Invervention Proposal
Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review
A literature review of peer reviewed papers
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Introduction
The issue of bullying is a pertinent one in the United States of America; recent school shootings and suicide deaths underscore the necessity of more research into the issue of bulling and the effects if schools continue to swipe the issue under the rug. In a typical bullying scenario, the bully harasses the victim in a secluded place or before bystanders. In bullying that occurs within schools, bystanders have the power to stop the bullying but only intervene in a small number of cases. I think that the tolerance towards bullying stems from the fact that humans have a natural instinct for self-preservation that prevents bystanders from helping bullying victims.
Controversy
In scientific research that focusses on the topic of bullying in America, there is controversy regarding the motivations of the bystander. In most cases, bystanders in bullying incidences have the power to stop the bullying but choose not to intervene. Despite extensive research done on the topic, experts are still undecided on the motivating factors that lead a bystander to intervene or fail to intervene to stop bullying. From the bulk of research that focuses on the topic of bullying, it seems that the default actions that most bystanders take when they encounter an incident of bullying is to not intervene; this is true for students in schools as well as school staff (Thornberg, Tenenbaum, Meyers, & Vanegas, 2012).
To shed light on the issue of the bystander in bullying incidences and the motivating factors, a two-pronged research is necessary. One aspect of the research will focus on the factors that motivate bystanders to get involved and intervene to stop incidences of bullying; this research will involve going to school and talking to both students and staff in order to identify cases where individuals intervene to stop bullying. Looking into the motivations of individuals who willingly put themselves at risk will lead to the identification of the elements of the human condition that elicits bravery.
The other prong in the research will focus on the motivation of bystanders who consistently do not intervene when they encounter incidences of bullying. The research would also involve going to schools and speaking to students and teachers. One likely explanation for the unwillingness of bystanders to intervene is bystander apathy; this is a phenomenon whereby the more the bystanders witnessing an incidence of bullying, the less likely the bystanders will intervene. Researchers opine that one reason for bystander apathy is that individuals among the bystanders reason that someone is more qualified to address the situation, when all the bystanders think in a similar manner; no one is likely to intervene (Thornberg, Tenenbaum, Meyers, & Vanegas, 2012).
Comparing the data on the research that focused on bystander apathy and research that focused on the factors that motivate bystanders to intervene will lead to useful insights that sheds light on the issue of bullying and school policy that eliminates bullying in American schools.
Literature
The research on bullying generally acknowledges that bullying is a bad thing and it negatively affects the victims emotionally. If not properly addressed, bullying in schools exacerbates problems such as depression and leads to suicide deaths. The internet has made bullying more alarming and introduced the concept of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is more harmful because it takes always all safe zones where individual are free from bullying, as long as the victims have their phones, they are susceptible to oppression from their peers or individuals with malicious intent. Research on the issue of cyberbullying notes that parents as well as teachers have to get involved; the passive form of bullying enabled by smartphones can occur right under their noses (Mills & Carwile, 2009).
Among the research that focuses on the issue of bullying in schools, there are many proposed reasons for bystander apathy. The paper by Bradshaw and Sawyer notes that bystanders fear becoming the target of bullying if they intervene to stop incidences of bullying. The research also notes the bystander apathy effect in play within schools; the more people witnessing an incident of bullying, the less likely that individuals will intervene. An individual’s capacity for empathy tends to decrease when that individual is in a crowd. The research by Bradshaw and Sawyer also noted that the perceptual difference between teachers and students tends to make the problem worse. The no tolerance policy that most teachers have tends to make bullying worse by punishing individuals who intervene; this makes it less likely that bystanders witnessing a bullying incident within schools will intervene (Bradshaw & Sawyer, 2007). Bradshaw and Sawyer obtained their research results by observing school staff and students in schools; their research was correlational, as such, it did not lead to a causative conclusion on the cause of bystander apathy, however, it did shed light on the issue of bullying in schools.
A research published in the Journal Psychology in schools notes that peer and teacher support has great potential in mitigating incidences of bullying in schools. The researchers of the peer-reviewed article focused their efforts in schools, which tackled the issue of bystander apathy head on and made it a matter of policy for individuals to intervene to stop incidences of bullying whenever they encounter them. The researchers observed that schools that have an open policy towards intervening to break up incidences of bullying achieve highest quality of life among students and have the least cases of depression (Flaspohler, Elfstrom, Vanderzee, & Birchmeier, 2009). The study in the Journal psychology in schools sheds light on the ability of individuals to stop incidences of bullying when nothing is holding them back from intervening.
Thornberg, Tenebaum, Meyers, and Vanegas directly addressed the issue of bystander motivation in their study published in the Western Journal of Emergency medicine; even though their study focused on bystander apathy in incidences involving a medical emergency; the study still has implication for bullying in schools. Through a correlative research, the researchers observed that a bystander’s level of empathy tends to be more when they are alone with a victim; this makes it more likely that a bystander will intervene to help a victim. However, a crowd of bystanders seems to have a counterintuitive effect on the willingness of individuals to help; this is true for both cases of bullying and cases involving medical emergencies. Individuals within a crowd of bystanders actively avoid involving themselves because they believe that it is someone else’s job to help the victim. However, when bystanders are few, they quickly take initiative. The results of the research suggest that bystander apathy is common regardless of the victim needing help; the implications for schools where bullying is a serious problems is that school staff have to get more involved to stop incidences of bullying (Thornberg, Tenenbaum, Meyers, & Vanegas, 2012).
Future outcomes
Majority of the research focuses on the whys of bullying and bystander apathy and gives little attention to solutions to the problem. Research on bullying and bystander apathy leads to more insight on the issue of bullying; this should translate to more research about effective solutions that stop bullying.
Conclusion
In conclusion, bullying is a serious problem in schools, despite this, bystanders witnessing a bullying incident fail to intervene, one possible reason for this could be the unwillingness to get involved and cultivate trouble for oneself. Research on the issue of bullying states that bystander apathy is an enabling practice and more needs to be done to get students and teachers involved in stopping incidences of bullying.
ReferencesBradshaw, & Sawyer. (2007). Bullying and peer victimization at school: Perceptual differences between students and school staff. School Psychology Review, 361.
Flaspohler, Elfstrom, Vanderzee, & Birchmeier. (2009). Stand by me: The effects of peer and teacher support in mitigating the impact of bullying on quality of life. Psychology in the Schools, 636-649.
Mills, & Carwile. (2009). The good, the bad, and the borderline: Separating teasing from bullying. Communication Education, 276-301.
Thornberg, Tenenbaum, Meyers, & Vanegas. (2012). Bystander motivation in bullying incidents: To intervene or not to intervene? Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 13.