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3 Individuals within Social Contexts
Pages 69-112

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From page 69...
... Consequently, there has been a call to advance the field by moving from descriptive studies to an approach that identifies processes that can explain heterogeneity in bullying experiences by focusing on contextual factors that modulate the effect of individual characteristics (e.g., ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation) on bullying behavior (Hong et al., 2015; Swearer and Hymel, 2015)
From page 70...
... These contextual factors influence the manner in which this situation unfolds. Some of these social contexts are far more likely to prevent the bullying of the gay youth from occurring or to buffer the negative effects more effectively if the bullying occurs.
From page 71...
... The committee first discusses conceptual frameworks that underpin our approach. We then present illustrative examples across a variety of different social contexts -- peers, families, schools, communities, and broad macrosystems -- to demonstrate the utility of such an approach and to offer guidance for the field of bullying studies moving forward.
From page 72...
... This ecological model has been applied to bullying (Swearer and Espelage, 2004; Swearer and Hymel, 2015; Swearer et al., 2010) , providing a comprehensive framework in which to understand bullying in particular and peer victimization more generally.
From page 73...
... . of concentrated disadvantage or school climate (Bradshaw and Waasdorp, 2009; Gregory et al., 2010; Wang and Degol, 2015)
From page 74...
... In the case of multifinality, instances that start off on a similar trajectory of bullying perpetration or peer victimization can result in vastly different outcomes. Figure 3-3 provides a schematic representation of these two concepts.
From page 75...
... used the terms "peer victimization" or "victimization" to refer to the role of being bullied in bullying incidents (in the terminology preferred for this report, the "target" role in the bullying dyad)
From page 76...
... Multiple Participant Roles in Bullying To acknowledge this larger peer context, bullying can be conceptualized as a group phenomenon, with multiple peers taking on roles other than perpetrator and target (Olweus, 1993; Salmivalli, 2001, 2010, 2014)
From page 77...
... . Research indicates that attitudes and intentions that define these roles vary depending on individual variables such as age, gender, personality, and social status, as well as contexts such as classroom norms favoring the perpetrator or the target.
From page 78...
... Studying perceived norms about bullying in middle school, Perkins and colleagues (2011) found that students overestimated the extent to which their peers engaged in bullying, were targets of bullying, and tolerated such behavior.
From page 79...
... Nevertheless, in this section the committee discusses some illustrative examples of how the family context can both exacerbate and attenuate the effect of individual characteristics on bullying outcomes.
From page 80...
... Whereas the findings from the above studies suggest that parental support can buffer youth against the negative effects of bullying behavior, other studies have shown that this effect is not consistent across all groups of youth. For example, using data from the Dane County Youth Assessment (DCYA)
From page 81...
... . In this section, the committee considers several factors at the school level that have been shown to moderate the effect of individual characteristics on bullying outcomes.
From page 82...
... examined the role of academic teaming -- the practice of grouping students together into smaller learning communities for instruction -- in influencing middle school students' bullying experiences. Students in these teams often share the majority of their academic classes together, limiting their exposure to the larger school community (Echols, 2015)
From page 83...
... examined victimization and characterological self-blame in the sixth grade of middle schools that were characterized as either high or low in overall prevalence of bullying behavior. Characterological self-blame refers to perceptions of self-blame that are internal, attributable to uncontrollable causes, and are stable.
From page 84...
... , using a sample of 2,000 sixth graders from 11 middle schools in southern California, greater ethnic diversity within a classroom was associated with
From page 85...
... Teachers Teachers and school staff are in a unique and influential position to promote healthy relationships and to intervene in bullying situations (Pepler, 2006)
From page 86...
... Consequently, understanding which contextual factors may be associated with
From page 87...
... COMMUNITIES Although most research on contextual moderators on bullying outcomes has focused on factors at the peer, family, and school levels, research has also begun to examine ways in which contextual factors at the community level serve as important modifiers. Generally, these factors have focused on neighborhood correlates, such as neighborhood safety (Espelage et al., 2000)
From page 88...
... Importantly, although moderation was not explicitly modeled in this study, no associations were found between LGBT assault hate crimes and reports of being bullied among heterosexual adolescents. This result suggests the effect of neighborhood climate on bullying outcomes was specific to the sexual minority adolescents.
From page 89...
... MACROSYSTEM As discussed at the beginning of this chapter, the broadest level of Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model of development is the macrosystem, which includes societal norms, or "blueprints," that may be expressed through ideology and/or laws. The macrosystem has received less attention when compared to other contextual factors (e.g., peers, parents, schools)
From page 90...
