CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Bullying in schools is a problem which is recognized across the globe (Craig et al.,

2009). The effects of bullying can be devastating,contributing to serious mental, physical,

and social problems (Juvonen et al., 2003). While prevalence rates vary depending on

how the construct is measured (Cook et al.,2010), researchers agree that bullying is a

serious enough problem that educators and communities should address it (Nansel et al.,

2001). Some interventions have been moderately successful, but a number of efforts

have shown little or no reduction in bullying (Baldry & Farrington et al., 2007). Lastly,

media attention is driving policy development and legislative efforts to force schools to

address problems around bullying (Dignity for All Students Act, 2010; U.S. Department of

Education, 201). The incidence of bullying, in its various forms, in public schools

continues to be not only a problem for local school districts but also at the national level.

A review of the research literature yields 74 peer-reviewed publications 54 in journals,11

books and 9 reports in the Dan. Bullying may have a number of negative health impacts

on children. Previous studies have mainly explored negative health consequences related

to being bullied. A different approach is to explore how these phenomena are related to

the school child’s quality of life (QOL).

The identification of the bullying definitions of the school and making the students

aware of these behaviors seems to be effective in this circumstance. In many cases

students do not realize that they are affecting others when using playful comments, and

simply making them aware is a start to create an effective anti-bullying program in an

elementary school. One can conclude from this research if we can communicate to
students that a social norm is better than what their norm is, we can improve behavior

and reduce bullying. It is important to communicate to the students that the average

students are good , and therefore bullying other students is not normal behavior. It is

believed that this will help to reduce the bullying behaviors in the school. Bully a blustering

browbeating person. In this study, bully refers to a person who is fond to make laugh of

the mistakes of other people. Bully victim children who have bullied others and have been

bullied themselves. In this study bully victims referred to students who experiences

physical and emotional abuse cause by the bully itself. Chronicle- a description of events

in order that they happened. In this study, chronicle refers to the happenings in the life of

the bully victim in the hands of the bully. Coping mechanism are ways to which external

or internal stress is managed, adapted to or acted upon. Coping mechanism defines as

a constantly “changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and

or internal demands that are appraised as taxing”.

In this study, coping mechanisms is referred to the strategies that the bully victim

did in order to cope up with the things that made him\her stress. Downfall a sudden loss

of power, happiness and success.In this study downfall means the failure of the bully

victim to defend themselves from the bullies. Experiences the fact or or state of having

been affected by or gained knowledge through direct observation or participation. In this

study ,experiences refer to the experience of the bully victim. Feelings an emotional state

or reaction. In this study, feelings refers to the emotional aspect of the bully victim towards

the bully.

Bullying is a complex problem for many schools districts. The identification of bullying

behavior and the creation of a successful anti-bullying program is critical in successfully

dealing with the problem. This study examined the emotional consequences of bullying

and the causes of bullying behavior, and identified effective programs for dealing with

bullying in schools.

Bullying behavior is anything that can be reasonably viewed as “intimidating, hostile,

dehumanizing, humiliating, threatening, or otherwise likely to evoke fear of physical harm

or emotional distress” (MI BOE, 2009). The causes of this behavior usually stem from

lack of a quality role model at home, or even just neglect at home and the behavior is

meant to gain attention.The experience of bullying in secondary schools in England and

Wales is pervasive,endemic and damaging (Cullingford and Morrison,1995;Pomeroy,

2000).

An intention of the project was better to understand the experience of

bullying and being bullied in secondary school and to investigate further the links between

bullying and other problematic aspects of young people’s lives: truancy, exclusion from

school and offending behaviour.

Investigated the stability of victimization from primary to secondary School

In the Philippines found that those students who were continuously bullied had lower self-

esteem than the control group or those only bullied in primary or secondary school. This

demonstrates that experiencing bullying for several years reasonably introduces the

possibility that this long duration could result in harmful effects. Hoover & Oliver (1996)

reported that both males and females students who were bullied perceived the reason as

not “fitting in” This was true of both genders at 4-8th grades and 8-12 grades. The second

most common reason for being bullied was reported to be a result of their friendships.

Further, victims reported being anxious, insecure and having reported self-esteem.
Putting these findings in the context of the inclusion movement to educate students with

disabilities in the general education class creates another layer of potential bullying. In

fact the very reasons given by the victims of bullying-not fitting in and association with

friends parallels the notion of students in special education an their respective peers. In

fact, Roberts & Smith (1999) found that children generally have a negative attitude

towards their peers with disabilities.

This is true that in the Kauswagan National Highschool, there are students who

did not always present in school, because they always bullied by there classmates, they

have low self esteem that they have no confident, they are so insecure with their self.

Many times I will hear from the students that some of the most popular in a school are the

same teenager who is into bullying behavior.The biggest issue here in Kauswagan

National Highschool in getting help for the child teenager who is into bullying behavior

often is breaking through the parents denial that their child or teen may be a bully.

Bullying happens here at the Kauswagan National Highschool by physical

aggressive behaviors such as hitting , kicking. Pushing or shoving. It includes verbal

aggression such as saying mean names, telling lies, and spreading false rumor.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study was to determine how students and staff members

understand bullying in the context of a high school setting. Thus, this study sought to

answer the following question: How do students and staff members understand the
features, forms, and functions of bullying in a high school setting? Features include

intentionality, experience of harm, the exploitation of a power imbalance, and repetition.

Forms include physical, verbal, visual, direct, indirect, social, and relational bullying.

Function refers to the purpose or motivation which underlies the bullying.The purpose of

the current study is to investigate how children conceptualize bullying in school settings

school, how they differentiate bullying from teasing.

It attempted to help the bullies understand the boundaries between appropriate

and inappropriate behavior and taught targets of the bullies skills for responding to such

behavior. This reason paper sought to have a better understanding of the children’s own

definitions of bullying and teasing behaviors would help us to improve the curriculum.

This study was designed to learn about the students descriptions of problems they

experience or witness in their schools. In addition, we were interested in comparing boys

and girls conceptualizations of bullying and teasing, and their reported experiences.

RESEARCH QUESTION

1.What are experiences?

2.How they cope up or overcome challenges?

3.What are the insights?

THEORETICAL LENS

The theoretical framework used for this research will be the behaviorist theory,

developed by B.F. Skinner (Lejeune et al., 2005). The behaviorist theory states that
everything we do is a behavior. Pleasant experiences are positive re-enforcers while

unpleasant experiences are negative re-enforcers. A lack of reinforcement can also

shape behavior. The best way to treat psychological disorders according to the

behaviorist theory is by altering the behavior or modifying the environment. Altering the

bullies behaviors would help get rid of bullying behavior in schools. The other way to help

with bullying would be to change the environment in schools. Theorist are used to explain,

understand,or predict phenomena (Dubin1978). Given the complexity of the bullying

behavior,multiple theories are needed to fully explicate this social dynamic and

understand what motivates bullying behavior.

Further, thereby can also help elucidate the negative victim outcomes associated

with bullying and explain how the organizational culture and climate of schools is

associated with the prevalence of bullying behavior. The purpose of the current paper is

to used the frameworks of social capital theory, dominance theory, the theory of

humiliation,and organizational culture theory to understand motivations for bullying

behavior, the negative impact bullying has on victims, and the role of the organizational

culture and climate of the school on bullying behavior.

DELIMITATIONS AND LIMITATIONS

This qualitative study was focused on 14 students who is going to interview. A

greater population, over a longer period of time would facilitate appropriate generalization.

A longer period of observational training for the researchers would add the reliability of

behavioral documentations. This will most assuredly lead to greater insight into the

transitions from one personal to another. Studies examining the integration of knowledge

into curricular units would also provide information regarding the efficacy of curricular
modifications to address bullying. Implementation of an RTI model for modification would

be interesting to pursing to provide a viable framework for intervention that is commonly

used her emergent themes.

A focused study of the victim/bully . One of the limitations to studying bullies at a

young age is the long term consequences to both being a bully, as well as being bullied.

Several studies identifying what bullying is, how they are dealt with, and several others

aspects have been completed, but there is limited follow-up being done to determine the

long-term effects. One recently published study in the Journal of American Academy of

Pediatrics by Sourander et al. (2007) examined the early adult outcome of children that

were bullied at a young age. The study was able to obtain records that were used along

with a current study of these young adults to determine what, if any consequences there

were from the bullying behaviors. It was concluded that bullying and being bullied

increased the likelihood of having psychiatric disorders as young adults. The most

alarming group was that of students that were frequently both the bully and the victim.

These individuals has a 30% chance of developing a psychiatric disorder, 11.5% chance

of being antisocial, and almost 3% of the subjects examined were classified as young

adulthood as being labeled clinically psychotic.

The article by Sourander et al. (2007) brings an interesting conclusion to bullying

that has not been made in any of the previous research: bullying while thought to have

long-term mental effects, leads to increased psychiatric disorders. This is significant, and

should help a district justify any additional resources needed to create an effective anti-

bullying program.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
Teasing is people calling you names and bothering about stuff like that.

Bully is when kids come up to you and threatening you and saying they’re going to beat

you up and make you like not feel comfortable of where you are or stuff like that.

were bullied as kids can be brought back in time to the place the bullying occurred and

the people involved just by asking them the question, “Were you ever bullied?” We all

have an opinion about this topic because we all have contributed to the process. Each of

us has been or continues to be a bully, a bystander, or a target. To understand what

bullying behavior is, we must first define teasing behavior.

