norms. In actuality, gender atypicality rarely goes down after children have been bullied. What bullying children who are overweight, gender atypical, or LGBTQ does do is lead to increased mental health problems such as depression, social withdrawal, and suicidal ideation.
  • Myth: Rural areas are safe from bullying. Bullying is just as common in rural areas as it is in suburban or urban communities. Moreover, bullying can be even more detrimental in schools with very low diversity. In more diverse schools, children are able to blame their bullying on characteristics outside of their control (e.g., their ethnicity) and find a subgroup of peers with whom they can become friends. In more homogenous schools, victims of bullying are more likely to blame themselves for their bullying, leading to increased risk for mental health problems.

How does this information inform bully prevention efforts?
Foremost, prevention should focus on changing the peer group dynamics that support bullying. Teaching children to defend victims, rather than reinforce children for bullying, is a critical component of anti-bullying interventions. Furthermore, it is not enough to hope that victims will learn to deal with bullies on their own. Moving children who are bullying away from the children they victim (e.g., rearranging classroom seating assignments) has been shown to reduce bullying in classrooms and lead to better adjustment for the victims. Once victims are safe, teaching them how to effectively assert themselves without being aggressive can help prevent future bullying. Efforts should also be made to help victims make friends, particularly ones who would be willing and able to defend them from potential bullies.
Last, adults should be careful to model respect for all students, especially those most likely to be at risk for bullying, such as children who are cognitively impaired or who are LGBTQ. If they notice a child being bullied or marginalized, showing warmth to the child and highlighting the child’s talents can go a long way to gaining the child’s acceptance in the peer group. One of my favorite stories came from a North Dakota teacher who had noticed a boy in his class who was getting picked on. He found out the boy was good at Taekwondo, so every day he had the boy help him teach a little Taekwondo to the class. The result was the children learned that the boy was a valued member of their classroom, and the bullying stopped. Bullying is a difficult problem to tackle, but caring adults, such as this teacher, make a huge difference in lives of bullied children every day.
Excellent information about bullying can be found at www.stopbullying.gov including basic facts about bullying and tips on how to prevent bullying in our schools and communities.

 

Resources
Graham, S., Bellmore, A., Nishina, A., & Juvonen, J. (2009). “It must be me”: Ethnic diversity and attributions for peer victimization in middle school. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38, 487-499.

Hawley, P. H., Stump, K. N., & Ratliff, J. M. (2010). Sidestepping the jingle fallacy: Bullying, aggression, and the importance of knowing the difference. In D. Espelage & S. Swearer (Eds.), Bullying in American schools (pp. 101-115). Chicago, IL: Routledge.

Hong, J-S., & Espelage, D. L. (2012). A review of research on bullying and peer victimization in school: An ecological system analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 17, 311-322.

Salmivalli, C. (2010). Bullying and the peer group: A review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15, 112-120.

Schwartz, D., Proctor, L. J., & Chien, D. H. (20XX). The aggressive victim of bullying: Emotional and behavioral dysregulation as a pathway to victimization by peers. In J. Juvonen & S. Graham (Eds.), Peer harassment in school: The plight of the vulnerable and victimized (pp. 147- 174). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Troop-Gordon, W. (2015). The role of the classroom teacher in the lives of children victimized by peers. Child Development Perspectives, 9, 55-60.

Troop-Gordon, W., & Gerardy, H. (2012). Parents’ beliefs about peer victimization and children’s social and emotional development. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 33, 40-52.

Troop-Gordon, W., Rudolph, K. R., Sugimura, N., & Little, T. D. (2015). Peer victimization in middle childhood impedes adaptive responses to stress: A pathway to depressive symptoms Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 44, 432-445.

Visconti, K. J., & Troop-Gordon, W. (2010). Prospective relations between children’s behavioral responses to peer victimization and their socioemotional adjustment. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31, 261-272.

 

Ask a researcher archive

Avram Slone - What does it take to care for our kids? The costs associated with providing childcare in North Dakota.
October 2024

Kaeleigh Schroeder - Starting Out: Child care access in urban versus rural settings in North Dakota.
September 2024

Kaeleigh Schroeder - Give it your best shot: Preventing illness with routine immunizations. National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM).
August 2024

Grace Njau. ND SHIP - Guiding Public Health Strategies in North Dakota
July 2024

Faye Seidler. A New Horizon for LGBTQ+ Population Data
June 2024

Iyobosa Sonia Omoregie and Kendra Erickson-Dockter. Exploring Suicide Rates Among Youth
May 2024

Dean Bangsund and Nancy Hodur. Sugarbeet Industry in the Northern Plains: Economic Contribution in Minnesota and North Dakota.
April 2024

North Dakota Compass. North Dakota Compass Releases the 2024 Compass Points
March 2024

Nicholas Bauroth. City Governance: Commission or Council for Fargo, North Dakota?
February 2024

Ina Cernusca. 2024 Brings a NEW Visualization Tool and Data Updates to the North Dakota State Legislative District Profiles.
January 2024

