Strategies+for+reducing+violence

=Bullying as a context of violence=

Shane Koyczan "To this day..." For the bullied and beautiful

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http://www.upworthy.com/the-most-beautiful-way-to-stop-a-bully-ive-ever-seen?g=2&c=bl3


 * Bullying as a context of violence: an overview **

We will use bullying as the context when we look at strategies for reducing violence and when we examine the effects of short term and long term exposure to violence

Sources:
 * Crane and Hannibal - ' // Violence: the case of bullying // ' - pages 293 - 296
 * This section covers prevalence and forms of bullying, as well as a model of reactions/roles in a bullying situation
 * Crane and Hannibal - ' // Origins of bullying behavio // r' - pages 296 - 297
 * Crane and Hannibal - ' // Reducing violence and bullying behavior' // - pages 300 - 301
 * Handout - Hannibal - '//Evaluate strategies to reduce violence//'


 * Crane discusses origins of bullying behavior on pages 296 – 297. Consider these origins when designing strategy to combat bullying **
 * 1) How might you make use of the Lieu and Raine longitudinal study (p. 296) when discussing origins of violence? For example, in what way could it indicate a link between biological, cognitive and social factors?
 * 2) How might you make use of Olweus’ (1993) and Eron’s (1987) findings on the impact of the home environment and particularly the use of harsh discipline, when discussing origins of violence?
 * 3) Dodge’s work with aggressive boys indicates that there is a link between aggressive and violent behavior and negatively based cognitive schemas that have created a bias in information processing. He is focusing on cognitive factors. However, can we consider these negatively based cognitive schemas the cause?
 * 4) How might Bradshaw’s study on New York adolescents (2004, p. 289 - 290) and Bandura’s work on social learning theory (1973) add to your understanding of the interaction of factors at work here?


 * Learning outcome: **
 * //Discuss the relative effectiveness of two strategies for reducing violence.//**

FOCUS: Reducing violence and bullying in schools

Prevalence:
 * // Large-scale surveys of bullying around the world report victimisation rates of between 9 and 32 per cent, and bullying rates of between 3 and 27 per cent (Stassen Berger, 2007). //
 * // Verbal abuse is the most commonly reported type of bullying, but ‘cyberbullying’, which typically happens outside of school, is becoming an increasingly significant issue. //


 * Source:**

Paragraph 1: Strategy - Anger management
__**Part A**__ Research indicates that teaching strategies involved in anger management and in developing empathy can help reduce violent and aggressive behaviors

Why?
 * Focus is on altering your perceptions of
 * others
 * the situational cues that can cause you to feel aggressive

Involves
 * A focus on self-reflection
 * A focus on empathy


 * Go back to Dodge’s work with aggressive boys (1980) - Crane p. 297**
 * The spilling the lunch tray story
 * Aggressive boys read hostile intent into the story 50% more frequently than the others
 * Response was more often aggressive action
 * Negative attitudes <=> negative attributional style
 * His other research found such children are
 * Defensive
 * Become more so if they feel threatened
 * See hostility where none exists
 * See hostility when processing ambiguous actions of others and react aggressively
 * Act aggressively if they feel disliked
 * Self-fulfilling prophecy
 * Have negatively based cognitive schemas -> bias in information processing

Dodge found that children could be taught to take time to process and reflect before acting
 * Feshbach and Feshbach (1982) – empathy training with junior school children (elementary) reduced aggression in the playground
 * Figueiredo et. al. (2007) – computer simulation where children can act as an advisor to a victimized character who will make choices based on this advice – goal is to make students more reflective

__**Part B**__

Evaluation:
How effective is anger management in combatting bullying?

Anger management in isolation with an individual will have less chance of changing negatively based cognitive schemas. It needs to be part of a whole school approach (change the culture) Guerra et L (2006)
 * Investigated effect of MACS (Metropolitan area Child Study) - small group interventions
 * when violence was a norm in the neighborhood, intervention programs like MACS were not very effective
 * aggressive behavior in individuals continued (eg. culture of honor)
 * Significance - programs must address the CULTURE of violence/ bullying

Paragraph 2: Strategy - The Whole School Approach
Reducing bullying and violence in schools cannot just rely on anger management for the individual. It needs a community approach and therefore in the context of a school, a whole school approach.

Focus on social norm conformity theory
 * The community needs to build itself as the in-group which promotes prosocial behavior as a norm – change the culture of the school.
 * All groups within the community need to have ownership of this norm and take responsibility for it – teachers, administrators, students.