Teasing is acceptable when:

• We use teasing and roasting as a way of fitting in or talking to our friends and everyone

involved is getting an equal share of the teasing. (Kids are not ganging up on one person.)

• People are not making fun of someone’s disabilities, ethnicity, faith, or other

characteristics that are out of the person’s control.

• The teasing is not repeated over and over again. It is one thing to be called short, but it

is another to be called short on a daily basis. That gets old.

• It is not meant to harm you in any way, and if you asked the person to stop, they would.

• It is done by someone you have a close relationship with. There is always the possibility

friends can take teasing too far and end up in a fight, but usually bullying is not involved.
Bullying behavior occurs when these three characteristics are present:

1. There is a pattern of behavior established. An example of bullying behavior is saying

mean and hurtful things to one person or several people on purpose and for no reason at

all. This may include making threatening comments or actions toward one or more. I

realize that mean and hurtful words and interpreting threatening comments and actions

are subjective. What is mean and threatening to one young person may not be to another.

The important concept here to remember is establishing a pattern of behavior. (Many

young people have shared with me that bullying behavior only needs to happen one time

as opposed to a pattern of behavior which is expressed in the research).

2. The bullying behavior has a negative impact on the target\victim.

3. An imbalance of power is established. An imbalance of power occurs when a person

feels threatened by someone’s words or actions and their perception is that they won’t be

able to protect themselves. We must believe the young persons perception if we as adults

are going to help them.

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The significant of this study is to cope or overcome this situation(BULLYING) in

our community. We the researcher conduct this study to help the bullied through

strategies: Many times I will hear from students that some of the most popular kids in a

school are the same kids who bully others. Some people think that kids (or for that matter

adults) who bully have low self-esteem, and that may be true for some. However, many

who bully have an inflated ego. They have a destructive appetite for power and control.

The ability to stop the bullying behavior in a school or community comes from by standers
who represent the majority of the student body. There is power in numbers. Besides telling

an adult that someone is being bullied, there are several strategies bystanders can use

to help support those being bullied:

• Distract the bully. If you are with a friend who begins to tease someone else, quickly

distract your friend by changing the subject or asking him a question. You would be

keeping your friend out of trouble, but, more importantly, helping the person who is being

teased or bullied.

• Support the person who is being bullied privately. If you could not get the person or

persons to stop the bullying behavior, for whatever reason, go back to the person who

was being bullied and support them privately. You could say “I am sorry for what my friend

said, or those other kids said, and I will talk to them about it to see if I can get the bullying

behavior to stop.”

• Support the person who is being bullied openly. I only recommend this strategy to kids

who feel confident and have a certain amount of respect among their peers.

• Do not feed into the bully behavior. Don’t laugh at their jokes if they are humiliating

someone, and do not promote or attend a fight. As bystanders, it is your responsibility to

de-escalate the situation, not feed fuel to an already hot fire.

• Go to an adult that you trust

If you have a child or teenager being bullied, please contact your school counselor and

set up an appointment to discuss the situation. The administration and other adults may

need to get involved in making sure the bullying behavior stops. The biggest issue in

getting help for the child or teenager who is into bullying behavior often is breaking
through the parent’s denial that their child or teen may be a bully. It is important that we

identify and label the behavior as bullying behavior. The chances of being successful with

intervention strategies are great, especially when the behavior can be identified at an

early age.

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents a literature review that includes the following: (a) a

discussion of the definitions of bullying including its features, (b) a discussion of how the

forms and functions of bullying have been conceptualized, (c) a review of problems that

have been cited by researchers with regards to the operationalization of the definition of

bullying in the study of the construct, (d) a discussion of the use of continua to describe

bullying as compared to a dichotomous definition, and (e) a review of constructs related

to bullying which may offer a deeper understanding of bullying. Lastly, this chapter

discusses the rationale for studying how students and staff members understand the

features, forms, and functions of bullying in a high school setting.

Defining Bullying

Researchers recognize that the study of a phenomenon is heavily dependent on

an accurate operational definition, and that the validity of these definitions is related to

the soundness of research conclusions. “Indeed, in the absence of valid measurement,

we cannot be sure of what construct is actually being assessed, lending considerable

caution to interpreting incidence and prevalence rates and links to outcomes and
interventions” (Vaillancourt et al., 2008, p. 486). Definitions, by their nature, should have

broad applicability, be unambiguous, and should reflect consistent understanding across

multiple groups of people. According to Lee (2006) a definition “is a sentence or two that

seek to encapsulate the precise meaning of a term and generate boundaries and

therefore can by implication, or by direct reference, identify that which stands outside itas

well as within it” (p. 63). Researchers who study bullying have attempted to define this

construct, focusing on two dimensions of the problem: the forms it takes and the features

of the phenomenon. Olweus’s definition3 (1991) includes physically aggressive behaviors

such as hitting, kicking, pushing or shoving. It also includes verbal aggression such as

saying mean things, calling someone mean names, telling lies, and spreading false

rumors. Additionally, it includes social aggression such as ignoring or excluding, or

leaving someone out on purpose. These three forms include types of aggression that are

both indirect and direct verbal, as well indirect and direct social-relational. Regarding the

features of bullying, Olweus (1991, p. 413) alludes to four features which are essential in

order for an act of aggression to be considered bullying: intentionality, the experience of

harm, the exploitation of a power imbalance, and repetition. These features are generally

accepted by researchers across the globe as necessary for an interaction to be

considered bullying (Furlong et al., 2010; Swearer et al., 2010), although some

researchers blend intentionality and harm into one feature and label it ‘intentional harm’

(Cornell & Bandyopadhyay, 2010; Swearer et al., 2010). However, other well-regarded

researchers have suggested further elaborations with regards to the features that define

bullying. Besag (1989) calls into question the requirement of repetition, suggesting that

the mere threat of repetition is enough to create a bullying situation. Thus, she suggests
that repetition may not be an essential 3 We say a student is being bullied when another

student, or a group of students

• say mean and unpleasant things or make fun of him or her or call him or her mean

names

• completely ignore or exclude him or her from their group of friends or leave him or her

out of things on purpose

• hit, kick, push and shove around, or threaten him or her

• tell lies or false rumors about him or her or send mean notes and try to make other

students dislike him or her

• and things like that. These things may take place frequently and it is difficult for the

student being bullied to defend himself or herself. It is also bullying when a student is

teased repeatedly in a negative and hurtful way. But we don’t call it bullying when the

teasing is made in a friendly and playful way. Also, it is not bullying when two students of

about the same strength or power argue or fight [italics in the original]. (p. 431) component

of bullying if there is an implied threat that the aggression may happen again. Rigby

(2002), who has written an entire chapter on the challenges of defining bullying includes

in his conceptualization three features that are rarely included in discussions of bullying:

“an unjust use of power” (p. 51) and “evident enjoyment by the aggressor and generally

a sense of being oppressed on the part of the victim” (p. 51). Thus, Rigby (2002) raises

the idea of just and unjust aggression, suggesting that bullying is ‘unjust’ but that some

forms of aggression which perhaps carry the four primary features of bullying mentioned

previously, may not actually be bullying if the behavior is justified. He also includes the
emotional responses of bullies and victims in the experience of bullying, suggesting that

if these additional features are absent then the interaction may not be bullying, even if the

four primary features are present.

Lastly, provocation is included in a definition of bullying offered by the U.S.

Department of Education,4 which clearly suggests that if provocation is involved then

aggression may not be bullying. Again, this calls into question the accepted definition of

bullying because it suggests that if a victim ‘intentionally provokes’ someone, then

intentionally harmful actions, that are repeated and that abuse power, may not be

considered bullying. Thus, while there are broadly accepted definitions of bullying which

include four essential features (i.e., intentionality, harm, abuse of power, and repetition),

there are also researchers who have suggested that there might be exceptions 4 The

U.S. Department of Education defines bullying as “intentional, repeated hurtful acts,

words or other behavior, such as name-calling, threatening and/or shunning committed

by one or more children against another. The victim does not intentionally provoke these

negative acts, and for such acts to be defined as bullying, an imbalance in real or

perceived power must exist between the bullying and the victim. Bullying may be physical,

verbal, emotional, or sexual in nature” (U.S. Department of Education, 1998, p. 1) to these

requirements or perhaps additional features which should be considered when defining

bullying. Research on bullying overlaps with research on aggression, thus understanding

bullying requires an exploration of research on aggression. The next section reviews (a)

some of the problems that have developed as a result of this overlapping research, (b)

the different ways that aggression has been conceptualized, and (c) some of the research

issues that have resulted because of the different ways that bullying has been
conceptualized and measured. Aggression and bullying: overlapping and distinct

features. Research on aggression rests on a long, solid, and well-respected base of

scholarship (Berkowitz, 1993; Tremblay, 2000). The definition of aggression “any form of

behavior that is intended to injure someone physically or psychologically [italics in the

original]” (Berkowitz, 1993, p. 3), implies that when a person engages in aggression a

negative action occurs that is directed at someone who experiences harm and is thus

victimized. A review of the aggression literature suggests that this line of research omits

discussions of bullying and instead focuses on ‘aggression’ and ‘victimization.’ In

particular, child psychologists who are concerned about the consequences and effects of

perpetrating and experiencing aggression have studied these phenomena among

children.

