Bullying and Victimization Across the Lifespan: Playground Politics and Power

295 Pages·2019·4.249 MB·English

by  Paul R. Smokowski, Caroline B. R. Evans

Paul R. Smokowski · Caroline B. R. Evans
Bullying and
Victimization
Across the
Lifespan
Playground Politics and Power
Bullying and Victimization Across the Lifespan
Paul R. Smokowski • Caroline B. R. Evans
Bullying and Victimization
Across the Lifespan
Playground Politics and Power
Paul R. Smokowski, MSW, Ph.D. Caroline B. R. Evans
School of Social Welfare Rhode Island College
University of Kansas Providence, RI, USA
Lawrence, KS, USA
ISBN 978-3-030-20292-7 ISBN 978-3-030-20293-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20293-4
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
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This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated to our families, who
provided us with invaluable inspiration and
support.
Paul R. Smokowski, Ph.D.: For my belated
father, Richard T. Smokowski, who was my
unwavering advocate and taught me how to
guide my sons, Jose and Cesar. And for my
wife, Martica Bacallao, as we journey
through life together.
Caroline Evans, Ph.D.: For my husband and
best friend Louis, who always provides
unwavering support and wise council. And
for our two wonderful daughters Alia and
Alena—the next generation of strong
upstanders.
This book is also dedicated to:
All the people who have been bullied, you
did not deserve such disrespect.
All the people who bullied others, you can
break the cycle of violence and aggression.
All the people who stood by as frightened
witnesses, may you find the courage to
intervene.
All the people who stood up for a victim, you
are everyday heroes. Some day, we will all be
upstanders rather than bystanders.
Contents
1 Playground Politics: How the Bullying Framework Can Be
Applied to Multiple Forms of Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The Definition of Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Forms of Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.4 Prevalence of Bullying Nationally and Internationally . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.5 The Economic Impact of Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.6 Practitioner and School Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2 R oles Youth Play in the Bullying Dynamic and Theoretical
Explanations for Why Bullying Happens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.1 I ntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2 R oles in the Bullying Dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.3 Group Sociometry and the Bullying Dynamic:
The Playground Politics of Forming Social Hierarchies . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.1 Popular Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.3.2 Rejected Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.3.3 Neglected Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.3.4 Controversial Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.3.5 Average Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4 Theories Explaining the Bullying Dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.4.1 Evolutionary Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.4.2 Social Capital Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.4.3 Dominance Theory: Motivation for Bullying
Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.4.4 The Theory of Humiliation: Why Being
Dominated Is Painful and Leads to Negative
Victim Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.5 Implications for Practitioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
vii
viii Contents
2.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3 Consequences of Bullying in Childhood, Adolescence,
and Adulthood: An Ecological Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.2 Person: Individual Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.3 Person: Mental Health and Neurobiological Impacts
of Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.3.1 Person: Mental Health Impact of Bullying
on Victims and Bully-Victims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.3.2 Person: Mental Health Impact of Bullying
on Perpetrators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.3.3 Person: Neuroscience-How Trauma and Stress
Impact the Brain and Neurobiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.4 P rocess: Peer Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.4.1 Process: Victims’ Peer Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.4.2 Process: Bullies’ Peer Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.5 Context: School Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.5.1 Context: Negative Impact of Bullying Victimization
on Victims’ School Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.5.2 Context: Negative Impact of Bullying on Bullies’
School Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.5.3 Context Outside of School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.6 Time: Cumulative Bullying Victimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.7 Time: The Longitudinal Impact of Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
3.7.1 Victimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
3.7.2 Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.8 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4 T o Intervene or Not Intervene? That Is the Question:
Bystanders in the Bullying Dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.1 I ntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.2 P revalence of Bystanders and Their Behavior
in Bullying Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.3 T he Impact of Witnessing Bullying on Bystanders . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4.4 T o Defend or Not Defend?: Factors Influencing Bystander
Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.4.1 Emotional and Physiological Responsiveness . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.4.2 Sociometric and Perceived Popularity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.4.3 Situational Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.5 Ways to Improve Prosocial Bystander Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.5.1 Steps to Respect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.5.2 KiVa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.5.3 Bystander Revolution: Take the Power Out of Bullying . . . 102
4.6 C onclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Contents ix
5 Cyberbullying: Playground Politics (and Worse) in Cyberspace . . . . 107
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.2 Cyberbullying: Definitions, Roles, and Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.2.1 Definition of Cyberbullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.2.2 Cyberbullying Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.2.3 Methods and Forms of Cyberbullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.3 P sychosocial and Mental Health Impacts of Cyberbullying
Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.4 T he Relationship Between Traditional Bullying
and Cyberbullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.5 C onclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6 P layground Politics at Home: Child Maltreatment
