Parents or Schools? Who is responsible for the Bullying Problem?

Who is Responsible to help with the Bullying Problem?

            The controversial topic is where does bullying stem from?  Is it a school problem?  Is it a parental problem?  Is it a societal problem that is accepted as a part of life?  Many research articles have pointed that bullying is not an accepted norm and children deserve the right to live their life without being bullied.  How is bullying to be fixed or where do we as a society focus to help eliminate bullying? 

            Many people point to schools, since that is where the majority of bullying takes place.  Many point to school environment and lack of teacher supervision as the causes of bullying (Hong and Espelage, 2012).  Lack of proper classroom management has also been directly linked to bullying (Kochenderfer-Ladd and Pelletier, 2008).  With lower levels of adult/teacher monitoring, bullying seems to increase in frequency and children feel less safe (Hong and Espelage, 2012).  Other studies that look at long periods of time in relation of school environment like transitions from elementary to middle school show that school environment had little to do with bullying (Hong and Espelage, 2012).

            Christie-Mizell, Keil, Laske, & Stewart (2011) relate the work hours of parents and the behavior of their children.  In households where both parents work full time, there was an increase in the incidence of bullying due to the lack of interaction between parents and the children , especially when the father is working full and overtime work hours (Christie-Mizell, Keil, Laske, & Stewart, 2011).  Another study shows that parents that have anger toward their child(ren), when they feel the child is bothering them or when the parent feels their child is difficult than most others to raise, have a higher chance of becoming a bully as well (Shetgiri, Lin, Avila, & Flores, 2012).  The reason many children in these situations turn out this way is they have a hard time developing relationships like the most trusted one between parent and child (Shetgiri, Lin, Avila, & Flores, 2012).  Conversely, Shetgiri, Lin, Avila, & Flores (2012) show that parents that meet their child’s friends, help their kids with homework as well as talk about and share ideas with each other are less likely to be bullies.

The pros of focusing on schools to fix the bullying problem:

·         Numerous kids can be affected all at once to change the problem.

·         Victims see teacher intervention as a positive way to stop bullying

·         When teachers are consistent and timely when stopping bullying effect results are produced

Cons:

·         Many students say teachers are not aware of bullying going on

·         Lack of proper training

·         Different opinions of what is bullying and different/inconsistent strategies

Pros of focusing on parents to fix the bullying problem:

·         Parents are the most influential person in the child’s life

·         Children trust their parents

·         Parental involvement plays a huge parent in a child’s life

Cons:

·         Parents are in denial about their children being a bully or being the victim of a bully

·         Reaching a large number of parents with the proper information

·         Changing the way parents interact with their children – people usually do not change willingly if they do not see a problem

·         Parents need to work to support families

            Efforts to benefit all children as a whole are to focus on both parents and teachers.  Providing training sessions to school faculty during staff development is important by providing tools on how to work with the bullying situation(s) and have a consistent policy and framework for teachers to go by to help kids.  Additionally, setting up parent workshops at school(s) to reach out and help parents become aware of what to look for and how to be more involved with their children to help eliminate any potential problems that may arise.

References

Christie-Mizell, C., Keil, J. M., Laske, M., & Stewart, J. (2011). Bullying Behavior, Parents’ Work Hours and Early Adolescents’ Perceptions of Time Spent With Parents. Youth & Society, 43(4), 1570-1595. doi:10.1177/0044118X10388261

Hong, J., & Espelage, D. L. (2012). A review of research on bullying and peer victimization in school: An ecological system analysis. Aggression & Violent Behavior, 17(4), 311-322. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2012.03.003

Kochenderfer-Ladd, B.  and Pelletier, M. E.  (2008).  Teachers’ views and beliefs about bullying: Influences on classroom management strategies and students' coping with peer victimization.  Journal of School Psychology, 46 (4), 431-453.

Shetgiri, R., Lin, H., Avila, R. M., & Flores, G. (2012). Parental Characteristics Associated With Bullying Perpetration in US Children Aged 10 to 17 Years. American Journal Of Public Health, 102, 2280-2286. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300725