There is, however, a tendency for researchers who study aggression to allude to

bullying but not to name it as a construct, define it, or explain its connection to aggression.

Craig, Henderson, and Murphy (2000) state that “North American researchers tend to use

the word victimization to describe bullying” (p. 6). These authors support their claim by

citing Perry and colleagues (1988), a study of victimization which gives cursory treatment

to Olweus’s work on bullying, but never mentions bullying beyond the literature review,

although bullying is alluded to, as when they refer to “children who habitually serve as

targets of other children’s aggression” (p. 807). This study does not distinguish between

aggression that is or is not bullying, but seems to suggest that all victimization is the result

of bullying, which is inconsistent with

definitions of bullying and aggression. Bullying is a subset of aggression which carries the

two primary features of aggression: intentionality and the infliction of harm. However, it is
widely recognized that bullying includes two additional features: exploitation of a power

imbalance, and repetition. Chronic, mutual aggression that does not include the

exploitation of power is not considered to be bullying, and researchers have been

cautioned not to frame it as such, even though victimization may be occurring along with

intentionality to harm and with repetition. … bullying is a more serious and hurtful form of

peer aggression [than aggression that is not bullying]. Researchers should also be careful

not to present results as applying to bullying when they have actually measured

“victimization” generally defined as exposure to aggressive acts (without reference to a

power imbalance) by one or more individuals. (Olweus, 2010, p. 30) Thus, while research

on aggression has informed the study of bullying, confusion has occurred when

researchers have conflated all victimization with victimization that has been the result of

bullying. Conceptualizing the forms of bullying. Research on bullying has focused on the

forms or types of aggression which include a wide array of types including: physical,

verbal, visual, psychological, indirect, direct, social and relational. The following section

thus explores forms of aggression which are enacted in bullying situations first. Direct

physical and verbal. While the study of bullying is relatively new, beginning in earnest in

the early 1970s with the work of Olweus (1978, 1993), it is a phenomenon which has

occurred throughout human history and has been mentioned in psychological research

for decades (Furlong et al., 2010). Likewise, when researchers discuss understandings

of bullying, they often cite old and classic literature such as Tom Brown’s Days (1857) by

Thomas Hughes, works by Dickens including Oliver Twist (1839) and The Life and

Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1838), and more recently, The Lord of the Flies

(Golding, 1959), all of which recount stories of male bullying. Thus it is not surprising that
the initial studies of bullying tended to focus on male expressions of aggression that took

direct, overt physical and verbal forms (Olweus, 1978) because this was generally how

aggression was conceptualized both by the lay population and among researchers who

studied the phenomenon (Bjorkqvist & Niemela, 1992). However, those who study

aggression have recognized that aggression may be indirect, as well as direct and that

behaviors such as spreading rumors or lies about someone in an attempt to damage a

person’s reputation is also aggressive, in spite of the fact that it involves no physical or

direct verbal attack on anyone (Berkowitz, 1993). Thus, bullying research has expanded

to include forms of aggression which are less overt and more subtle which have been

referred to as ‘indirect’ (Lagerspetz, Bjorkqvist, & Peltonin, 1988), ‘social’

(Cairnset.,al,1997) or ‘relational’ (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995) aggression.

Social, relational, and indirect. By the late 1980s researchers had begun to realize

that research on aggression, and subsequently bullying, had focused primarily on males

(Bjorkqvist & Niemela, 1992). This absence of research on females generated interest

both in the gendered nature of aggression, as well as in the forms of aggression that

might be more characteristic of females than males ( Cairns et al., 1989). And while

separate lines of research have developed to study social, indirect and relational forms

of aggression, some researchers have established that these constructs are all

conceptually related to each other and should be integrated under an ‘adaptive

framework’ which would be beneficial to the study of bullying and aggression (Archer &

Coyne, 2005). Lagerspetz and colleagues (1988) studied direct and indirect aggression

in 11- and 12- year old males and females. Forms of direct aggression included both

physical and verbal examples such as tripping, arguing, kicking/hitting, shoving, or calling
names. Likewise, forms of indirect aggression also included both physical and verbal

examples including taking someone’s things, telling untruths behind their back, telling

others to avoid the person, or starting to be someone else’s friend as revenge. A

characteristic of all of the indirect methods of aggression was “circumventory behaviour

that exploits social relations among peers in order to harm the person at whom the anger

is directed” (p. 409). Cairns and colleagues (1989) also discussed aggressive strategies

that were “indirect and concealed” (p. 329) that allowed an aggressor to target a victim

who was unable to identify the antagonist and therefore was unable to reciprocate.

Crick and Grotpeter (1995) published the first study using the term ‘relational

aggression,’ which was identified as “harming others through purposeful manipulation and

damage of their peer relationships” (p. 711). Relational aggression involves “behaviors

such as threatening to withdraw friendship in order to get one’s own way or using social

exclusion as a form of retaliation” (Crick et al., 1996). Crick and colleagues (1999) make

the point to distinguish relational aggression from physical and verbal aggression when

these forms of aggression do not specifically focus on damaging relationships (p. 77).

The earliest work which includes the term ‘social aggression’ is by Cairns and colleagues

(1988), and discusses behaviors such as rumor spreading and ostracism which are

labeled ‘social manipulation.’ The term ‘social aggression’ is later extensively used by

Galen and Underwood (1997) and is defined as follows: Social aggression is directed

toward damaging another’s self-esteem, social status, or both, and may take direct forms

such as verbal rejection, negative facial expressions or body movement, or more indirect

forms such as slanderous rumors or social exclusion. We prefer the term social

aggression because it aptly describes a class of behaviors that belong together because
they serve the same function in ongoing social interaction: to hurt another person by doing

harm to her self-concept or social standing. (p. 589).Thus, research on bullying has been

informed by studies of aggression which include not only physical aggression and direct

verbal aggression, but by forms of indirect, relational and social aggression which are

overlapping in many ways (Archer & Coyne, 2005). Use of terminology in this study.

Features.

Current research was examined to compare current trends in school-based

bullying and how schools are dealing with bullying. Many authors have defined the nature

of bullying and recommended ways to deal with it. The following provides a synopsis of

this research.

Liu and Graves (2011) analyzed the cause and effect relationship of bullying and

futures problems associated with them in a quantitative study. A secondary goal was to

provide information to health care professionals about bullying so the professionals can

come up with strategies for prevention and intervention.

The authors suggest that bullying is such a complex issue because it involves three

factors: (1) intention to cause harm, (2) the cause of that harm being attributed to the

imbalance of power between the bully and victim, and (3) the repetition of the behavior

over time (Liu & Graves, 2011). Their study showed that gender plays an important role

in bullying: male students are more likely to resort to physical and direct bullying while

females are more likely to resort to relational and indirect forms of bullying.

Liu and Graves (2011) also examined early influences and environmental factors

associated with bully behavior. The study found that early behavior in children is likely to
continue throughout growth and development, suggesting that early pre-bullying behavior

could be useful in identifying future bullies. Their research suggests that developing and

implementing bullying intervention programs is more important than ever. The study also

indicated that the programs developed should reflect the community environment as well

as the individual children to maximize effectiveness.

The results of these studies conclude that as the awareness of bullying continues

to increase, we are becoming aware that it starts at a young age. The study also

concludes that several factors go into making what a bully is, and we need to identify as

many as possible at a young age so that an intervention and program can help the student

to avoid that behavior in the future (Liu & Graves, 2011). School bullying has made the

headlines whether on the television, or in the newspaper, mostly for the negative effects

it has on students. Bullying negatively affects students on the playground, in the

classroom, and on the Internet. Since educators have a responsibility to protect the

children in the school setting, student bullying directly impacts the role of the educator.

Experts have had a difficult time defining the phenomenon of bullying, and it has

been identified in many different ways with different terminology, meanings, connotations,

and implications (Carrera et al.,2011). Victims of bullying have taken their own lives, and

even bullied themselves. In addition, bullying in conjunction with depression results in

much worse outcomes than bullying a student free of other problems (Klomek et al.,,

2011). A school district’s job is to ensure that its students get the best education possible.

To establish an effective learning environment within its district, school leaders need to

establish ways to identify and combat bullying. Educational leaders are responsible for

creating and sustaining environments for learning and practicing civic virtue for all
stakeholders in a school (Starratt, 2004). This paper will study some of the successful

programs and identify some key components involved in those programs, with the

purpose of forming recommendations to create a successful program to best eliminate

bullying behavior at a young age.

On January 14, 2010, Phoebe Prince’s body was found hanging in the rear

stairwell of her family’s apartment. Phoebe had apparently committed suicide. She was

fifteen years old (Eckholm et al 2010). On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold

of Columbine High School opened fire on their fellow classmates and school officials.

They killed about twenty-five students and teachers and injured many others. Both Eric,

eighteen, and Dylan, seventeen, would later be found dead with self-inflicted gunshot

wounds (Lamb, 2008). In August of 2010, Asher Brown’s lifeless body would be found in

his parents’ home. He was only thirteen years old (Eliason, 2011). What do these young

people all have in common? They were all victims of bullying. This leads people to wonder

and ask what was so devastating about the bullying that led these individuals to take their

own lives. In this paper I will discuss some of the socio-psychological effects of bullying.

