Speaking of Psychology: Putting an end to bullying and school violence, with Dorothy Espelage, PhD

School violence and bullying are a concern for parents and educators alike. As a result, thousands of school districts have implemented anti-bullying programs. In this episode, psychologist and education expert Dorothy Espelage, PhD, talks about the effectiveness of these programs and what parents and schools can continue to do to curb everything from cyberbullying to dating violence.

Dorothy Espelage, PhDopens in new window, is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaignopens in new window. She is an international expert in bullying, youth aggression and teen dating violence and is the author of more than 120 peer-reviewed journal articles and 25 chapters. She is associate editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology. Her research has been funded by the Centers for Disease Control, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. 

She authored a 2011 White House Brief on bullying among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth and attended the White House Conference in 2011opens in new window. Espelage has appeared on many television news and talk shows, including the “Today” show, CNN, “CBS Evening News” and the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” and has been quoted in the national print press, including Time magazine, USA Today, People, Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal.

Audrey Hamilton: Cyberbullying and violence can be a persistent problem for kids of all ages in schools and even at home. One out of three students is bullied during the school year, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. It’s a problem that is dramatically affecting the mental health of young people in a variety of ways. In this episode, we speak with one psychologist about why school-wide anti-bullying and anti-violence programs are so important. I’m Audrey Hamilton and this is “Speaking of Psychology.”

Dorothy Espelage is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana – Champaign. She has been conducting research on bullying, sexual harassment, dating violence and gang violence for the last 20 years. She’s the associate editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology and is author of more than 120 peer-reviewed journal articles. Welcome, Dr. Espelage. 

Dorothy Espelage: Thank you for having me. 

Audrey Hamilton: The psychological study of bullies and bullying has come a long way. I think there’s been a lot more awareness of the issue and what it means for children’s mental health. Has all of this awareness made a difference from what you’ve seen of the research and the prevalence of bullying and aggression in schools? 

Dorothy Espelage: Certainly there has been a heightened awareness. We have studied it for a number of decades but it wasn’t until 2011 when President Obama had his White House Conference on Bullying that really the public took notice of bullying. It is difficult to estimate whether or not this awareness has contributed to a decrease in the prevalence of it, but certainly we do know from national statistics that in some schools where there’s lower violence, we’ve seen less bullying.

But certainly in our studies, and we’re engaged in hundreds of studies right now, it’s still alive and well in our schools and we need to be concerned about it. And it’s a difficult behavior to decrease. 

Audrey Hamilton: What do we know about what predicts involvement in bullying and aggression? Is it – you hear about video games, other types of media. How much do we know about what causes it? 

Dorothy Espelage: Yeah, we know that actually predicting who’s going to be involved as someone that is what we call a perpetrator or target is very, very complex. And so, it just really depends on their home environment – it depends on a child’s school – whether or not they have anti-bullying policies in place. It’s whether or not they’re in middle school and middle school bullying tends to be concentrated among some of the most popular kids. When kids are younger, they seem to kind of navigate this and kids that engage in bullying behaviors are rejected. But, by middle school they really do have high social status. By high school it really nuances into sexual harassment and teen dating violence.

So I think what we do know is that it’s not a deterministic model. We can’t predict who’s going to be involved in bullying as a perpetrator or a victim. But we certainly do know that there are certain risk factors and that could be violence in the home – it could be neighborhoods in which they’re witnessing violence – it could be that you have a sibling that is aggressive toward you and then you play that behavior out in school. We also know that school climate matters. So, if I’m in a school in which there’s no anti-bullying policies and that teachers model violence in which they actually bully themselves, then the kids are more likely to bully. But, if I’m in a school in which it’s not tolerated, then I’m less likely to engage in that behavior. And, so, certainly we know that there might be individual characteristics that predict whether or not I am going to engage in that behavior. But it’s not deterministic. It depends on the larger social environment. 

Audrey Hamilton: And a lot of your research does focus on the schools and their role in bullying and aggression. What role do schools play in bullying and how can they prevent it from becoming a widespread problem? You can go into more detail on that. 

