It has been noted that middle school students are more likely to decrease bullying behavior as they move from one grade level to another. This study aims to identify the extent of bullying behavior across the various grade levels in the selected high schools. The participants will be students and lecturers from Indian Hill High School and Wenton High School. Twenty-five students from grades nine to twelve will be selected to respond to the study topic. The possible causes and effects of bullying will also be addressed. The independent variable to be measured will be the rate of bullying behavior between various grade levels. As for the study's ethical requirements, the consent of the participants and school authority will have to be sought first. The study will take place at the selected place within the school serenity. Interviews and questionnaires will be methods to be used in the collection of data. The materials to be used and procedures to be followed are outlined. The expected result to be realized is that most students with bullying behavior will be from lower grades than higher grades.
Keywords : ethical, serenity, questionnaires, participants
Causes of Bullying
Several factors have accounted for the increase in bullying behavior in educational institutions. Race or color, sexual orientation, exposure to violence, and body image are the major causes of bullying in many academic centers (de Oliveira et al. 2015). Students of afro-descendant origin have been reported to be victims of bullying compared to other races, such as Asians and Hispanics. Students who have been brought up in a hostile environment due to domestic violence are prone to bully their peers. Sexual orientation has made girls vulnerable to bullying, as boys use their masculinity to gain sexual favors from them. The body image of some students has exposed them to bullying as they are highly criticized for either being too fat or too skinny. Technology has escalated bullying behavior to greater heights due to the introduction of cyberbullying (Nixon, 2014). The internet has exposed more students to cyberbullying as the perpetrators of the vice have access to students' data. Students with a low level of self-esteem are also likely to encounter bullying as they have no defense mechanism to use against bullying.
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Effects of Bullying
Bullying affects the mental and general health of students to a greater extent (Moore et al. 2017). The victims of this ordeal experience anxiety, depression, and stress that are bound to result in the development of mental disorders and illnesses. It has been reported that many students who have fallen victim to bullying have attempted suicide at some point. This is because they experienced helplessness and isolation due to bullying, making them lose their sense of worth. The victims' physical health is also compromised as they experience physical torture from the perpetrators. Bullying has made students to be involved in drug abuse at an early age as they believe that it is the only way to cope up with bullying (Wolke & Lereya, 2015). Drug abuse exposes them to more adverse health effects, which may be costly and hard to treat. Another impact of bullying is the loss of trust and reduced social relations among the victims. Bullying paints a bad picture of the victims, limiting them to fewer friends whom they can confide in and interact with. Students who have fallen victims of bullying are associated with reduced academic performance (Oliveira et al. 2018). The victims experience decreased concentration and low self-esteem, and thus, attain low grades. Bullying makes the victims have low thinking and retention capacity as their minds become occupied with other irrelevant issues.
Reasons for Positive Bullying Behavior Change in Respect to Grade Level
As students move from one grade level to another, there is a complete transformation of bullying behavior into a more accommodating behavior (Swearer et al. 2014). The students realize more alternative effective ways of interacting with fellow students other than bullying behavior. Most perpetrators of bullying experience isolation within the school besiege, and most students in higher grade levels comprehend the consequences of segregation. They have developed a more responsible behavior that ensures they live accordingly with others within the school surrounding. Instead of being perpetrators of bullying, the students in senior grade levels act as peer advocates contributing to the elimination of bullying in the school (Midgett et al. 2017). The students are working hand in hand with other school authorities to ensure that the school is more accommodating to all students. The significant causes of bullying are addressed.
Relatable
The bullying behavior reduces significantly from one grade level to another upwards. Most bullying perpetrators are from grade nine and grade ten, while only a few of them will be from grade eleven and grade twelve. The perpetrators in lower grades nine and ten have the tendency to establish dominance over others, and thus are more involved in bullying. They do not appreciate the value of mutual relationships with others. Students from higher grades eleven and twelve understand the importance of social relationships. This makes them distance themselves from bullying that will jeopardize their reciprocal relationship with other students. This ascertains that the senior students developed responsible behavior in the course of learning. This further condemns bullying as a vice that should not be compromised but eliminated at all costs.
Who are bullying perpetrators?
These are arrogant students within the school that subject fellow students to bullying. They are the ones promoting this vice in many forms, such as abuse, physical beating, and threats, among others in the school. They have developed dominant bullying behavior.
Conclusion
The study provides sufficient proof that the major perpetrators of bullying are from grades nine and ten than grades eleven and twelve. There is a gradual decrease in bullying behavior as students move from one grade level to another upwards. The most dominant students associated with bullying behavior are those from grades nine and ten. Students from grades eleven and twelve have developed a more responsible behavior, and are less involved in bullying fellow students. This shows that bullying behavior is transformed slowly as students continue to learn and develop responsible behavior as they move from lower grade levels to higher grade levels.