Bullying not only has an impact on the victim, but it also has an impact on both the

bully and bystanders who witness the bullying incidents (Holt, M. K., & Espelage, D. L.,

2007). Students who bully their peers engage in anti-social behavior, defy adults or

authority figures, are guilty of alcohol abuse, and are likely to drop out of school and to

be convicted of some sort of criminal behavior (O’Moore, M. & Kirkham, C., 2001).

Witnesses and bystanders may also suffer from nightmares, guilt, and fear (Swearer,

Siebecker, Johnsen-Frerichs & Wang, 2010). Bullying leads to eating disorders in some
females. Girls who are persistently bullied because of their weight may develop an eating

disorder. This disorder can happen either during the bullying period or during young

adulthood (US Center for Disease Control, 2010). The solution to bullying seems to be

exluding policymakers.

A literature search found most studies of being bullied at school were quantitative,

with relatively few qualitative studies reflecting the pupil’s own perspective. Among the

quantitative studies was a study that found that children who had been bullied showed

more internalizing of problems and unhappiness at school than those who had not been

bullied. Children who had been bullied hadlower self-esteem and greater social isolation

than those who had not been bullied. Other studies found that victims of bullying had

more difficulty making friends, had poorer relationships with classmates and often had

greater feelings of loneliness. Children who had been bullied were more frequently

rejected by their peers and were less popular than prosocial children. Low degrees of

friendship and high levels of emotional loneliness were significantly related to being

bullied. Having a friend was an important protective factor against being bullied. School

children who had been bullied had significantly higher odds of psychosomatic symptoms

than those who were not bullied. The highest odds ratio was observed in feeling

depressed, and being bullied was associated with poor health and psychosomatic

symptoms. The qualitative studies found that children who had been bullied seldom told

adults about being bullied by peers, and those who bullied others justified their own

behaviour.
 Countless students undergo teasing in schools worldwide. Although most teasing

is good-natured, it can sometimes become nasty and deteriorate into bullying involving

social exclusion, physical violence, threats, sexual and racial harassment, and public

humiliation (Nansel et al., 2001). Both boys and girls intimidate others; however, boys

tend to use more physical aggression and girls tend to use social exclusion. Teasing and

bullying frequently have detrimental psychological effects on children, including anxiety,

low self-esteem, social withdrawal, depression, violent retaliation,and suicide (Muscari et.

Al, 2002). Children who are chronically teased and bullied typically experience an ongoing

cycle of hostility and fear (Bernstein &Watson, 1997), and often low self-esteem and

depression.These problems can continue into adulthood (olweus et. al, 1993).

Traits that place children at risk for victimization include having a physical

appearance that deviates from peer norms (Sweeting&West, 2001); coming from a family

or environment that differs from an ideal type; and having an ethnic, racial, or cultural

background unlike the majority (Siann et.al, 1994). Target children often are less assertive

than peers and tend to avoid isolated areas.

Many students react to attacks by crying or withdrawing, responses that are likely

to lead to more instances of bullying and teasing. Victims may fear school as the location

in which verbal harassment and physical abuse take place (Banks, 1997; Bernstein &

Watson, 1997). As target children cope by being absent and by withdrawing from

activities, they tend to lose friends. In addition,other students sometimes fear that by

associating with victims they might become targets themselves (Batsche & Knoff, 1994;

Olweus, 1993). Clearly, ongoing teasing and bullying have many negative consequences

for children and adolescents. However, the extant literature is not adequately databased
and is drawn largely from adults’ preconceived ideas about teasing rather than students’

perspectives on their experiences. Furthermore, recognizing vulnerable children would

enable educators and clinicians to intervene before problems escalate; however, no

reliable, valid instrument exists to identify children who are bothered by chronic teasing

and bullying.

In the United States,9% to 15% of children experience chronic teasing and bullying

(Nansel et al., 2001; U.S. Department of Education, 1999).Teasing involves verbal and

nonverbal peer interactions, which may be humorous and playful on one level but

annoying or distressing on another level (Mooney, Creeser, & Baltchford, 1991; Shapiro,

Baumeister, & Kessler, 1991). Bullying involves repetitive persistent patterns of mental

and nonverbal behaviors of one ormore children that are intended to inflict deliberate

physical, verbal, or emotional abuse on a target child (Banks, 1997; Olweus, 1997). Until

teasing and bullying were linked to newsworthy incidents of school violence, researchers,

educators, and clinicians gave scant attention to the problem. Growing recognition of the

negative effects of hurtful teasing and bullying is evidenced by numerous recent

publications for parents, educators, and clinicians (Middleton-Moz et al 2002). Yet despite

increased awareness, students who are at risk often remain undetected. Adults fail to

understand associated factors and do not recognize patterns of chronic teasing and

bullying. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore middle school students’

teasing and bullying experiences, as part of the Child-Adolescent Teasing Scale (CATS)

project (Vessey, 2000-2004).

 The settings were middle schools and one private pediatric medical practice. In

each school site, a school nurse or guidance counselor consulted with teachers to identify

students who were fairly verbal and who had some personal experience with teasing while

not being outside the mainstream of their peer group. More specifically, participants were

neither victims nor bullies.

Letters and informed consent materials were sent to parents to describe the study

and to seek permission for their children to participate. In the pediatric practice, a nurse

practitioner invited children with visible chronic conditions of acne, cleft lip and palate,

and obesity into the focus group, and their parents provided permission for participation.

The sites represented three diverse regions of the United States: the South, the

Northeast, and the Southwest. The McComb, Mississippi, site was a rural community

where 79% of the students in the participating school were eligible to receive benefits

from the federal breakfast/lunch program. The Milton, Massachusetts, site was a

suburban town in greater Boston in which 6% of students were eligible for the federal

breakfast/lunch program. The school in the Southwest was private and located outside of

Albuquerque, New Mexico, a mid-size urban community. Information regarding eligibility

for the federal breakfast/ lunch program was not available; however, 30% of the students

were eligible for financial aid,with annual tuition and fees consisting of $8,400 for

academic year 2002-2003.

The category of Physical Appearance comprised any visible trait, clothing,

apparatus, or bodily feature that deviated from a norm established by the peer group.

Examples of codes in this category are “My body shape,” “My height,” “My teeth,” “Having

something wrong with me,” “The way I dress.”Risk for being teased about physical
appearance increased when differences were apparent or blatant. Name calling was a

commonly used method for taunting in a repetitive way. Such verbal abuse sometimes

escalated into physical bullying. Participants depicted teasing due to someone’s physical

appearance in a variety ofways,as illustrated in the following quotations: “I have this

friend, he’s really big and they used to call him ‘fat boy,’ . . . they poke him in the stomach.

They called him ‘dough boy,’ and stuff like that.” “They call me shortening.” “Talk to me

when you’re 4 feet tall.” “They tease me about my braces. They say I have train tracks in

my mouth.”

Visible indicators of a disability or health problem caused teasing, as illustrated in

examples of students’ statements. “I remember this guy in elementary school because he

was in a wheelchair, they called him ‘crazy legs’ ‘cause he couldn’t really use them.” “I

get called ‘four ears’ because I have hearing aids.” “I went to school with a kid who used

a wheelchair, and they called him ‘wheelie boy.’ ” Clothing was frequently endorsed as a

source of teasing. Regardless of ethnicity, race, region, or economic status, participants

talked about the importance of wearing the “right” clothes. Students described local

standards for acceptable clothing, although nationally advertised brand labels inferred the

greatest prestige. One participant succinctly summed up the reason for being teased

about clothes.

Academic ability and performance in school received daily scrutiny.Students

defined the range of acceptable behavior within their particular school setting. Being “too

smart” or “being stupid” often resulted in harassment. For example, being teacher’s pet

was a common source of scorn, as these students’ words depict: “Did you suck up to the

teacher again today so you could get your ‘A’ on your paper?” “Sometimes in class when
you raise your hand a lot to answer the questions and stuff and like you’re always helping

the teacher you get called like a teachers pet.” Doing well in school caused similar

negative attention: “They get teased more if they are good students.” Conversely, having

academic difficulty or a learning disability could make students targets. The following

statements support this point: “Oh my gosh,we got another stupid kid in class.

” Students explained that being unable to perform well in class caused

embarrassment and led to ridicule. The following statements describe how this process

occurred. “The teacher will call people to read and they don’t know how to read good and

it take them a long time, and then sometimes they’ll get to words but they say it funny,

people will laugh at them and stuff.” “Like if they don’t keep up in class, they’re considered

like retards, that’s what everybody calls them.” Having “weird” or “unacceptable” friends

could pose a threat.Participants provided insightful explanations of this process. “A lot of

peoplemake fun of you because of the people you hang out with. If you hang out with

certain people, if your friends aren’t that popular, then they’ll tease you about it and say

oh you’re not cool because you hang out with these people.” Thus, although peer norms

for academic performance and school-related interactions varied within

individual schools and across geographic sites, according to standards and expectations

of specific social circles and communities, the potential for being abused based on being

different from peer norms was omnipresent.

Participants in this study expressed the many different social-psychological effects

the bullying had on them. Some of the effects were feelings of isolation and depression,
difficulty making friends, difficulty trusting people, staying in abusive relationships, and

suicidal thoughts and attempts. As with my study here, other studies such as Roth, et al

(2002), has found that students who attend universities and who recalled their own stories

of being bullied showed an increased risk of suffering from both depression and anxiety.

