Aggression is a serious problem in American schools. According to psychologists, aggression is any behavior that is meant to harm or injure others (Horn, 2007). Aggression can be examined more intensely during early adolescence, when youngsters are in middle school or high school (National Center for Educational Statistics, 1995). Many acts of aggression are very visible and witnessed live on TV or in front of eyewitnesses, however, there are other acts of aggression that are less visible, overlooked, and undocumented (Olweus, 1979).
Aggressive behavior can appear in many forms, such as hitting, pushing, biting, pinching, kicking, spitting, or hair-pulling. Aggression can even appear in indirect forms, such as bullying, teasing, ignoring or defying rules or instructions, spreading rumors, excluding others, name-calling, or destroying objects (Horn, 2007). Many of these forms of aggression are seen in the school settings. The undocumented cases of aggression are very important, because they normally predict more serious problems for the future (Olweus, 1979). Researchers can identify victims of aggression by identifying aggressors. Victims of aggression are at risk for a variety of school related and psychosocial problems (Pellegrini, 1998).
It is very difficult to collect information on aggressors and the targets of aggression in schools. Aggressive acts are usually committed in places where there are few or no adult witnesses. Also, aggressive acts occur at low frequencies relative to all other behaviors observed during the school day (Pellegrini, 1988). For that reason, these acts are very difficult to observe directly. Because it is so hard to pinpoint aggression in schools, researchers normally use some form of informant rat...
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In 1992, a group of Norwegian researchers conducted a study of girls. “They found girls participate in aggression, but they express their anger in unconventional nonphysical ways” (Simmons 20). Another group of experts from the University of Minnesota continued with these findings and found the girl’s aggressive behavior should be classified into three subcategories; relational, indirect, and social aggression” (Simmons 21). An example of relational aggression would be ignoring someone or giving them the “silent treatment” which can be very traumatic for the victim. They wonder what they...
Mahoney, Diana. "Bullying and school violence." Clinical Psychiatry News June 2007: 36. Academic OneFile. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Although bullying has always been a problem in schools, it has more recently become a bigger crisis with vicious consequences. “However it is defined, bullying is not just child’s play, but a terrifying experience many schoolchildren face everyday. It can be as direct as teasing, hitting or threatening, or as indirect as exclusions, rumors or manipulation” (Garrett 2). Most kids do not think certain actions are classified as bullying, yet they do not realize the severity of the way they treat their peers. What they may see as “joking around” can be viewed as them being a bully, and they may even be hurting someone’s feelings without realizing the effect that they have. This can then lead to school violence, which is a prevalent issue in today’s society. There are many causes to bullying and school violence and many effects as well. However, if dealt with properly, there are ways to solve these prevailing problems.
Aggression is any behavior that results in physical or emotional injury to a person or animal, or one that leads to property damage or destruction. Kostenik,et. al, (2014) identified that aggression can either be physical or verbal. Aggression is a behavior characterized by verbal or physical attack, yet it may be appropriate and self-protective or destructive and violent (Perry, 2007). Further, aggression is a spontaneous, impulsive act of anger. It is observable behavior which can depreciate, threaten, or hurt a person or destroy an object. It is unplanned and usually occurs during times of stress (Long and Brendtro, cited by Zirpoli, 2014). Aggression is viewed as a loss of self-control or an impulse break-through. Aggressive
Bullying, often dismissed as a normal part of growing up, is a real problem in our nation's schools, according to the National School Safety Center. One out of every four schoolchildren endures taunting, teasing, pushing, and shoving daily from schoolyard bullies. More than 43 percent of middle- and high-school students avoid using school bathrooms for fear of being harassed or assaulted. Old-fashioned schoolyard hazing has escalated to instances of extortion, emotional terrorism, and kids toting guns to school. It is estimated that more than 90 percent of all incidents of school violence begin with verbal conflicts, w...
Violence in our schools is an issue that has become more prominent in the last few years. News articles about violent deeds within the school setting are on the increase. Our society demands that schools are safe for our children. In order to maintain a peaceful environment for all, we must address and inform our schools, children, and parents as well as the neighboring communities about the issue of school violence. As David W. Johnson, the author of Reducing School Violence states, “To eliminate violence and resolve destructive conflicts, schools must first admit that such conflicts are out of control.” (Johnson 7) Schools in general must identify with these issues in order to deal with them.