Methods
The methods to be used in the collection of data will include interviews and the use of questionnaires. These methods will give the participants equal chances of taking part in the study as each participant will choose the method that bests suits them. The questions in both methods will be similar. However, the questions to be posed to students and lecturers will be different. Some of the questions to the students will include: have you ever been a victim or perpetrator of bullying? What made you vulnerable to bullying? What made you bully your fellow students? Do you still practice bullying? If not, what made you change your mind? What have you done personally to eliminate bullying? The questions to the lectures will include: which grade level is most bullied? From which grade are most bullying perpetrators found? What makes some students vulnerable to bullying? What factors account for bullying in school? What can be done to eliminate this vice effectively?
Participants
The participants in this study will be students and lecturers from Indian Hill High School and Weston High School. Four lectures representing each grade level will be selected from each school. Twenty-five students from each grade will be selected according to their behavior. A total of one hundred students from each of the mentioned schools will take part in the study as participants. The past and current behavior of students from grades eleven and twelve will be assessed to determine the validity of the topic being addressed. Students from grades nine and ten will be evaluated for the first two days, followed by students from grades eleven and twelve that are meant to last for two days. The lectures will be assessed on the last day of the study. The information gathered from students and lecturers will be analyzed to provide study results.
Materials
The stationary to be used in this study will include pens, notepads, pencils, and questionnaire booklets. A research expert will also be required to provide assistance where possible. Laptops and ipads will also be utilized to ensure the success of the study. These materials will be essential in the collection and recording of intended data from the participants.
Procedure
The selected students will be called one after the other by the researcher. The researcher will be located at a given office within the administration block. Here, the researcher will utilize the interview method to extract information from the students. The researcher will pose one question at a time to the students who will respond willingly. The questions to be asked will be the ones mentioned above in the method section. Students from grades nine and ten will be interviewed first, followed by those from grades eleven and twelve, and lastly, the lectures. The participants’ responses to the questions will be noted down by the researcher and assistant expert. The interview session will be meant to last for ten minutes.
Questionnaires will be issued to those participants who prefer it to the interview method. The participants will be mandated to respond appropriately to the questions being asked. Here, all the participants who prefer filling questionnaires will be called to a designated classroom and given questionnaires booklets to fill. The questions in the booklets will be similar to the ones asked during the interview session. The students will be called first, followed by the lectures. This session is meant to last for fifteen minutes. The filled questionnaire booklets will then be collected for the information to be analyzed. The researcher, together with an expert assistant, will be required to analyze the collected data to provide study results critically.
Predicted Results
The independent variable to be measured during the study is the rate of bullying between lower grade levels and higher grade levels. The variable must be easily comparable to attain the expected results. The grade level with the most bullying perpetrators will be established. The collected data should support the study hypothesis; that is, more students with the bullying behavior must be from grades nine and ten than grades eleven and twelve.
References
De Oliveira, W., A., Silva, M., A., de Mello, F., C., Porto, D., L., Yoshinaga, A., C., & Malta, D. C. (2015). The causes of bullying: results from the National Survey of School Health (PeNSE). Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem , 23 (2), 275–282. DOI:10.1590/0104-1169.0022.2552.
Nixon, C. L. (2014). Current perspectives: The impact of cyberbullying on adolescent health. Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics , 5 , 143–158. DOI:10.2147/AHMT.S36456.
Midgett, A., Doumas, D., H., Trull, R., & Johnson, J. (2017) Training students who occasionally bully to be peer advocates: Is a bystander intervention effective in reducing bullying behavior? Journal of Child and Adolescent Counseling, 3 (1), 1-13, DOI: 10.1080/23727810.2016.1277116
Moore, S., E., Norman, R., E., Suetani, S., Thomas, H., J., Sly, P., D., & Scott, J. G. (2017). Consequences of bullying victimization in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review and meta-analysis. World Journal of Psychiatry , 7 (1), 60–76. DOI:10.5498/wjp.v7.i1.60
Oliveira, R., S., de Menezes, A., T., Irffi, G., & Oliveira, R. G. (2018). Bullying effect on student’s performance. EconomiA, 19 (1), 57-73.
Swearer, M., S., Wang, C., Berry, B., & Myers, R. Z. (2014) Reducing bullying: Application of social cognitive theory. Theory into Practice, 53 (4), 271-277, DOI: 10.1080/00405841.2014.947221
Wolke, D., & Lereya, S. T. (2015). Long-term effects of bullying. Archives of Disease in Childhood , 100 (9), 879–885. DOI:10.1136/archdischild-2014-306667