A more recent study conducted by Lund, et al., showed that bullying in the adolescent

years of men has been associated with prevalence for depression symptoms even up to

some twenty years after leaving school.

Each one of the participants suffered some sort of effect in their social lives

because of the bullying they experienced. A few suffered and still suffer from depression.

This depression consisted of prolonged sadness that would cause a decline in their

cognitive ability and learning. This depression would also affect their grades such that

they could not effectively concentrate on schoolwork and, instead, lived in constant fear

of what their interaction with the bully would be like the following day at school. Because

the fear was so great, the participants and other victims alike would fake getting sick or

become sick for real and would avoid going to school if at all possible. Some participants

had difficulty making friends and trusting people. Some of the participants stated that they

would spend a portion of their high school life almost in total isolation.

The nationwide effort to reduce bullying in U.S. schools can be regarded as part

of larger civil and human rights movements that have provided children with many of the

rights afforded to adult citizens, including protection from harm in the workplace. Many

bullied children find that their schools are hostile environments, but civil rights protections

against harassment apply only to children who fall into protected classes, such as racial

and ethnic minorities, students with disabilities, and victims of gender harassment or
religious discrimination. This article identifies the conceptual challenges that bullying

poses for legal and policy efforts, reviews judicial and legislative efforts to reduce bullying,

and makes some recommendations for school policy. Recognition that all children have

a right to public education would be one avenue for broadening

protection against bullying to all children.

The first criterion of intentional aggression is broadly inclusive and means that

bullying can be physical, verbal, or social in nature (Gladden et al., 2014). As a result,

bullying can overlap with many other proscribed behaviors such as criminal assault,

extortion, hate crimes, and sexual harassment. In its milder forms, bullying can be difficult

to distinguish from ordinary teasing, horseplay, or conflict. With regard to social or

relational bullying, it may be hard to draw the line between children’s friendship squabbles

and painful social ostracism.

The second criterion, the requirement for a power imbalance between aggressor

and victim, is at the core of the concept of bullying and distinguishes it from otherforms of

peer aggression. However, a power imbalance is difficult to assess. Although judgments

about physical size nand strength are feasible in cases of physical bullying, bullying is

most often verbal or social and requires a determination of a power differential that

requires an assessment of peer status, self-confidence, or cognitive capability (Cornell &

Cole, 2011; Olweus, 2013). In some contexts, the victim lacks power for less obvious

reasons, such as because of minority sexual orientation, disability, or membership in a

particular racial or ethnic group (Greif & Furlong, 2006).

 A further complication is that interpersonal power is not a static quality because it

can vary across situations and circumstances. A person surrounded by friends gains

temporary power over an adversary. An anonymous individual posting to a website has

power to make hurtful remarks that may not have been possible in a face-to-face situation.

Two events in 1999 were turning points in the recognition of school bullying as an

important societal problem in the United States. The shooting at Columbine High School

was the most notorious of a series school attacks that were widely viewed in the press

as actions by vengeful victims of bullying (Dinkes, Kemp, & Baum, 2009; Fein et al.,

2002). Equally important, but less prominent in the national news, in the same year, the

U.S. Supreme Court (Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, 1999) established that

schools could be liable for failure to stop student-to-student sexual harassment.

This far-reaching decision has supported nationwide lawsuits concerning victims

of bullying (Alley & Limber, 2009), as well as a directive from the U.S. Department of

Education’s Office for Civil Rights (hereafter “Office for Civil Rights”) that certain forms of

bullying must be addressed as civil rights violations (U.S. Department of Education, Office

for Civil Rights, 2010). Since 1999, 49 of 50 states have passed antibullying legislation

(Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention, 2014). This article examines law and policy on

the concept of bullying at school that stem from these judicial and legislative

developments. The movement to protect children from bullying represents a historic step

forward in children’s rights. In the past century, laws and policies concerning child labor,

child protection, social welfare, adoption, divorce, and criminal prosecution, among

others, have advanced the rights of children in the United States. The effort to prevent

bullying promises to extend to children a basic right to safety already afforded to adults.
 This movement also intersects with important civil and human rights concerns for

persons with disabilities, racial and ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, women, and

others who constitute protected classes of individuals. Despite more than a decade of

judicial and legislative activity, as well as a massive increase in scientific research and

the development of numerous prevention programs (Bradshaw, 2015; Hymel & Swearer,

2015), law and policy about bullying remain fragmented and inconsistent. The purpose of

this article is to critically examine conceptual challenges in judicial and legislative efforts

to address bullying in schools. Because of space limitations, we concentrate on the core

issue of how bullying is defined and who should be protected.

We begin with an analysis of definitional challenges with bullying and explain how

bullying is distinguished from other forms of peer aggression and from the concept of

harassment. We analyze some important judicial decisions and actions by the U.S.

Department of Education that illuminate the gap between a civil rights approach to

harassment and the broader realm of bullying, and note the persistence of these problems

in state legislation. We conclude that current legal and policy approaches, strongly rooted

in laws regarding harassment and discrimination, do not provide adequate protection for

all bullied students and that a more comprehensive approach that recognizes the right to

education for all children is needed.

 Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

This paper aim to capture the students who experienced bullying in Kauswagan

National Highschool. This study is qualitative in nature. This chapter presents the

research design, role of the researcher, research participants, and the process of data

collection. Data analysis, and trustworthiness that includes the four cretiria: credibility,

confirmability, dependabilty and transferability. All individuals that were concern with this

study were also included as well as the process of ethical considerations.

Research Design

This phenomenological study described the lived experiences (Creswell 2009) of

students who experience bullying that will happen in the Kauswagan National Highschool.

It focused into what common experiences the participants had encountered this situation,

as well as their overall lifestyle. I used phenomenology because a group of individuals

such as the students in the Kauswagan National Higschool who personally experienced

the same phenomenon (Moustakas,1994; Creswell,2012). All the research participants

were now experiencing the same circumstances in dealing their personal lives and career

with in the present condition of the said school where almost all of them agreed that

struggle is real. Different angles were uncovered, but focus more on their experiences,

their coping mechanism, as well as their insights in their present situation.

This qualitative study involved interviews with the students who experience

bullying in Kauswagan National Highschool. Using descriptive method, the study

examined the social meanings that the students talked about their unforgettable
experiences about the bullying. This research has elaborated the struggles of the

respondents in order to overcome their problem about bullying, despite all the limitations,

risk and barriers. On the other hand, Burns and Grove(2007) illustrate qualitative research

as concerning more on human experiences conducted in natural settings where

information are processed through observed phenomenon. We used phenomenology of

my study because it is centered on the peoples live experiences (Carpenter 2007).

I utilized the social representations approach, which was the constructivist in

nature. The collection of the data was based from real life stories of the participant, which

gave more meaning and deeper understanding to the real phenomena of what the bullied

students experiencing, in which other students in almost the same situation can relate.

The ontological assumption of my study is that reality is the subjective and can be created

through human activity(Kim2001 et al.,).

Epistemologically, as we have interviewed my co-students, we saw the forming

knowledge as personal, partial, and unique (Cohen et al.,). Data were gathered through

interview, then, these socially constructed realities were intertwined through interaction

and communication (Kim 2001). The purpose of the phenomenological study was to

described the social meaning of the people’s experiences as they understood them

(Ariola,2006). Bracketing is the researchers awareness on the possibility that the

participants’ values, beliefs, and decisions could influenced the setting of the research

(Porter 1993 et al.,). As part of this study, we was cautious and observant at all times,

being aware on the pre-obtainable beliefs on the study. We sought to it that we could fully

capture the participants experiences as they shared it to me as long as my member during

the interview. We heightened my awareness on the phenomenon that the participants

had given during the interview, however we made sure to set aside my own views and

personal experiences only of the participantsby identifying by its real fundamental nature

(Cresswell,2012).

In describing the expressed phenomenon of the participants, we use analogy as

my approach. This would mean making comparisons, finding similarities and correlations

of the different experiences of the respondents so that The dissertation study is a mixed

methods study based on the findings of a qualitative preliminary study conducted to

explore the nature of student interactions, peer relationships, social problems, and school

social climate within a suburban high school. The dissertation study follows a mixed

methods design using a concurrent triangulation format. As such, the quantitative and

qualitative data were first collected concurrently, then analyzed separately, and merged

during interpretation to better understand the research problem (Creswell et al.,2007,).

A strength of a mixed methodological approach is that it provides complementarity,

defined as seeking “to measure overlapping but also different facets of a phenomenon,

yielding an enriched, elaborated understanding of that phenomenon” (Green et al.,). The

methodological approach for this study was driven by “qualitative thinking” (Mason, 2006)

and so it has focused more heavily on perceptions than on the measurement,

confirmation, or verification of scales assessing prevalence or knowledge. It sought to

include the multidimentionality that is sometimes omitted in traditional quantitative

methodology, and thus contributes to this field a deeper understanding of how bullying is

perceived. To establish complementarity between the 64 two types of data proposed in

the dissertation study, findings are explained in light of each type of data, and where

possible new ideas are explored and theory is built (Strauss et al.,) with regards to the
phenomenon of bullying. The preliminary study consisted of three forms of qualitative

data: focus groups, interviews, and artifactual data, which were analyzed using a

grounded theory approach. These results framed the dissertation study which addressed

the question: As the outcomes of the preliminary study were central to the design of the

dissertation study, a summary of the preliminary study will be presented followed by

details outlining the measures included in the dissertation study. The analytic plan for the

dissertation study will be presented at the beginning of Chapter 5.

