Half of the respondents in a recent survey of more than 43,000 public and private high school students said they had bullied someone in the last year, and 47% said they had been the victim of bullying.
Moreover, 33% of the students surveyed said that violence is a big problem at their school, and 24% said they don’t feel very safe at school, according to the Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics, a Los Angeles–based nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that has conducted biannual studies of the ethics of American youth since 1992, and which administers a national values-based program for students titled "CHARACTER COUNTS!"
The problem of bullying, which has garnered a great deal of media attention in the wake of a number of bullying-related incidents – perhaps most notably the suicide of 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi in September, after his roommate used a webcam to stream video over the Internet of him during a gay sexual encounter – is one that requires the attention of parents and educators. In fact, on the day the Josephson Institute survey results were released, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance "to support educators in combating bullying in schools by clarifying when student bullying may violate federal education antidiscrimination laws," according to a press release from the department, and by explaining educators’ legal obligations in regard to protecting students from harassment.
But the problem is one that physicians who care for children also should be addressing routinely, according to Dr. Carl C. Bell, clinical professor of psychiatry and public health, and director of the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has an anticipatory guidance regarding violence prevention, and this also should apply to bullying, which is a form of violence, Dr. Bell said.
"It should be part of the standard protocol in the office," he said.
The goal should be to ensure that the social fabric that youngsters need for healthy development is in place. "Make sure they are learning social and emotional skills – kids with good people skills can deal with a bully," he said, adding that "catastrophizing" bullying doesn’t fix anything.
Focusing on the effects of bullying can perpetuate the problem. But focusing on what it is that prevents children from being traumatized by it can make a difference, he explained.
The media tend to focus on the catastrophes – the teens who commit suicide. The reality is that suicide rates in teens are about 20 per 100,000, but the attempt rates are 5,000 per 100,000, he said.
"You would think maybe half would complete [suicide] later on, but they don’t," he said, adding that what is stopping them is the social fabric and support systems that are necessary for healthy development.
"Kids with good emotional affect regulation aren’t going to be tripped up, stressed out, or traumatized by a bully," he said.
Physicians can help by encouraging patients to voice their protective factors, he added.
"A lot of the problems we see in children could be curtailed by pediatricians making sure they are in good protective villages, that they have an adult monitoring their behavior, and that they have good skills such as affect regulation. I know pediatricians are not social workers, but ... they have a huge responsibility to try to make sure children are in safe environments, and – equally importantly – in supportive environments that foster emotional, social, mental, and spiritual growth."
That responsibility has particular importance in a society where bullying is no longer defined simply by playground taunts.
The Josephson Institute survey showed that in the prior year, 52% of students had hit a person out of anger, 10% had taken a weapon to school, and 16% admitted to having been under the influence of drugs or alcohol while at school.
The combination of bullying along with these factors significantly increases the likelihood of retaliatory violence, and it’s not only the prevalence of bullying behavior and victimization that’s troublesome, according to Michael Josephson, founder and president of the Institute.
"The Internet has intensified the injury," he said in a statement on the findings.
"What’s posted on the Internet is permanent, and it spreads like a virus – there is no refuge. The difference between the impact of bullying today versus 20 years ago is the difference between getting into a fist fight and using a gun," he said.