Bullying is a repeated set of intentional behaviors involving an imbalance of power that humiliates, taunts, socially isolates, or physically hurts the victim involved in the bullying dynamic (Olweus, 1993). It is also characterized by repeated aggression, which may be expressed verbally, relationally, or physically. This behavior is different from other forms of aggression, abuse, and violence in that it takes place in a social context. Bullying in schools has been identified as a serious and complex problem, and has been associated with adverse short and long-term effects on children’s psychological and social adjustment (Smith 1999; Trofi & Farrington, 2008).
Bullying significantly impacts the lives of children on both ends of this relational dynamic. Research has shown that bullies may have a greater risk of substance abuse, poor social adjustment, and psychological challenges later in their lives (Olweus, Roberts, 2010.) Victims of bullying, on the other hand, typically manifest mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, poor self-esteem, and interpersonal challenges in their adulthood relationships. According to these authors, research has provided evidence that factors such as maladaptive parental characteristics may increase the chances of children’s involvement in a bullying situation.
Viewing this dynamic through an attachment theory framework may help shed light on the dynamics that underlie the bullying relationship. Attachment relationships are constructed, through the interactions of a child and his or her caretakers, during the early years of life; these attachment bonds then serve as a template for the child’s relationships with peers. A high level of security or quality in primary attachment relationships supports children’s positive social adaption in their peer groups. Psychoanalyst John Bowlby believed that the relationship between attachment security and later adaptive functioning hinged on the child’s development of what he referred to as “internal working models,” meaning internalized representations of the attachment figure, the self, and the self in relation to others (Bowlby, 1969). The relationship between a child and his or her caregiver forms the basis for attachment during the infant’s first years of life (Verissimo, Santos, & Fernandes, 2014). Bowlby argued that these internal models informed the child’s beliefs about his or her personal qualities and attributes (Elicker, England, & Sroufe, 1992) and shaped the child’s expectations of how others might understand and respond to the child’s social initiations (Booth, Rubin, & Rose-Krasnor, 1998). These attachments and internal working models are carried throughout the lifespan and continue to influence the individual’s expectations and behavior in peer, intimate, and caregiving relationships. Specifically, parents’ attachment patterns have a direct relationship to the attachment organization that will be formed by a child. For example, parents who have secure attachments are likely to have children who are securely attached to them, while insecurely attached parents are more likely to have children who are insecurely attached to them (Egeland, 2009). In fact, research has found that a vast majority of children who bully their peers have an insecure attachment style (Monks, Smith, & Swettenham, 2005; Troy & Sroufe, 1987).
In order to address the problem of bullying clinically, it is essential that interventions refocus on addressing the bully’s relationship with attachment figures. There is a lack of research on interventions that utilize the parent-child relationship as a mechanism to improve children’s social interactions, especially regarding bullying behavior. Therefore, an attachment-based intervention designed for parents to reduce bullying could help to create more secure attachments between caregiver and child as well as foster more positive and pro-social peer relationships.
Addressing attachment style and intervening at an early developmental stage of a child’s life would be clinically valuable because younger children are more malleable than older children, adolescents, or adults, and their parents still serve as primary sources of influence and as role models. Most of the research has emphasized middle-childhood and adolescent bullying (Alsaker, 1993; Alsaker & Valkanover, 2001; Kochenderfer & Ladd, 1996; Monks et al., 2002; Hanish et al., 2004; Perren & Alsaker, 2006). There is scarce empirical evidence, however, concerning the development and manifestation of the problem in early childhood years. Therefore, intervention before the problem is most salient (i.e. in a middle-school setting) is essential. More specifically, elementary school may be the first context where children’s difficulties in social interactions with peers can be primarily assessed, and preventative measures can be implemented. Addressing the early identification of these problems at this age can minimize if not prevent the negative impact of a child’s emotional and social development as well as foster successful adaptation in schools (Vlachou, Andreou, Botsoglou, & Didaskalou, 2011). Intervening with the parents of children who are in elementary school, specifically the third and fourth grades, may be most useful as an early intervention, because children entering into middle school are most at risk for bullying.
The significance and purpose of my study is to promote positive parenting and secure attachment to optimize peer relationships and prevent bullying behavior. I intend to create a psychoeducational webinar for early intervention aimed to help parents of children in elementary school gain an understanding of attachment security as well as bullying behavior. I also intend to educate parents on how various attachment styles can influence or prevent aggressive behaviors such as bullying. In the webinar, I will educate parents in order to increase awareness of bullying behavior. Finally, I will create an attachment-based intervention workshop targeted to elementary school parents that is intended to increase secure attachments and decrease anticipated bullying behavior in the future. The aspirational goal for this web-based intervention is to create a safer school climate, with more psychologically healthy parents and children.
In order to study this approach, I will conduct a survey of child therapists who are exposed to the webinar in order to gain feedback about the utility of the intervention and obtain their suggestions for improvement. The following research questions will be addressed in this study: 1) Will licensed child therapists gain a better understanding of attachment, bullying, and the relationship between attachment and bullying after attending the psycho-educational webinar? 2) What type of feedback will child therapists give regarding the utility of this intervention? 3) What feedback will child therapists offer regarding areas of strength, weakness, and ways to improve the workshop? 4) How can this researcher utilize this feedback to improve the intervention program?