Samuel Faraday Saidu and Chelsey Hukriede. Strapped for Safety: Exploring Insights into Car Seat Knowledge Among North Dakota Mothers.
December 2023

Debarati Kole and Kendra Erickson-Dockter. A Comprehensive Look at the Multifaceted Risk Factors of Postpartum Depression
October 2023

Valquiria F. Quirino and Avram Slone. COVID-19 pandemic in North Dakota: Significance, progression, and government response.
September 2023

Karen Olson. The Lasting Impact of Maternal Childhood Trauma
August 2023

Avram Slone. The Social Variability of COVID-19 Mortality in North Dakota between March 11th, 2020 and February 13th, 2022
July 2023

Nancy Hodur and Dean Bangsund. Agriculture a Key Driver in the North Dakota economy
June 2023

Karen Olson. Health and Well-Being in North Dakota. Understanding how the five social determinants of health are impacting the ability of North Dakotans to thrive
May 2023

Kendra Erickson-Dockter. North Dakota Compass: 10 years of Measuring Progress and Inspiring Action.
April 2023

Hannah Hanson & Grace Njau. Every Dad Counts: North Dakota Fatherhood Experiences Survey
March 2023

Nancy Hodur. Housing Market Conditions and Declining Homeownership Rates
February 2023

North Dakota Compass. 2022 Recap: Data highlighted throughout the year
January 2023

Kendra Erickson-Dockter. A Look into a Chronic Condition and Pregnancy: Preexisting Diabetes PRAMS Points 2022
December 2022

Nancy Hodur and Karen Olson. Lower-income households and baby boomers, main drivers for North Dakota housing needs in the near term
November 2022

Avram Slone. The Impact of COVID-19 on Group Quarters in North Dakota
October 2022

Chelsey Hukriede. Safe Sleep PRAMS Points 
September 2022

Kendra Erickson-Dockter. Gestational Diabetes PRAMS Points – A NEW Dashboard Format!
August 2022

Aastha Bhandari, Debarati Kole, Dr. Nancy Hodur. Mission Of Mercy: Giving hope through a smile.
July 2022

Ina Cernusca.Households with children have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the first year of the pandemic.
May 2022

Andy Wiese and Karen Olson. One Health System’s Approach to Improving Community Health. Understanding what the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment Conducted by Sanford Health means for population health
April 2022

Mariel Lopez-Valentin and Grace Njau. North Dakota Title X, Family Planning Needs Assessment
January 2022

Nancy Hodur and Dean Bangsund. North Dakota Lignite Energy Industry Workforce
December 2021

Ina Cernusca. Vaccine Acceptance and Hesitancy in North Dakota
October 2021

Nancy Hodur and Karen Olson. Rural Communities Will Benefit from a New Cooperative in Walsh County
September 2021

Matt Schmidt and Grace Njau. COVID-19 Trends Among North Dakota Children, March 2020 – March 2021
August 2021

Kendra Erickson-Dockter and Ina Cernusca. COVID Hardship on North Dakota Households: New study on the impacts on North Dakota households that lost employment income during the pandemic
July 2021

Chelsey Hukriede and Kendra Erickson-Dockter. NEW! PRAMS Points – A Brief Infographic using North Dakota PRAMS Survey Data
May 2021

North Dakota Compass: A look inside the 2021 Compass Points
April 2021

Ina Cernusca: Households with children are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic
March 2021

Ina Cernusca: Differences in COVID-19 Risk Factors at District Level
February 2021

Kendra Erickson-Dockter, Chelsey Hukriede, and Grace Njau: An Introduction to the North Dakota Study of Associated Risks of Stillbirth (SOARS)
October 2020

Karen Ehrens: North Dakota Families are Facing Food and Other Hardships in the Wake of COVID-19 Pandemic, and Helpers Respond
September 2020

Ina Cernusca: Taking the pulse of North Dakota households during the COVID-19 pandemic.
July 2020

Nancy Hodur:Challenges of Grocery Stores in Rural North Dakota
May 2020

North Dakota Compass:2020 Compass Points: Measuring progress. Inspiring action.
March 2020

Amy Tichy:Student Veterans in the College Classroom.
February 2020

North Dakota Compass:North Dakota Compass launches the 2020 State Legislative District Profiles
January 2020

Grace Njau, Nancy Hodur:&Chelsey Hukriede: Risk Behaviors among Women with a Recent Live Birth in North Dakota: Findings from the 2017 North Dakota Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)
November 2019

Ina Cernusca:& Karen Olson: Behind the scenes – The story of the North Dakota State Legislative District Profiles
October 2019

Ina Cernusca: Key demographic trends in North Dakota.
August 2019

Karen Olson: The 30th edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT® Data Book finds that 175,772 children will shape the future of a more diverse North Dakota.
July 2019

Shweta Arpit Srivastava & Dr. Ann Burnett: “Giving rope and pulling it back”: Parental dilemmas to prevent adolescent substance use
June 2019

