STUDY SHOWS BULLYING CAN LEAD TO VIOLENCE
Children who are bullied are not only likely to experience violent thoughts, but they also often try to solve the problem themselves, according to a Purdue University study.
Jean P. Peterson, an associate professor of educational studies, and Karen Ray, a Purdue doctoral student in counseling psychology, recently completed a study of more than 400 gifted students nationwide and their experiences with bullying. Fifty-five were interviewed in depth. The study was crafted in response to media reports that the tragedy at Columbine High school in Littleton, Colo., may have been rooted in the murderers' response to such abuse.
April 20 marks the fifth anniversary of the shootings at Columbine in which two seniors killed 12 students and one teacher. The two shooters also killed themselves.
"Some important themes that emerged in this study were that, although bullied students see external factors as leading to their situation, they feel responsible for finding ways to resolve the abuse themselves," Peterson says. "They are not likely to tell others or ask for help. That, taken to an extreme, has the potential to lead to violence like we saw at Columbine and elsewhere."
Peterson says 37 percent of the eighth-grade boys she surveyed reported thinking violent thoughts about their classmates. The percentage increased steadily from kindergarten through eighth grade.
"Students who aren't known or are different are easy targets for bullies," she says. "Counselors who can bring students together in small-group work can help them realize how much they have in common."
SCHOOLS NEED TO FOSTER OPEN COMMUNICATION TO THWART VIOLENCE
New rules and regulations instituted at some schools in the five years since the shootings at Columbine High School have made schools safer, but they cannot be fully effective unless school officials keep an open dialogue with their students, says a Purdue professor who has written a book on the subject.
Thomas K. Capozzoli's book, "Kids Killing Kids: Violence and Gangs in Schools," was published shortly after the April 20, 1999, shootings and includes information on the incident.
Capozzoli, a professor of organizational leadership and supervision, says schools have made changes since Columbine that have made them safer - locking doors, installing cameras, keeping better track of who is in their buildings - but those changes alone are not enough.
"The most effective thing school officials can do is communicate with students about what is happening in their schools," Capozzoli says. "In most recent instances where school administrators have discovered and stopped a violent plot, credit goes to students who have come forward with information. Students are much more likely to do that if the doors of communication have already been opened."
Capozzoli, who also is director of Purdue's School of Technology in Kokomo and Lafayette, Ind., can talk about a wide range of topics related to school violence and safety. He has not only studied the Columbine shootings, but also school shootings across the country, including incidents in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Arkansas.
'HOMEWORK' HELPS CLASSROOMS CURB HAZING, VIOLENCE
Even though America has not seen a trend of school shootings similar to the rampages of the late 1990s, a Purdue expert in youth violence says parents need to join forces with teachers to prevent bullying and hazing.
Since the April 20, 1999, Columbine shootings, more attention has been focused on the problem.
"Hazing and bullying have been around for years and were thought of as nothing more than harmless pranks or fun games," says Jack Spencer, a sociologist who studies youth violence and is working on a book about youth violence in the 1990s. "Formerly, society seemed to view it as OK if only a few people's feelings were hurt. Now these acts have led to violence. Last year's hazings in Chicago left girls with broken bones. Constant bullying may have led two students at Columbine to seek revenge by killing their classmates."
Since these two national news stories, more states and school systems are aggressively addressing the problem.
"Schools and legislation, however, can only do so much," Spencer says. "We need to impress upon parents that they can influence how their kids act and think. The best way is to model more acceptable behavior. Children, for example, watch how their parents act when involved in road rage or other forms of rudeness. If parents modify their own behavior and talk to their children about respecting and being sensitive to others, we could reduce the number of these incidents."
Spencer also can talk about the potential impact of stereotyping youth as violent.
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