 * Olweus’s whole school program for schools in Norway (1972) - The Olweus Bullying Prevention Programme **
 * teachers must model non-aggressive conflict resolution strategies in the classroom
 * Black (2007) implementation of IBPP
 * decrease of 25.5% of bullying incidents in all schools (see Hannibal handout)

Review Sherif’s Robber Cave study. How did they break up the hostility and create cooperation? [] The first activity The second activity
 * Excerpts from the Integration phase (3rd part of experiment)**
 * // deliberate attempt to create cooperation between the two groups following a stage of friction or conflict. //
 * // Aim - to study the process of reducing group tensions. //
 * // both the groups must cooperate //
 * // resources and efforts of a single group inadequate to fix problem. //
 * // Both groups moved to a new location //
 * // told of a drinking water shortage. //
 * // groups had to repair the damage done by vandals to their drinking water supply. //
 * //During the successful repair of their water problems, cooperation was observed between the members of the two groups. This// //activity was done by the experimenters to create a state of real and tangible interdependence between the members of the two groups.//
 * // group needed to interact with each other //
 * // had to pay and decide for a movie that they would like to watch. //
 * // groups successfully agreed upon a movie all of them should watch //
 * // during the dinner after this activity, all the boys were eating together once again. //

Key aspects
 * authorities required cooperation
 * set up a situation that required it
 * set up a problem that had meaning
 * created climate of cooperation

Read more: [|Academic Fields of Study - Research Disciplines]


 * If all members of a group believe in a common goal, they are more likely to work together
 * If you don’t feel like a victim, you won’t react aggressively

Paragraph 3 - Evaluation of the whole school approach
How effective is the whole school approach?

There are factors that can reduce the effectiveness of the whole school approach


 * Review the findings below.**
 * 1) What factors are necessary to successfully reducing violence in the context of bullying? Find the common denominators through a comparison of the conclusions and recommendations below.
 * 2) Create a design for an effective school program to combat bullying at the high school level.

Tolan, P., & Guerra, N. (1994).What works at reducing adolescent violence: An empirical review of the field. Boulder, CO.; The Center for the study and Prevention of Violence.
 * Excerpt 1**

//25% of student violence is rooted in relationship issues, while 40-65% of student violence stems from situational circumstances.//

//The interventions most effective with situational circumstances and relationship issues include: effective instruction, improved physical setting and school climate, social skills training, school-wide discipline, conflict resolution and peer mediation.//

Peterson, R.L. & Skiba, R. (2000). Creating School Climates that prevent school violence. Preventing School Failure, Spring 2000, 122-129.
 * Excerpt 2**

//The article reviewed research and found that: Effective programs have two key prerequisites: awareness and adult involvement, Effective prevention also requires a commitment on the part of all adults to reduce or eliminate bullying, Bullying programs are a whole school effort designed to send a message that bullying will not be accepted in school.//

Espelage, D.L., Bosworth, K., & Simon, T.R. (2000). Examining the social context of bullying behaviors in early adolescence. Journal of Counseling and Development, 78, 326-333.
 * Excerpt 3**

//Researchers concluded that the best predictor of students' non-bullying behavior was having positive adult role models.//

Smith, P., & Sharp, S. (1994). School bullying: Insights and perspectives. New York: Routledge.
 * Excerpt 4**

'Steps to Respects' //includes an adult training component. Research indicates that active adult involvement is necessary to right the power imbalance inherent to bullying and bring about schoolwide changes and effectively decrease bullying.//

Rock, E.A., Hammond, M. & Rasmussen, S (2002). School-based program to teach children empathy and bully prevention. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Psychological Association. Chicago, Il. Aug 2002.
 * Excerpt 5**

//This paper presents the results of a qualitative study that looked at empathy in the easily aroused child (provocative victim in the bullying paradigm) and the effectiveness of a bully prevention program. Incidents of bullying dropped 73% overall after the program was implemented. Students attributed this decrease to two things, teachers were now watching the bullies more so they didn't get away with bullying as often and they found that other kids were inviting them to play more often. These were skills taught in the bully prevention class.//

Hirchstein, M.K., Van Schoiack Edstrom, L., Frey, K.S., Snell, J.L., & MacKenzie, E.P. (2007). Walking the talk in bullying prevention: Teacher implementation variables related to initial impact of the Steps to Respect program. School Psychology Review, 36, 3-21.
 * Excerpt 6**

//This study utilizes 859 students and 36 teachers. Results indicated that students receiving greater teacher support towards generalizing and using skills beyond the lessons (2 to 3 times per week) were rated by observers as being less aggressive after the curriculum intervention, and as being victimized less often. Furthermore, students in high coaching classrooms were reported by observers to be less supportive and encouraging of bullying behaviors at post-test. Overall, after one year, classroom implementation corresponded with positive changes in observed playground behavior. Older elementary students seemed to benefit most.//