Developments within the past decade have opened up new ways for research that can lead to improvements in the life quality of vulnerable students and families. Not only does school violence create a feeling of fear and emotional uneasiness in a school, it also is difficult for the learning process to develop. Situations at home have a big impact on student's safety in school. Examples are a student not speaking up in class for fear of being ridiculed; being called a faggot because of perceptions of a student's sexual orientation; backbiting; verbal teasing and insults; offensive touching such as throws, slaps and pushes; and racial, ethnic, and/or sexist comments that are based on a student's physical appearance?. A lot of the time this is learned and adapted by children from the parents at home. Parents have the most influence on a child, the way the act, talk, or neglect their child. Children are more prone to repeat these emotions and aggressions at recess or just in class with other peers. Communities are also playing big roles in the safety of stude...
Aggression is a sub-field under social psychology because social psychology is the study of how individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior changes in groups while interacting with other people. In comparison, aggression falls directly under this category because psychologist’s main goal is to try to understand how aggressive people tend to change in their behavior and mentality when their objective is to cause pain. People who are aggressive either physically or psychological educe pain and suffering upon an individual by verbally assaulting someone, berating them, spreading vicious rumors, or even name calling. Everyday schoolchildren are getting bullied, spouses are facing domestic violence, families encounter arguments, and the list continues because everyday aggressors react negatively to these scenarios. However, they are levels of extreme aggressive behavior compare to the others, such as violence being the highest form of aggression. Kassin et al. states compared to violence, the other forms of aggression, such as anger and hostility are less harmful compare to violence because “people can be angry with others and regard them with great hostility without ever trying to harm them” (2014). When someone is angry, they are usually experiencing irritation, hate, or other displeasing feelings. Similarly, those who express hostility, which are negative feelings the aggressor
Psychologists have studied, in the recent years, about being accepted or being popular in the adolescent years of a person’s life. This research has led them to an interesting question: how does aggression affect popularity or being accepted socially by others? Aggression is an act that may be considered negative when used in most cases. Crick and Grotpeter in 1995 defined aggression “as behaviors to hurt or harm others” (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995, p.710). There are two main types of aggression: relational aggression and overt/psychical aggression. Relational Aggression is “harming others through purposeful manipulations and damage of their peer relationships,” while Overt aggression is “harming others through physical aggression, ...
Bullying has been a part of schooling for as long as children have been congregating. To some it seems like a natural, though uncomfortable, part of life and school experience, while to others it can mean terrifying experiences which spoiled and characterized otherwise happy years in school. Dan Olweus, a pioneer in bully behavior research documented that 2.7 million children are affected as victims, and that 2.1 children act as bullies (Fried, 1997, as cited in Aluedse, 2006). With bullying cited as the reason for violent, gun-related crime in the past few years, school districts as well as national governments have put anti-bullying policies in place. Bullying is a complicated phenomenon, involving more than one child demanding lunch money from a smaller child. It is a worldwide epidemic hitting schools everywhere. Virtually everyone has seen or experienced bullying. With technological advances, bullying is even hitting the internet. Parents, teachers, students and governments agencies alike are attempting to put a stop to bullying practices.
Violence in American schools has triggered debates on the root cause of student’s anger and aggressive behavior and proposed proactive solutions.
Aggression has been linked to significant repercussions in academic and social functioning (Farmer et al., 2011); and studies on youth have concluded that physical aggression was a predicting factor which preceded risky behaviors which developed later on in the adolescents that were studied. Those dicey inclinations included early onset of sexual activity and tendency to unsafe sexual behaviors, as well as substance abuse that incorporated tobacco, alcohol and drugs (Deater-Decard, 2008). This is an indication of how important is to prevent and intervene before aggression can lead to other dangerous and risky behaviors. To Deater-Decard (2008) it is essential that we continue to understand and improve our capability to decrease aggression, and to minimize the impact on our society.
Hitting, kicking, pinching, and pushing are the most common type of physical bullying. The strong children tend to misuse their strength to maltreat other kids. The bully does these things to intimidate the fellow student and make them fill minorities and out of place. The aggressors may also spit on th...
behaviour in bullying situations. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 28(3), 246-258. Retrieved from Education Research Complete.
A category of strategies to prevent bullying in schools is identifying the causes of bullying. One factor that may cause bullying is the students’s family life. The lack of love or approval and involvement from the parents or overly permissive parenting where there is a lack of supervision or no rules may initiate bullying as the child may feel insecure. Another factor that may cause bullying is peer pressure. Friends who are aggressive and hav...