... Stigma is also expressed at the level of the macrosystem through broad social norms that create and perpetuate negative stereotypes against certain groups (Herek and McLemore, 2013)
From page 91...
... While early research on bullying largely neglected to consider youths' motivations for bullying behaviors, recent research has documented that some bullying and related forms of peer victimization, such as harassment, are due to bias and discrimination. In one example of this work, Russell and colleagues (2012)
From page 92...
... Thus, new intervention models are necessary to address the under-recognized role of stigma in bullying behaviors. AREAS OF FUTURE RESEARCH This chapter reviewed studies that examined social contexts that either reduce or exacerbate the influence of individual characteristics (e.g., weight status, sexual orientation, and race/ethnicity)
From page 93...
... . A study to examine how authoritative school climate theory provides a framework for conceptualizing these two key features found that higher disciplinary structure and student support were associated with lower prevalence of
From page 94...
... . Overall, schools with an authoritative school climate are associated with positive student outcomes (Cornell and Huang, 2016)
From page 95...
... . Thus, future research is needed to examine whether school diversity clubs do moderate the impact of individual characteristics on bullying outcomes.
From page 96...
... reported that among African American girls, participation in sports was associated with lower rates of bullying behavior and that this relation was mediated by selfesteem, which was also enhanced in sport-participating girls. However, in another study examining involvement with school sports and school-related extracurricular activities in a nationally representative sample of 7,990 American students from 578 public schools, results indicated that involvement in intramural sports and classroom-related extracurricular activities increased the likelihood of being bullied by peers, while participation in interscholastic sports was associated with a decreased likelihood of being a target of bullying (Peguero, 2008)
From page 97...
... , it is also possible for the policy context to serve as a moderator of bullying outcomes. For instance, literature related to both homophobia and bullying (Chesir-Teran, 2003; Rutter and Leech, 2006)
From page 98...
... Bullying behavior has most often been studied in the school context. The organization of instruction, organization of discipline, classroom norms, the ethnic composition of classrooms and schools, and teachers are several factors at the school level that have been shown to moderate the effect of individual characteristics on bullying outcomes.
From page 99...
... Peers NA are a critical social context that affect many CAL & LO WS aspects of bullying in large part because peers E LA influence group norms, attitudes, and behavior. AT ST S OOL EX C T I V T R NS H A SC TR I T I E I N D ATIO Y AC US N IC URRS PE U IC COMM ERS U L AR S E RV H E A ICES CHILDREN RESE LT H IT Y UN AR MM CH I LY FA M ER CO S N AL TI O TR ADI AL S EF Research on bullying is largely & SO CI LI descriptive, which generally fails to BE fully address contextual factors that M E DIA & render individual characteristics R MS NO more or less likely to be related to AL bullying experiences.
From page 100...
... Finally, the committee identified several contextual correlates at the school and community level that need greater attention in future studies that explicitly attend to moderation. These include school climate, school transition, school diversity clubs, extracurricular activities and out-ofschool time programs, virtual and media contexts, and the policy context.
From page 101...
... Finding 3.12: Some contextual factors at the school and community level have received less attention than others. For instance, there is comparatively less research on the extent to which school transition, extracurricular activities, and out-of-school-time programs serve as moderators that influence whether individual characteristics are associ ated with bullying involvement either as perpetrators, targets, or both.
From page 102...
... Consequently, research is needed to identify contextual factors that are protective for specific subgroups of youth that are most at risk of perpetrating or be ing targeted by bullying behavior. Conclusion 3.3: The ecological model allows for a broad conceptualiza tion of the various contextual influences on youth bullying.
From page 103...
... . Bullying and peer victimization at school: Perceptual differences between students and school staff.
From page 104...
... . Peer victimization and authoritative school climate: A multilevel approach.
From page 105...
... . Social consequences of academic teaming in middle school: The influence of shared course taking on peer victimization.
From page 106...
... . Joint trajectories of bullying and peer victimization across elementary and middle school and associations with symptoms of psychopathol ogy.
From page 107...
... . Functions of parental involvement and effects of school climate on bullying behaviors among South Korean middle school students.
From page 108...
... . Teacher characteristics and peer victimization in elementary schools: A classroom-level perspective.
From page 109...
... . Using social norms to reduce bullying: A research intervention among adolescents in five middle schools.
From page 110...
... . Extracurricular activities and bullying perpetration: Results from a nationally representative sample.
From page 111...
... . Teachers' victimization-related beliefs and strate gies: Associations with students' aggressive behavior and peer victimization.
From page 112...
... . Relationships among school climate domains and school satisfaction.


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