 experience either or both need help,” stated child psychology experts Dr. Howard Spivak of the New England Medical Center, in Boston, and Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith of the Harvard School of Public Health, commenting on the research. In light of recent school shootings, parents and educators have become concerned about whether bullying behavior or being the victim of one may contribute to more serious acts of aggression. But experts disagree about predicting future violent behavior from earlier ullying tendencies. Dr. Robert Findling, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University Hospital of Cleveland believes “aggression is a very stable trait that is long-lasting. ” Dr. Carl Bell, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Illinois, in Chicago, adds, “there is some link between bullying behavior and later violence, but we are just not certain how strong it is. ” One commonly cited British study reported that individuals with a history of bulling had a four-fold increase in criminal behavior by the age of 24.
The British study, however, examined only violent behaviors – such as beating someone up after school, and not the more benign behaviors like name-calling or giving someone the cold shoulder. But some see bullying as part of the more normal aspect of children’s behavior, not leading to excessive violence later on. Dr. Eugene Beresin, director of child and adolescent psychological training at McLean and Massachusetts General Hospitals says, “school shootings are an anomaly, over-rated, exaggerated, and extremely rare …
Bullying, however, is very common and has definite serious social effects … we should be much more concerned with bullying and self-inflicted violence. ” In fact, when the Secret Service recently attempted to figure out the “profile,” of a child that acts out with gun violence, it found a student’s tendency to become a “school shooter” cannot be predicted based on involvement in bullying activities. Poor academic performance and psychological disorders also were not indicators of potential violent behavior.
The Secret Service concluded, ” the use of profiles is ineffective and inefficient. ” ? Essay Example 2: How to Prevent Bullying Many argue that there is no real way to prevent bullying. Kids will be kids and that is all there is to it. But, because of the incredibly negative effects that have recently been found to occur to the victims of bullying, there has been an active effort to limit bullying. The solutions are easy ones, and easy to practice. Kids can make bullying seem unappealing.
Often times, students fall victim to the bystander effect, simply letting the bullying occur. But, it has been found that if students take an active resistance when they see a fellow classmate being bullied, the bully is less likely to act out in this way. By simply telling the bully that what they are doing is not right, a bully will often cease their actions because the cause of their bullying is many times a search for social acceptance. With these facts in mind, kids can help combat the problem of bullying.
Many of the suggestions to prevent bullying, however, seem to be counterproductive. In one article, the author – Laura Egodigwe – gives suggestions on avoiding bullying, not necessarily preventing or stopping it. She says to, “Ignore or avoid. If a bully asks for your lunch money, keep walking and act like you don’t hear them,” and “Be aware. Knowing who’s in front of you or behind you in the hallway or in a line at school can help you to avoid bullies”. These, though they are great suggestions for avoiding bullies, they really do not solve anything.
They are as helpful as, say, telling a child that the best places to hide are behind the jungle gym and by the vending machine. More proactive approaches involve actions like walking over to someone who is eating alone at the cafeteria (Rinaldo, 2005). As anyone can recall, high school is a social hierarchy, and to do this, one may risk social ostracizing, but they will also be taking an active role in making sure that the