Literature review
What is Bullying?
As noted earlier, bullying is a set of repeated, intentional aggressive behaviors, that typically involves an imbalance of power, and typically involves humiliation, taunting, socially isolation, and/or physically hurts the victim (Olweus, 1993). Olweus and Limber (1999) defined bullying as “an aggressive behavior of intentional harm doing, which is carried out repeatedly and over time, in an interpersonal relationship characterized by an imbalance in strength or power.” Olweus (1999) also added that “the bullying behavior often occurs without apparent provocation” and “negative actions can be carried out by physical contact, by words, or in other ways, such as making faces or mean gestures, and intentional exclusion from a group.” The bullying interaction can be carried out by a single individual or a group (Olweus, 1993).
Farrington (1993) summarized the following key elements which constitute bullying: a) physical, verbal, or a psychological attack or intimidation, b) an imbalance of power, c) the bully intends to cause fear and/or harm the victim, d) the incident is repeated for a prolonged period, and e) the act is unprovoked by the victim.
Bullying may take a variety of forms including relational, physical, and verbal abuse. Social isolation and exclusion are also included as forms of bullying (Lagerspetz et al., 1998). Relational bullying is defined as taunting, rumor spreading, and threatening to withdraw friendship (Vitaro, Brendgen, & Barker, 2006), and physical aggression includes behaviors such as hitting, kicking, and pushing (Houndoumadi & Patraski, 2001). Verbal bullying includes name-calling, threatening, spreading malicious rumors, and mocking (Lagerspetz et al., 1998). Olweus (1994) also distinguished between direct bullying/victimization, which essentially entails open attacks to the victim, and indirect bullying/victimization, which is in the form of intentional exclusion and social isolation from a group. Bullying is viewed as a form of aggression where a strong perpetrator or a group of perpetrators act out toward a weaker victim (Lagerspetz et al., 1998). The distinction of bullying versus playful disputes, fighting, or teasing can be made by comparing the strength between the two people or two parties. For example, playful disputes consist of a dynamic of equivalence in strength and a relatively stable interaction pattern between the two parties (Salmivalli et al, 1998).
Bullying is a fluid activity; bullies can alternate between being a bully and being bullied (Wolke et al., 2000). Bully-victims are children who alternate between being a bully and being bullied themselves (Andreou, 2001). These bully-victims are referred to as either aggressive victims or passive victims. When comparing bullies, victims, and bully-victims, the group categorized as bully-victims are found to demonstrate high levels of depression and aggression, have the highest risk for developing psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, anti-social personalities, are the most disliked members in a classroom, and have the greatest risk of developing psychiatric challenges in their future (Wolke & Lareya, 2105)
Prevalence
While many researchers agree on the definition of what constitutes bullying, there is a vast range of findings regarding the prevalence of bullying. This variance is due to the following factors related to how the behavior is measured: a) the time span of the bullying interaction being asked about (last month, last term, last year, occurrence at school), b) the frequency (once or twice a term, once a month, once a week or more), and c) whether bullying is expressed directly versus indirectly (Vlachou, Andreou, Botsoglou, & Didaskalou, 2011). Although bullying is a serious and often life threatening issue in the United States, there have been more data collected on the prevalence of bullying globally rather than nationally.
Regarding global statistics, the World Health Organization (2012) reported that 32% of children are being bullied across thirty-eight countries and regions; suggesting that bullying is a global problem (Lereya, Samara, & Wolke, 2013). Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel (2009), studied the prevalence of bullying a peer or being victimized at least once in the past two months in the United States. The authors found 20.8% of participants reported being bullied physically, 53.6% verbally, 51.4% socially and 13.6% online.
In terms of various international trends of bullying, Olweus (1999b) found that only 10% of the students were bullied in a period of two months in Norwegian schools, whereas the ratio rose to 21% in Canada (Bentley & Li, 1995). This rate varied between 20% and 22% in Portugal (Tomas de Almeida, 1999). Much higher percentages were found in Italy (28% for middle school children and 40% for primary school children (Genta et al., 1996)). In England, 10% of the students reported that they were bullied at least once a week and 22% at least once a month (Yates & Smith, 1989). In Greece, the percentage of school children who were bullied varied from 15% to 30% (Kalliotis, 2000; Andreou, 2001; Pateraki, 2001). In a recent study carried out among high school students in Turkey, it was found that 44% of the students were bullied verbally, 30% physically, 18% emotionally and 9% sexually (Karaman-Kepenekçi & Cinkir, 2001). In some countries including the Philippines, schools are legally required to have an anti-bullying policy in their curriculum (Ananiadou & Smith, 2002).
Much of the literature on bullying primarily covers the prevalence of such events; yet it is important to also understand the incidence of bullying in schools internationally. For example, in schools in Norway, up to 7% of the students were characterized as bullies. This number rose to 20% in England, 12% in Canada, 20% (primary school) and in here…