Role of the researcher

With so many things that happen in the students life that deal everyday,for

personal life, it is an additional priority task to deal also with challenges of a students life.

Researchers who study bullying acknowledge that the field struggles because even if we

would be lack of time because of class hour but we find ways so that we discovered some

experiences about bullying and inorder to finish it. Additionally, there are concerns that

research subjects may conceptualize bullying differently from the definitions offered in

studies of bullying. This study seeks to assess how students and staff members

understand the features, forms, and functions of bullying in a high school setting. The

study involves an exploratory grounded theory preliminary study, followed by a mixed

methods dissertation study. Both studies were conducted in an affluent suburban high

school in the northeastern United States and included students and staff members.

Findings from the preliminary study suggested that bullying was challenging for subjects
to define and that traditional and stereotypical conceptualizations were inadequate in this

context. The dissertation study involves survey questions, interview and focus group

transcripts, and interview and focus group data that were quantified. Five vignettes

(survey items) were developed based on the findings of the preliminary study. Participants

were asked if the vignettes matched their understanding of the construct of bullying.

Additionally, subjects participated in semi-structured interviews or focus groups during

which they described or defined bullying. Lastly, interview and focus group data were

coded for the number and features of bullying that subjects mentioned.

Statistical analysis of the survey items suggests that subjects consider the

vulnerability of the victim to be a highly salient feature of situations understood to be

bullying. The grounded theory analysis suggests that elitism, a complicated and nuanced

social environment, developmental change, and ‘norms, status, and hierarchy’ were

emergent themes. These themes coalesced around a core category identified as

‘negotiating identity.’ Quantified data from interviews and focus groups suggest that

students and staff have somewhat different understandings of bullying. The conclusions

drawn from the integration of these findings suggest that bullying is a complex, socially

constructed phenomenon that is not always understood consistently across stakeholders.

Additionally, bullying is viewed as one of several forms of problematic social interactions

that occur in this high school that include conflict, aggression, and ‘drama.’

Research Participants

The participants of this study were the different secondary student who experience

bullying in Kauswagan National Highschool. Using purposive sampling, we interviewed

14 students who were our informants or respondence in the FGD. Respondent said that
it is so difficult when you experience bullying because you would attest all the hardsips

that happen in your life, like we are not interested to go to school because we are shy to

face our classmates specially the students who is bully.They would judge on what your

physical appearance,and they would harm you that can destroy your confidence. All of

the participants might be experiencing various problems while studying.

Data were collected during 2018 and the spring of 2019. Fourteen focus groups

were conducted by the first author.one groups for girls and one group for boys were

conducted. Each group met once. Small groups for separate genders were used because

bullying is a sensitive topic. The focus groups were conducted during the school day. The

researcher, who is experienced in leading discussion groups with the teenager of these

ages, acted as moderator. Procedure the focus group session opened with a brief

orientation and an explanation of how the anonymity of the participants would be

respected. Each group member was assigned a number, which they used instead of their

name to identify themselves in the session. The interview was recorded to audio tape and

later transcribed verbatim.. The taping of the interviews was mentioned to the participants.

The moderator presented the rules for the group, which stated that all group members

should support each other and one person should talk at a time. It was emphasized that

all group members were supposed to talk about and deal with their experiences of the

issue. The school nurse made field notes and recorded the order of the speakers. At the

end of each focus group interview, the main message was summarized and participants

were asked if they agreed with the summary or wished to add further comments. The

researcher discussed the group process after each group session.

Data Collection

I employed in depth individual interview with the participants, I was multilingual

interviewing with them. Although they were all studentsn I still wanted to make sure that

they have full understanding on what I asking them. However, I gave them the freedom

to answere in multilingual. Meaning, the participants had answered in English, Filipino,

Bisaya, or mix of any these three languages. Before I conducted this interview to the

participants, I conducted a mock interview with one of my co-students. This was to

prepare of my art of questioning and to find out wether the participants answer the

questions directly or not. During the mock interview, I saw to it that the respondents could

freely and comfortably share their stories. Interviews proceedings were saved in a video

tape while notes were taken future reference of the different answers of the participants.

Data Analysis

The answers of the participants were analyze using thematic analysis.Thematic

analysis is a method of analyzing and reporting pattern of themes with data (Botyatzis

1998 et.al,). Using thematic analysis on this study is very helpful because it is fkexible

and a useful research tool that can propably grant a substantial, complex, and rich

account of dat. As suggested by Botyatzis (1998), I performed the following steps in

analyzing the data as to mention: familiarize the data, generate initial codes, search for

themes, review the themes, define and name themes, and construct the report.

Data reduction was used in an analyzing the data, which means deleting

unneccessary data and modifying them into a useful material for the study so that many

readers can easily understand it (Namey et al,2007).In this method, I asked the help of
an expert, a data analyst particularly in handling, sorting, and organizing voluminous

qualitative data for me to merge, manage, sort,and categorize data in easier way.

Following steps suggested by Botyatzis(1998), I first watched the videos and then

transcribed the interviews. This is to transform the data into texts and so that it would be

easier for me to code my data after. Then I read my data many times to get acquainted

with them. Then I had looked for possible themes, coding them along the way. Several

terms were found at first, but I had to narrow them down to just few ones. To show data

in an organized and orderly manner, data display was used. Data display is the

organization of data and showing them through matrices, charts, and geaph that enable

the reader to draw out their ends (Suter,2012).

Drawing conclusions and verification were the last step in analyzing qualitative

data. It is essential to review and revisit the data many times to double check and verify

the existing conclusions (Atkinsol and delamont,2006). These conclusions were

generated from the descriptive themes that came out from the interview of th

eparticipants; these were woven together making it a useful material for results and

discussions.

It was easier for me to mkae an interpretation of my report if the findings of the

different investigators came as support to my conclusion. I considered many different of

interpretations before I formed a challenging and readable report, providing a sufficient

description allowing the reader to understand the interpretation (Zhang and

wildemuth.2009).
 Without imposing a priority categories, two researchers from the larger team who

had qualitative research experience used content analysis (Ryan & Bernard, 2000;

Silverman, 2000) to extract verbatim statements that were associated with teasing and

bullying from the transcripts. These two team members independently used open coding

to select salient quotations.

Trustworthiness

Parallel to the criteria of quantitative research as suggestedby Guba (1981), such

as internal validity, reliability, and objectivity, qualitative research has also different criteria

for its evaluation (Lincoln,1995).I considered the trustworthiness criteria as suggested by

Guba and Lincoln (1985) such as credibility,confirmability or auditability, dependability,

and transferrability or fittingness of the study (Cutcliffe and McKenna, 1999).

Trustworthiness is the true value on the findings of the study and the accuracy of data

interpretations collected from the participant’s experiences(Lincoln and guba,1985).

To institute credibility of my study,I ensured firmness in my data collection such

as the interviews, which were directly taken from the participants and not craft-up stories.

I preferred that all-important data were includedand those irrelevant ones were deleted.

During my interviews, I asked my student to assist me especially on taking down notes

and of taking photos and videos. In addition, I asked the data analyst who could helpme

in analyzing the collected data. This results to more reliable findings of this

study(Suter,2012).

To ensure more credibility of mty study I made sure that I performed the following

suggestions,(Polit et al,) such as: Having multiple sources of data, debriefing,

triangulation, and repeated contacts with my participants. Credibility concerns with extent

on how the viewpoints of the participants corresponded with description of the researcher.

Ample times times to interview the participants were facilitated with the interview

questions as guide. I was quiet confident to good representations of their viewpoints

because I was also familiar on the status of being a student. To be sure, on the processes

and interpretations of the collected data, I employed peer debriefing to the dissertation

adviser and to someone who is quite familiar on the complexities of qualitative research.

As a researcher, I was really a part of the entire research process, reflecting my personal

experiences about the phenomenon as it was discussed in the role of the researcher

(Marshalland Rossman,2010). I conceded my personal biases on the way I

communicated with my participants and on how the the data were treated. To check the

credibility of the findings and interpretations, I went back to the participants to find out

whether what they were trying to convey during the interview, were the same

interpretations I have on the findings,.

Addresing confirmability or auditability of my study, I kept the audio taped

interviews, my personal flexibility journal or diary, transcripts, and notes taken.

Confirmability or auditability (Polit et al,2007) refers to the researchers paper trail,

decisions, methods, and documentations related to the study. I did not include my

personal viewpoints, hypothesis, and conclusions to avoid misinterpretation of data. I

refrained from putting my own biases that is why I used bracketing as one of my

methodologies. I also used triangulation and peer debriefing to guarantee that the findings

of the study have no biases and chauvinism.

However, I preferred a little about what Gephart (1988) viewed about confirmability. To

him, confirmability accords with the issue on biases and prejudices of the researcher

(Gephart 1988) aside from the readers on roadway to track the data and interpretations

presentd (Guba and Lincoln,1989). Nonetheless, it is my full responsility to conscious of

my own reflections, reactions, and even a close contact to my participants (Porter et al,

1993). If these presumptious occured on the conduct of my study, bracketing and

reflexibility were applied. Videos, transcripts, and all other documents available were kept

so that it can presented to an interested party who would like to look at the original sources

or transcripts. On the other hand, after the transciption of all the data, I went back to my

participants to confirm with them that the data transcription was correct.

