CONTENTS

About This Course

Table of Contents

1. School Bullying: What It Is and Why It Hurts
2. The Role of Bullies, Victims, and Witnesses
3. Factors Contributing to Bullying and Violence
4. Screening and Assessment
5. Treatment For Children and Adolescents
6. Prevention and Intervention
7. Legal and Ethical Issues

Supplements
Case Studies
Fact Sheets
References
Resources

The ABCs of Bullying
Addressing, Blocking, and Curbing School Aggression

Violence in the Media

American children are bombarded by information and images from television, movies, music videos, video games, the Internet, and other mass-media outlets. Most of the research on the impact of the media and its connection to aggressive behavior in children has been limited to television. The body of research indicates that exposure to media violence increases children's aggressive behavior in the short term and encourages aggressive attitudes and emotions, which may in turn lead to aggressive or violent behavior.ref

Research on new media forms, such as cable television programs, video games, and the Internet, is in the initial stages of development. The Surgeon General's report noted that some experts have hypothesized that the hands-on nature of some of the new media may result in dramatically different behavioral outcomes than the more passive forms of entertainment from movies and television.

Not only do many American children spend hours a day being entertained by a television or a computer game, but much of the content and programming they are exposed to is violent. A National Television Violence Survey that examined the content and amount of violence on American television found that:ref

Mouse-Over the Buttons to Change Stations

Forty-four percent of the violent interactions on television involve perpetrators who have some attractive qualities. Sixty-one percent of television programs contain some violence, and only 4 percent of television programs with violent content feature an anti-violence theme. Nearly 75 percent of violent scenes of television feature no immediate punishment for or condemnation of violence.

The debate over the extent and impact of media violence raises numerous issues relating to government and/or self-regulating of the media industry, as well as educational efforts and technological advances that can help parents monitor children's access to media. As research unfolds and the debate continues, the best approach is for families to be proactive in determining what their children are exposed to and how often.

In addition to questions about its impact on children's behavior, the prevalence of new media raises concerns about how children are adapting technological advances to bully their peers. Many parents, educators, and others are just waking up to the realization that children and youth are posting messages on Web sites and using cell phones and the internet to spread rumors and to harass or abuse their peers. (See Module 2, Methods of Bullying, for more information.)