The effects of intervention strategies on bullying in the independent middle school
Abstract
The purpose of this study was: (a) to investigate the extent of student-to-student bullying as perceived by students in an independent middle school setting; (b) to analyze bullying among an independent middle school population; and (c) to determine if intervention strategies had an effect on bullying in an independent middle school population. This research was important because much of the research on bullying was conducted in the public schools. There was a lack of research on this topic done in an independent school setting. Two hundred-eighty students provided data via questionnaires for this study. Data were analyzed by the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The methods used were frequency distributions, t-tests, chi-square, Wilcoxon signed rank test, and Mann-Whitney non-parametric tests. Student-to-student bullying was found to be a significant problem in the independent middle school population. The study showed that students from both gender groups were bullied, male students received more physical bullying while females were most often victims of verbal abuse. The daft revealed that fifth graders were victimized by more acts of physical abuse, sixth graders were less likely to be victims of physical abuse, and eighth graders were most often victims of verbal abuse. Furthermore, the study indicated that nearly half of the students polled were unaware of the intervention program in effect at their school. The students polled characterized the intervention program in their school as having limited effect on bullying in their school. This study indicated that independent schools should take bullying seriously and recognize that it affects a large portion of their student population. It was suggested that administrators, faculty, and staff should develop intervention programs and plans that address student bullying problems. It would be helpful if intervention programs were more clearly defined so that student awareness of the programs increased. Administrators and school officials should be proactive in addressing verbal abuse by developing and enforcing anti-bullying policies. Programs should be developed to assist new students and to address their vulnerability to bullying behavior. School personnel should receive training in dealing with bullying issues and problems. This could increase monitoring of bullying behaviors and thereby decrease bullying.
Subject Area
Academic guidance counseling|Elementary education
Recommended Citation
Andy Graham,
"The effects of intervention strategies on bullying in the independent middle school"
(2002).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI3061767.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3061767