To establish the dependability of my study, I am consistent in the collection and

analysis of data through coding-recoding system. During data reduction, I ensured that

only relevant information were included. Next, I applied peer debriefing for the

triangulation of data collected and analyzed. Suter (2012) stressed out that to improve

dependability common qualitative strategies such as audit trail, peer debriefing, and

triangulation are observed.

Dependability was guaranteed by keeping track of the data through documentation

of the research processes or methods undertaken in the data collection and analysis, the

recorded interviews, and the utilization of the exact transcripts. Copies of all transcripts

and drafts were keep intact. This is in accordance with the belief of the Bond and Ramsey

(2010) that researchers should keep track of their data through wide ranging

documentation of the research processes and methodological decision to ensure the

dependability of the research findings.

 To deal with transferability, I described the research context and suppositions of

my research in a possible detailed manner. I made sure that the data were thick and rich

in descriptions so that any interested person who will transfer the results of this study to

another context will be held liable on making of the transfer.

Transferability refers to the extent to which results and findings of the study can be

applied or gained in other contexts or with other participants (Byrne2001 et.al,). Parts of

the transcripts of the interviews that are thick and rich in details were quoted and cited.

Transferability and judgement by a potential user is facilitated through thick description

and purposeful sampling. This means that participants in future studies like this will

selected reasonably.These participants can be visibly provide affluent information on the

research questions at hand. Transferability fittingness of research finding means that

finding of the study is fitting outside the particular study and may possibly have meanings

to another group or could be applied in another context (Byrne 2001 et,al.)

Ethical Considerations

The main concerns of my study were individuals who are in custody of the code

ethics, in general they are students. Therefore, I have to ensure their safety, give full

protection so that they will not lose their trust to me. I followed ethical standards in

conducting this study as pointed by Botyatzis, (1998);Mack et al, (2005). These are the

following: respect for persons beneficence, justice, consent and confidentiality.

Respect for persons needs an obligation of the researcher not to exploit the

weaknesses of the research participants. Self-sufficiency was avoided in order to

maintain friendship, trust, and confidence among the participants and the researcher.
Before hand, I asked permissions from the their adviser where data collection belonged

to.This was done to pay respect for the individuals concerned in the study.

Consent is another most important way of showing respect to persons during

research (Creswell 2012). This is to let all participants became aware on the purpose and

objectives of the research study that they were going to get involved with. Written consent

was provided for the participants to get their approval. After issuing them the informed

consent, they have actively participated in the in-depth interviews and focus group

discussions. Of course, they were informed on the results and findings of the study.

Beneficence requires a commitment of minimizing risks to the research

participants rather maximizing the profits that are due to them. Anonimity on the

interviews was kept in order not to put each participant into risks. At all times, participants

were protected, so every files of information were not left unattended or unprotected

(Bricki and Green,2007).

Confidentiality towardsthe results and findings including the safeguard of the

participants,coding system was used. Meaning, The participants’ identities were hidden

(Maree and Van Der Westhuizen, 2007), all materials including video tapes, encoded

transcripts, notes and others should be destroyed after the data were being analyzed.

Some of the informants were hesitant to be interviewed at first because they were afraid

what to say but because of my reassurance to them in regards to the confidentiality of

their responses, they later gave me the chance and showed comfort in answering the

interview questions. I was extra careful with my questions and due respect was given

importance in this study.

 Justice requires a reasonable allocation of the risks and benefits as results of the

research. It is very important to acknowledge the contributions of all the participants as

they generally were parts of the success of the research. They must be given due credits

in all their endeavors (Bloom and Crabtree,2006).

They were not able to spend any amount during the interview. Sensible tokens were

given to them as a sign of recognition to their efforts on the study. I am hoping that through

this study, they were set free into whatever negative experiences they had as they live

happily in the the school of Kauswagan National Highschool and maintained a good

name, a good reputation into what positive contributions they could offer in this study.
 CHAPTER 4

RESULTS

This chapter presents the experiences, coping mechanisms and insights of the

student who experience bullying as accumulated from in- depth interview, focus group

discussion and the personal accounts of the researcher. With the following research

questions, dataproduction from the participants were directed.

1.What are the experiences?

2.How they cope up or overcome the challenges?

3.What are the insights?

The parts of this study is segregated into four parts. The first part is all about the

data of the participants from which the qualitative data were assembled. The second part

discussed the data analysis and the organization of the essential were collected from the

in-depth interviews and focus group discussion questions under each research problem.

Lastly,part four included the outline of responses from the different participants.

Participants

Key Informants.There were (7) key informants for in-depth interviews(IDI) in this study,

all of them were students who experience bullying in the selected grades of Kauswagan

National Highschool. These students has a desirable experience of bullying. Bullies are

more likely to be students who struggle in schoolwork or have a hard time dealing with

conflict (Christie-Mizell, Keil, Laske, & Stewart, 2010). Typically, students pick on others

that seem weaker or who are less likely to fight back. Victims of bullying tend to be
insecure and alienated. The perspective of these informants were considered with

regards to their experiences, coping mechanisms, and insights in the program. The

participants were given pseudonyms in order to give confidentiality and privacy as

presented in Table 1.

Table 1

Keyin-depth-interview (IDI) Respondents Profile

PARTICIPANTS GENDER AGE ADRESS
PSEUDONYM

1. ADREAN MALE 16

2. PIOLO MALE

3. BASTY MALE

4. JHON LOID MALE

5. CLISTER MIKE MALE

6. ANNIE MARY FEMALE

7. ANNA FEMALE

Table 1.showed the key profile of the respondents involved in in-depth interview. This

included the pseudonym assigned to each participant, their, gender, age, length of service

and adress.
Focus Group.there were (7) participants of the focus group discussion, two of them are

female and five male students that experience bullying. The different experience of

participants in the focus group discussion were described. The discussion was organized

to achieve more accurate insights among the participants on the challenges they

experienced in school. The names of the participants were not mentioned, pseudonym

wee used tomake their identity private.They were presented on Table 2 according to their

respective number code.

TABLE 2

Focus Group Discussion (FGD) Participants Profile

PARTICIPANTS GENDER AGE ADDRESS

PSEUDONYM

Jerome Male

Pia Female

Juliet Female

Helby Male

Jolo Male

Gerald Male
 Trisha Female

Focus Group Discussion. Table 2 reflected the key profile of the respondents

involved in group discussion. There were also seven (7) student who were participants in

this study. This involved pseudonym assigned to each participant, their gender, the age,

length of service and adress. There are four males and two females.

The 14 informants were students who experienced bullying in Kauswagan National

Highschool who shared commonpoint of view regarding the challenges they experienced

in school.The data were gathered through interview and focus group discussion and the

themes were identified. I knew most of them since they were my schoolmates in our

school. Moreover, some of them were my friends while the rest were my unfamiliar

persons to me. I learned through our discussions their nice experiences and struggles

being a student.

Categorization of Data

Upon accomplishing the in-depth-interviews and the focus group discussion,data

from the audio-tape recordings were directly transcribed and for those answers in

vernacular were carefully translated into English. Following the steps suggested by

Boyatzis(1998).

The researchers listened cautiosly to the sound recordings. This was to transform

the data into texts and so that it would be easier for them to code data later. Three steps

were being taken during the analysis: it consisted of data reduction, data display, drawing
conclusion and verification. Hese were done inorder to identify core and essential themes

about the phenomenon under the investigation (Burns and Grove, 2007).To delete data

from the transcription, data reduction was employed to convert those data into essential

and logical material, simply understood by many (Moustakas,1994;Cresswell, 2012).

Thematic analysis was the approach used in pairing and separating data, a way of sorting

and categorizing. Through came ask for assistance from a professional who was expert

on analyzing data.The next step was data display that was done through graphic

organizers such as matrix or table for viewer to draw his conclusion. In this step, the

researchers read the data several times to be acquainted with them. At first the

researchers found several themes, but with the help of the researcher adviser, the themes

were narrowed down to just few ones.

Lastly drawing conclusion and verification were for qualitative analysis. This was

going back several more times and revisiting the data being analyzed and to completely

see to it the validity of the emergent conclusions. The data conversed throughthe

emergence of conceptual categories and descriptive themes. These themes were crafted

into which all of them were interconnected and became with sense (Van Manen,1990).

Then, the researchers were interpreted the conceptual framework with reference to the

related literature of the phenomenon being investigated (Burns and Groovce,2007).

In making an interpretation of the report, researchers took into account what data

have to be included and information to be discarded.The interpretation was written clearly

and precisely. Sufficient description was being provided to permit the reader to
comprehend the basis for interpretation so that the sufficient interpretation allow the

reader to understand the description (Polkinhorne,1989).

Different criteria for evcaluation of qualitative research was considered (Lincoln,1995).

The researchers considered the trustworthiness criteria as suggested by Guba and

Lincoln(1989), which are credibility, confirmability, dependability, and transferrability.

Researchers established extended engagement with participants so that both them that

clear understanding on every detail of the phenomenon being studied.