and Sibling Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.1 I ntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.2 C hild Maltreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.2.1 Overview: Definition, Prevalence Rates,
Demographics, and Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.2.2 Negative Consequences of Child Maltreatment . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.2.3 Child Maltreatment Through the Bullying Framework . . . . 130
6.3 Sibling Violence and Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
6.3.1 Overview: Definition, Prevalence Rates,
and Demographic Risk Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
6.3.2 Negative Consequences of Sibling Violence, Abuse,
and Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.3.3 Sibling Violence Through the Bullying Framework . . . . . . 142
6.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
7 Bullying in Young Adulthood: College Hazing as a Form
of Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
7.1 Dying to be Accepted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
7.2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
7.3 Overview of Hazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
7.3.1 A Brief History of Hazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
7.3.2 Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
7.3.3 Prevalence of Hazing in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
7.3.4 Negative Consequences Associated with Hazing . . . . . . . . 157
7.3.5 Causes of Hazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
7.4 Hazing as a Form of Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
7.4.1 Repetition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
7.4.2 Power Imbalance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
7.4.3 Intent to Harm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
7.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
x Contents
8 Bullying in Intimate Partner Relationships: Teen Dating
Violence and Adult Intimate Partner Violence
as Forms of Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
8.2 Teen Dating Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
8.2.1 Overview: Definition, Prevalence Rates, Demographics . 168
8.2.2 Negative Consequences of Teen Dating Violence . . . . . . 171
8.2.3 Risk Factors for Teen Dating Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
8.3 Intimate Partner Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
8.3.1 Overview: Definition, Prevalence Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
8.3.2 Negative Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence . . . 176
8.3.3 R isk Factors for Intimate Partner Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
8.4 T een Dating Violence and Intimate Partner Violence
Through the Bullying Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8.4.1 Repetition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8.4.2 Power Imbalance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
8.4.3 I ntent to Harm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
8.5 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
9 P layground Politics, Power, and Privilege in the Workplace:
How Bullying and Harassment Impacts Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
9.2 Overview of Workplace Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
9.2.1 Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
9.2.2 Prevalence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
9.2.3 Cost of Workplace Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
9.2.4 Workplace Bullying Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
9.3 Workplace Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
9.4 Implications for Policy and Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
10 Playground Politics Among Older Adults: How Elder Abuse
Can Ruin the Golden Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
10.2 Elder Abuse Overview: Definition, Prevalence Rates,
Negative Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
10.3 Elder Abuse as a Form of Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
10.3.1 R epetition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
10.3.2 P ower Imbalance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
10.3.3 Intent to Harm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
10.4 Elder Abuse in Community Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
10.4.1 Elder Abuse and Family Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
10.5 Elder Abuse in Institutional Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
10.5.1 Staff-to-Resident Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
10.5.2 R esident-to-Resident Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Contents xi
10.6 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
11 Bullying Between Societal Groups: Playground Politics
on a Grand Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
11.2 Genocide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
11.3 Income Inequality and Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
11.4 Political Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
11.5 Assimilation and Eugenics: Immigrants Bullied
by the Dominant Cultural Group to Become Like Us,
Leave, or Die . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
11.6 Theoretical Explanations for Group Level Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . 237
11.6.1 Social Capital Theory: A Missing Link for
Victims and a Motivation for Bullying Behavior . . . . . . 237
11.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
12 Playground Politics Across the Life Span as a Public
Health Crisis: Summarizing Bullying Prevalence, Effects,
Cost, Possible Solutions, and Prevention Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
12.1 Overview of the Relationship Between Forms of Violence
and Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
12.1.1 Bullying Is a Public Health Pandemic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
12.2 The Ultimate Escalation of Power Imbalance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
12.2.1 Bullying Costs Pose an Unreasonable Burden
on Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
12.3 How to Combat Playground Politics Across the Life Span . . . . . . 257
12.3.1 Preventing Child Maltreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
12.3.2 Preventing Sibling Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
12.3.3 Preventing Traditional School-Age Bullying . . . . . . . . . 263
12.3.4 Preventing Cyberbullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
12.3.5 Preventing Teen Dating Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
12.3.6 Preventing Hazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
12.3.7 Preventing Intimate Partner Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
12.3.8 Preventing Workplace Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
12.3.9 Preventing Elder Maltreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
12.3.10 Preventing Large-Scale Bullying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
12.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279