Dorothy Espelage: Certainly. I mean kids spend more time at school than they do sometimes with their parents or in their neighborhoods or in their homes. The school is pivotal. Now the school is not the only place where we need to intervene, but certainly we do know from our research if we implement what we call social emotional learning programs where we teach kids empathy and perspective taking, how to communicate, how to problem solve, how to resolve conflicts. We have less bullying, less sexual harassment. And so certainly schools do play a role.

We also know that a lot of people talk about “Oh, the epidemic is cyberbullying.” Bottom line is most of the conflicts that play out through media and through the Internet actually start at school. So the schools play a pivotal role in creating a positive school climate so that when kids do pick up technology, they’re less likely to be mean and cruel. 

Audrey Hamilton: Another area of research you’re focusing on now is sexual harassment and teen dating violence. How serious is this problem among middle and high school students, specifically? 

Dorothy Espelage: I mean it’s hard for anyone listening to this to think that a sixth grader who’s 10 years old would engage in any type of inappropriate sexual commentary or rumor spreading. We do know that about 30 percent of sixth through eighth graders engage in unwanted sexual commentary and sexual rumors spreading. Luckily, only one to three percent of sixth to eighth graders report being inappropriately touched, but we do know that number goes up quite substantially in high school. 

And the bottom line is that high school is too late to start talking about sexual harassment. And we’re in the United States and sexual harassment is illegal in K-12 just as it is in workplaces – and so we need to start talking to kids about the sexual commentary they use, so that it doesn’t escalate to the unwanted sexual harassment that is quite prevalent in high school. 

Audrey Hamilton: You mentioned before that schools aren’t the only places where this should be happening. Can you give some examples of other areas that need improvement? 

Dorothy Espelage: Certainly. I think schools are pivotal but the reality is that kids reside in other contexts, right? So we have to think about even boys and girls clubs – you have to think about sports – so only now are coaches starting to think like, “OK, maybe I play a role in the escalation of bullying or sexual harassment.” In the home, parents need to have open dialogues with their youth about what they’re doing online, who they are engaging with. If parents are listening now, talk to their kids about sexual harassment. Talk to them about bullying. Are they those good kids that just go along with that bully ringleader? All of us need to have this conversation. It should happen in churches. It should happen anywhere you have a child and you interact with a child, these conversations need to happen. 

Audrey Hamilton: I think parents also have this idea that the schools have to do something about the bullying. You hear that a lot. And I’m a parent so I know that even in elementary school, you say this needs to be handled. What is the best way to go about getting the school to intervene or having the parent involved? What sort of level of coordination do you need there? 

Dorothy Espelage: Well, I think we know that from systematic studies that if we address the issue of bullying, sexual harassment and teen dating violence from all directions, in the home and in the school. But, the reality is kids spend a lot of time in schools and schools are mandated. 

Unfortunately, they are laws. I mean, there are unfunded mandates, right? So schools are told you are going to address the bullying problem, but we’re not going to give you any funds to do this and your teachers are overworked and teachers feel that they have to address bullying and put that on their plate along with other things they have to address in the social ills. 

The reality is that, in our research, we find that if in fact schools are addressing it and teachers feel supported by their administration to address the bullying problem, they feel that they can dialogue with the parents, there’s less bullying. Again, it’s not like there’s a quick fix. There’s not a quick fix. We know that if it’s a positive school climate and kids like going to school and they’re connected with their teachers, there’s less bullying. And so that’s just one area where we can address it, but certainly you can’t do it without the parents. We know that when kids are bullied online, 85 percent of the time they’re at home. And so when I talk to parents – parents need to engage with the schools or it needs to be an open forum of communication. We can’t do it alone. All of us need to get on the same page. 

Audrey Hamilton: Thank you, Dr. Espelage. It’s been very interesting. Thank you for joining us. 

Dorothy Espelage: Thank you.

Audrey Hamilton: For more information on Dr. Espelage’s work and to hear more episodes, please go to our website. With the American Psychological Association’s “Speaking of Psychology,” I’m Audrey Hamilton.