Ina Cernusca: 2019 Compass Points: Setting direction for improving the quality of life in North Dakota
May 2019

Joshua Marineau and Onnolee Nordstrom: Learning from Fargo -- An Exploration of the Fargo-Moorhead Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
March 2019

Nancy Hodur: Improving Oral Health for Older Adults in North Dakota
November 2018

Rachelle Vettern: Engaging Volunteers across Generations
October 2018

Karen Olson: The 2018 KIDS COUNT® Data Book reveals strengths and challenges for children in North Dakota – and emphasizes that an inaccurate census in 2020 threatens to worsen existing challenges for North Dakota youth
July 2018

Lori Capouch: Is food access a concern in rural North Dakota?
May 2018

Deb Nelson: Williston Basin 2016: Employment, Population, and Housing Forecasts – An Overview
January 2018

Karen Olson: North Dakota among Top 10 States in Country for Child Well-Being
July 2017

Nancy Hodur: SEAL!North Dakota: A School Dental Sealant Program
June 2017

Grace Njau: A Brief Introduction to the North Dakota Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)
April 2017

Ina Cernusca: North Dakota’s Women study: A brief overview
March 2017

Dean Bangsund: Effects of Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion on Spring Planting for Producers
February 2017

Deb Nelson: Vision West: Leading, Educating, and Collaborating to Mobilize the 19 Western North Dakota Counties Towards Resilience and Prosperity
December 2016

Nancy Hodur: North Dakota Statewide Housing Needs Assessment: A Brief Overview of the Population and Housing Forecast component
November 2016

Social Isolation: Experiential Narratives of African Refugee Women in the Fargo-Moorhead Community
September 2016

Sean Brotherson: Father Involvement and the Future of Children and Families
July 2016

Carol Cwiak: Bakken Oil: What Have We Learned and What Will We Do Differently Next Time
June 2016

Jessica Creuzer: The Changing Face of Western North Dakota: What are the Effects of Increased Travel from Energy Development
April 2016

ND Compass: City Profiles
February 2016

ND Department of Health: Making Change Happen
January 2016

Jennifer Weber: A Bold New Direction for the North Dakota University System - The NDUS Edge Dashboards
December 2015

Wendy Troop-Gordon: What Has Science Taught Us About Bullying?
November 2015

ND Compass: A Look at the Youngest North Dakotans
October 2015

Kendra Erickson-Dockter: Growing Older in North Dakota
September 2015

Michael Ziesch: Data You Can Trust: The Labor Market Information Center
August 2015

Malini Srivastava and Troy Raisanen: efargo: City Scale Sustainability
July 2015

Kevin Iverson: The State Repository of Census Information- The North Dakota Census
June 2015

Wonwoo Byun: Reducing Sedentary Behavior is a Key for Obesity Prevention in Children
May 2015

Kathryn Gordon: The Science of Suicide Prevention
April 2015

ND Compass: Tell a Story with Data! The Importance of Crade-to-Career Success
March 2015

Abby Gold: Community Food Systems: Food Charters and More
February 2015

Heather Fuller-Iglesias: The Importance of Recognizing the Role of Social Support in Human Development Across the Lifespan
January 2015

Michael Carbone: Using Data to End Homelessness
December 2014

Randal Coon: Tribal Colleges Contribute to the State's Economy
November 2014

Deb White: Women's Representation in Elected Office
October 2014

Randal Coon: Pull Factors Measure Retail Trade Performance
September 2014

Karen Olson: North Dakota ranks Well Nationally with Regard to Overall Child Well-Being; However, Substantial Opportunities for Improvement Exist
August 2014

Julie Garden-Robinson: Guard Against Grilling Gaffes: Healthy Grilling and Food Safety Tips
July 2014

Michael Noone: Extreme Weather Patterns- North Dakota Has It All
June 2014

Kathleen Tweeten: Why All Community Development Decisions Should Use the Community Capitals Framework
May 2014

Clayton Hilmert: Stress effects on pregnancy: The impact of the 2009 Red River flood on birth weight
April 2014

Karen Ehrens: Food Deserts and how they impact North Dakota
March 2014

Gretchen Dobervich and Kendra Erickson-Dockter: New Geographic Profiles: How they can work for you
February 2014

Compass Staff: "New Compass Team Brings Changes in 2014"
January 2014

Donna Grandbois: "Fargo-Moorhead American Indian Community-Sponsored Health Needs Assessment"
November 2013

Karen Olson: "North Dakota KIDS COUNT - why it counts for you
October 2013

Nancy Hodur: "Western North Dakota School Administrators Face Challenges"
August 2013

Megan Chmielewski: "Annual population estimates tell interesting stories about North Dakota's growth patterns"
July 2013

Ramona Danielson: "Learn how to make the ND Compass website work for you"
May 2013

Karen Olson: "About the American Community Survey (ACS)"
February 2013

North Dakota Compass

Center for Social Research
North Dakota State University

Compass created by:
Wilder Research

© 2024. All rights reserved.