Awareness of bullying and peer harassment by 9th to 12th grade teachers and the effects it may have on adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to survey 9th to 12th grade teachers in a Wisconsin town of 15,000 at a high school of approximately 1,100 students in the winter of 2004 on their level of awareness of adolescent bullying/peer harassment behavior in their school. Research has indicated that bullying/peer harassment is nothing new. Almost all children or adults can share a time when they were bullied or saw bullying taking place (McLellan, 1997). The study indicates that bullying/peer harassment does take place in this small school of 1,100. The teachers believed that the bullying/peer harassment behavior is getting worse at the high school. Research would state that bullying/peer harassment behavior is on the rise and worse now than ever before (Fleming & Levine, 2002). Research indicates that two-thirds of the young people have been teased or gossiped about in a mean way at least once this month (Zimmerman,2003). Eighty-nine percent of the teachers believed that verbal bullying/peer harassment behavior was experienced the most by high school students. Ninety-five percent of the teachers that participated indicated that verbal bullying was at some point likely to turn to physical bullying. This finding is compatible with the research by Wiseman (2002), that behaviors such as spreading rumors led to acting out physically. The study found that the majority of teachers report to address bullying in their classrooms or in the hallway. Eighty-two percent of the teachers believed that addressing such behavior decreased the possibility of bullying/peer harassment behavior in their classroom. However about half, 55.5% of the teachers defined the bullying/peer harassment situation at the high school as somewhat of a problem, but getting worse. Research suggests that school-wide programs with all staff on board can help to reduce bullying/peer harassment even more (Viadero, 2003; Wiseman, 2003). With these findings, it would be a benefit for this high school to get a school wide bullying/peer harassment awareness program that all staff can implement.