Violence and School Bullying

Recently I read a fascinating chapter from a book called Handbook of Anger, Aggression, and Violence. In this chapter, Nixon and Linkie emphasize on the importance of understanding how trauma and adverse childhood experiences, also called ACEs, are linked with bullying. Children who are exposed to ACEs are at risk of being the victim and also the bully. They are more likely to suffer mental health problems (Felitti et al. 1998), have difficulties establishing and maintaining positive social relationships (Briere & Scott, 2015), and have a tendency to follow a path of aggressive behaviors. For this reason, they believe that a trauma-informed approach and a strength-based perspective is needed for bullying prevention i n order to build resilience instead of focusing only on the deficits and the negative consequences of bullying. This means we have to identify and cultivate protective factors such as positive relationships, social-emotional skills and resilience to prevent bullyin...

  “Bullybusters” In my opinion, watching an episode or drama performance about anything is often more impactful than reading a program because it engages emotions, makes the issue understandable through realistic scenarios, and creates active discussion and problem-solving. Performances appeal to diverse learning styles, which are more memorable, and provide visual models, in our case, for addressing bullying, creating a stronger and lasting longer connection to the message. Do you agree? What strategy would be better to really catch everyone’s attention to the Anti-Bullying programs? Bullybusters is a creative school-wide anti-bullying program designed to help students identify and deal with bullying in a responsible and affecting way. This program uses drama students to perform pieces that highlight the negative consequences of bullying.  The acts allow mainly students but also teachers and school workers to witness bullying scenarios in a non-threatening, impersonal context...

  Bull-E - The Simpsons (Season 26, Episode 21) The Simpsons has reflected bullying as a complex issue through their episodes, whether through Bart’s pranks, Nelson’s struggles, or Springfield’s collective response, the show highlights the importance of addressing bullying thoughtfully and empathetically.  Many schools and communities have anti-bullying policies, but the debates arise about how to enforce them without oppressing free expression or over-penalizing minor infractions. The episode of The Simpsons reflects these concerns by showing the challenges of finding a balance. It highlights how good intentions, like preventing bullying (passing an Anti-Bullying law), can sometimes go way too far, leading to unintended consequences. Also, it brings up the difficulty of bullying’s definition, what feels like bullying to one person might seem harmless to another, that is Homer’s storyline, which reminds us that our words and actions, even if unintended, can impact on others d...

First, I’m sorry because the documentary is in Catalan, and I know that many of you don’t understand it. But I think it is interesting to explain what it is about. However, the documentary has automatically generated subtitles in Spanish, English, German, Italian...   This documentary is on Catalonia’s public TV channel (TV3) and is called “ Històries de l’escola ”, which means “Stories from School”. It started in March and has six episodes, showing the daily life of different schools.   The first episode clearly shows how a girl suffers from bullying. At the beginning of the episode, she has a panic attack because her classmates call her "fat whore", among other insults.   The school’s social worker plays an important role. He talks to the student and the people involved to try to find a solution. He also works with the class tutor and other teachers to improve the classroom environment. The tutor says she feels bad about the situation.   Some girls say they...

Blog 3: Tirza Scheffer Narcissistic victim bully complex I found a video talks about the Narcissistic Victim Bully Complex, where someone acts like both the victim and the bully to manipulate others. These people change the story to get sympathy, making it look like they are always the ones being treated unfairly, when really they are the ones causing harm. It's even worse when only you see them being mean, while everyone else believes they are the victim. They get all the support, and you end up looking like the bad person. One of the most harmful tricks they use is the classic "I'm just joking" excuse. It puts you in a difficult position: either you laugh at your own embarrassment to stay "fun", or you call them out and suddenly you're "too sensitive" or "no fun". This is how they keep control, they make you doubt your own feelings while they continue to manipulate the situation. The woman in the video explains why it's so i...

Hello everyone! In class, we have been discussing about cyberbullying, so I have been researching ways to prevent this phenomenon. I want to share my findings with you, as this resource can help provide more tools for preventing cyberbullying in the field of psychology. Cyberbullying is a form of intentional and repeated aggression carried out through electronic devices, usually via social media. This phenomenon is associated with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, risky behaviors, suicidal thoughts, and more. In 2016, The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry published a study investigating various school-based prevention methods. One of these was Media Heroes, a German program designed to increase empathy and social responsibility in the use of technology. This program was developed in Germany by psychologists and educators and is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. This theory states that intentions and behaviors are shaped by three key factors: a personal determinant, ...

  Blog 2: Tirza Scheffer Spijt: The reality of bullying and the importance of peer support   Spijt (which means Regret) is a Dutch movie that shows how serious bullying can be. The film is directed by Dave Schram and is based on Carry Slee's book. It tells the story of a teenager called Jochem who is bullied by his classmates. The film shows how bullying can have a really bad effect on someone's mental health and how important it is to have support to stop bad things from happening. This movie is about how Jochem is bullied at school and nobody helps him. Some teachers even bullied him for being fat and ugly. His only support here was his classmate David. Even though David tries to help and is nice, the bullying doesn't stop and Jochem's mental health keeps getting worse. A girl Jochem liked seeing realised the impact of the bullying, but she realised this too late and she could not help him anymore. The film has a sad ending. This shows that bullying can get wors...

  Blog 1: Tirza Scheffer Bullying is a big problem in schools that has a negative effect on students' mental health and well-being. A study involving 206 Greek students in Year 9 (aged 13-14) looked at the links between bullying and being bullied and emotional intelligence, self-confidence and empathy. Here are the most important things: Boys are more likely to bully others than girls, and they also get bullied more. Kokkinos and Kipritsi (2011) also found that people who are confident in their academic skills are less likely to be bullied. Students who feel good about their schoolwork are less likely to bully others. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is also linked to bullying. This means that students who are better at controlling their emotions and understanding their own feelings are less likely to bully others. Having high emotional intelligence and cognitive empathy (the ability to understand how others feel) is linked to less bullying. In other words, students who can understand...

  Hello everyone! Following our discussions on cyberbullying and its consequences in class, I started thinking about the role social media platforms play in addressing that issue. Thus, I researched about what Instagram does against cyberbullying. Instagram uses different features and tools in order to protect its users from bullying.   For instance, when someone types a potentially mean comment, the user gets notified and is reminded of the guidelines and possible consequences. In addition to that, Instagram users can report other people, leading to the team evaluating the case and taking action when needed. The reported users do not get notified about who reported them, which in my opinion decreases the risk of worsening the situation for the victims. Furthermore, Instagram has included the tools of blocking and restricting other users. Moreover, Instagram has developed a list of inappropriate words, which are filtered out of comments or messages. The user also has the pos...

  D uring a class discussion during the lesson, an important question arose: Why don't teachers always intervene in bullying? Or worse: why don't students sometimes even report bullying? Bullying is a serious problem in schools and has a major impact on the development and well-being of children. This made me curious about the role of teachers in combating bullying. Why do some teachers hardly intervene? Do they lack knowledge, resources, or are there other factors involved? In this blog I discuss the findings from the study by  Mazzone et al., (2021) , entitled  “Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Bullying: What Do We Know, and Where Do We Go from Here?” What is Bullying The Article defines bullying with an aggressive behavior with three characteristics: Intention:   the perpetrator intends to cause harm. Repetition:  the behavior occurs more often and is not a one-time incident. Power inequality:  The victim has difficulty defending themselves, for example due ...