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How
can we help children who bully to change?
Over 16,000 children
from primary and secondary schools in Strathclyde, Scotland
were asked about bullying. Children who had stopped bullying
were asked what had made them stop. According to their answers,
by far the most common reason (almost 75%) was a greater
awareness of the negative side of bullying. This could be
brought about by experience (finding out what it felt like),
empathy (being able to put themselves in the victim's position)
and growing out of it. Less common reasons mentioned were:
school intervention (about 9%) followed by parent intervention,
improved relationships between peers and growing out of
it with age.
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Article details
A McLean (about 1994)
'Bullyproofing Our School - what do the pupils think?',
unpublished report. Reference copy held by the Anti-Bullying
Network. This article can be viewed here.
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 Author
details
At
the time of this study, Alan McLean was Principal Psychologist
based at the Education Department Psychological Service
in the former Strathclyde Regional Council. His particular
interests in the area of bullying include: links between
bullying and motivation; the thinking processes and self-esteem
of the bully.
He can be contacted
at by email.
An Australian study
provided information about things which might prevent children
bullying. One of these things was a sense of shame. When
children were asked what the results of bullying might be
for the bully, some said that it might stop a child being
bullied by someone else, but a larger number said they thought
the bully would be ashamed. Another thing which might discourage
them is the thought of their parents' disapproval. It was
found that most children thought that parents would disapprove
of bullying and according to their answers, most did care
a lot about their parents opinion of them.
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Article details
K Rigby 'What Children
Tell Us About Bullying in Schools', view here
or in 'Children Australia', (1997), 22, 2, pp28-34.
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Author
details
 Ken
Rigby is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Social Psychology
and an educational consultant at the University of South
Australia. He has been involved in major studies of bullying
in Australia and has published widely on this topic. For
more information about Dr Rigby and his work see the
bullying pages here. Ken may be contacted by e-mail.
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