Research Question No. 1: What are the experiences of the students who

experience bullying?

In order to answer this research question , in-depth-interview and focus group discussion

were conducted. Participants shared as to what were their positive and struggled

experiences in far-flung areas where they were deployed.

Table 3 shows the experiences encountered by the students who experience

bullying.These themes are: verbal abuse, physical abuse, shyness, lack of

interest. These emerging themes were supported and justified by the

testimony of the informants during in-depth-interview and Focus Group

Discussion. This served as their evaluation how they dealt with their positive

and struggles upon the students who experience bullying.

 Table 3

Experience of Science Teachers Deployed in Far-Flung Areas

Essential Themes Thematic Statements

Verbal Abuse  I am afraid in experiencing verbal abuse because it is

a kind of bullying that hurt my feelings through verbal

or words in personal.

 I am afraid in attending school and being alone in

hallway, maybe they will block my way and repeat on

what they’ve say to me.

Physical Abuse  I am so scared to the bullying students because they

will have an intention to cause harm to me and

attributed to the imbalance of power between me and

them.

 I am also scared to the bully students because they

repeat what they have done unto me like slapping

punching, kicking, pushing and shoving.

Shyness  I am so shy to go to school because I would not like

to hear the repetition behavior of the bullying students.

 My grades was failure because I have no confidence,

to recite and face of my classmates especially to the

bullying classmates.
 Lack of Interest  I am lack of interest to go to school because of the

bullying students especially if I had a bullying

classmates.

 I am lack of interest to go to school so that I can avoid

the bullying students or my bullying classmates.

The research question focused on finding out the experiences met by the

students who experience bullying.

Verbal Abuse

Most of the participants response as the negative experience concerned was that

the students who experience verbal abuse is pity because the bully students repeat what

they’ve says about for you, about your negative feature like you are a fat, thin, gay and

etc.

Informants revealed some negative experiences that they encountered in the

school.One response stated that:

“Kanang gina-ingnan ko nila ug payat tapos sakit kaayo sa

akong buot , naglagot jud ko sa ilaha pero wala nalang nako gisulod

sa akong kasing-kasing ug huna-huna”.(IDI_1_Adrean).

(They say that I am a thin or malnourished person, and then I

was hurt, I hate them very much but I do not put it to my mind).

Another similar response shared by Annie Mary when she was asked same

question, and she replied:

 “Ang akong dili makalimtan nga experience nga gina-ingnan

ko nila nga nitibo ug hugawan pa gyud daw me mga lumad, sige ra

daw me ug pangayo, lahi ra gyud ang ilang pagtagad sa amoa”.

( IDI_2_Annie Mary).

(My unforgettable experience as a student who experience

bullying, they said that I am a native and dirty person, and also they

said that we will always ask a food to them, they treat me as a

different person from them).

This showed that some of the students who experience verbal abuse are very

poor and pity because they have low self-esteem, and hurt their feelings because of the

bullying students.

Physical Abuse

Here are the few statement given by the student who experience bullying in relation

tto the physical abuse.

“Katong gisumbag ko sa akong classmate nga lalaki, tapos

sakit kaayo gikalintura pa gyud ko”.(IDI_1_Anna).

(The unforgettable experience as a student who experience

bullying is my classmates will punch me, and I am hurting on what

they’ve doing to me, and after that I am sick).

Pia added:

“Ang akong dili ma-kalimtan nga experience nga gisagpa ko

sa akoang babae nga classmate kay nagtuo cya ug uyab nako iyang

uyab kay amigo man kaayo me sa iyang uyab”.(FGD_2_Pia).

 (My unforgettable experience in bullying that my classmate

slapped my face because she thought that her boyfriend is my

boyfriend because we are close).

Most of the informants has a negative experience about the physical abuse they

said that bullying is when a child is the target, over time, of repeated negative actions.The

negative action of physical abuse were pushing, slapping,shoving and etc.

Shyness

Both Informants and participation in in-depth-interview and focus group discussion

shared some experiences about the shyness of the students if they experiencing bullying.

“ para sa akoa makaapekto ang bullying sa akoa kay

maulaw nako musulod sa klase”.(FGD_1_Thea)

(Yes it can affect to my study because I am so shy to go to

school).

Juliet asserted by saying:

“Yes, nakaapekto gyud kay maulaw nako muduol sa akong

barkada kay pati sila kay ginaingnan pud ko nila”.(FGD_2_Juliet)

(Yes, it can affect to my studyt because I was so shy to go to

school and to be near by my friends, because they are also bully).

The FGD participants had realized how difficult if you experience the bullying

because you will shy to go to school.

Lack of Interest

Piolo openly shared:

 “Dili gyud lalim kung bullyhon ka kay mawad-an ka ug gana

mu-eskwela unya maunang dili ko musulod kay para makalikay ko

sa sigeg pambully”.(IDI_1_Piolo)

(It is not easy if you experience bullying because you are

lack of interest to go to school to avoid my bullying classmates).

Jerome added:

“ Akong naobserbahan sa mga estudyanteng pareho pud

nako nga nakaagi ug bullying nga dili rapud diay ako ang mawad-

an ug gana mu-eskwela pati pud diay sila, maunang dili gyud lalim

basta maka-agi ka ani nga problema kay makaapekto gyud sa pag-

eskwela”.(FGD_2_Jerome)

(I will also observe to the student’s who will also experiencing

the same with mine, the bullying, that I thought I am the only one are

lack of interest to go to school but also they are also lack of interest,

that’s why if you experiencing this problem I’m sure it can affect to

your study).

Another informants Helby and Jolo who shared that bullying is not easy because

you are lack of interest to go to school, you have no interest to attend to school so that

cus group discussion. These were seeking you can avoid the bullying students. They said

that if you experience this rampant problem your grades will be fail, and it can affect your

study.
Research Question No.2: How do this students cope-up or overcome with the

challenges?

Table 4 shows the coping mechanism experienced by the students in school.

There were important themes generated from the statements of the informants during

the in-depth interview and focus group discussion: Long patience, seek advices, ask help

from relatives.

Despite from the struggles they encountered in the school that they will experiencing

bullying yet they found ways and means to conquer all those struggles. Hese were the

statements expressed by the key informants regarding the struggles they encountered in

school.

Table 4

Coping Mechanisms of the Students Who Experience Bullying

Essential Theme Thematic Statements

Long Patience  I need long patience to avoid

trouble, from the bully students and

so that I can control myself from

them.

 When I engaging in bullying and

they will tease or bully me I will

neglect them or nevermind them.

Seek Advices  I am going to seek an advices from

the relatives, friends, parents and

 teachers inorder to cope up my

problem.

 I am going to seek an advices to the

other people so that they can help

me on what can I do to avoid the

aggresive behavior of the bully

students.

Ask help from relatives  I am going to ask help from my

relatives so that they can help me no

matter what happen.

 I am going to ask help from my

relatives so that they can help me in

overcoming my problem.

Long Patience

Most of the informants responsed that it was important that you have long

patience to avoid the unforgettable or desirable experience of bullying. Most importantly

you will asked for guidance, asked help from your parents and support from your friends

to fight your right as a students.

One of them said that:

“Akoa silang gi-estoryahan nga di gyud na maayo ilang gibuhat sa

akoa, kung inyuha nang permentehon basin mahutdan ko ug

pasensya masumbagan ta mo , pero nagmahay ko sa akong

 gipang-estorya sa ilaha may pag wala nalang nako to

giingon”.(FGD_1_Gerald)

(I told them that they are a bad person and they need to stop what

they do, if they don’t stop, my patience were lost and maybe I will

punch them no matter what happen).

Anna also shared:

“Kuan kanang naa to’y kas-a nga gisumbag ko sa akong classmate,

dayun sakit kaayo akoang bukton hilak gud ko, tapos gisumbong

nako kay mama ning-adto siya sa amoang eskwelahan tapos

gikasab-an ang katong nanumbag sa akoa”.(IDI_2_Anna)

(There are times that my classmates would punch my arms and it

really hurts, and then I will cry. I tell to my mother what my classmates

done to my arms, and then she will go to our school and scold my

classmates who will punch to my arms).

Another informant namely Trisha said that you need long patience inorder to avoid

trouble.

Seek Advices

Almost of the informants and participants were seek advices to their parents,

friends and relatives.Most of the informants responsed that it was important to find and

seek advices from the collegues who have more experiences in bullying and how they

handled and overcomed the struggles they experienced.

“Mangayo ko ug opinion sa akong mama ug papa, mga barkada ug

mga paryente, kung unsaon nako sila paglikay aron dili ko

 masakitan, ug aron makapugong ko sa akong kaugalingon biseg

akoa silang masuklan”.(IDI_1_Clister Mike)

(I ask an opinion to my mother and father, to my friends and to my

relatives, on how to avoid this problem and so that I will not hurt

anymore, and to stop myself from them because I don’t know what

to do maybe I will fight them no matter what happen).

Annie Mary openly shared:

“Para malikay ko sa gubot kay basin akoa silang masumbagan kung

mawad-an ko ug pasensya isumbong nalang nako sila sa amoang

adviser para muhunong na sila.”(IDI_2_Annie Mary)

(To prevent from trouble because I don’t know what can I do maybe

I lost my tempered, the best thing is to go to my adviser to ask help).

Another informants Pia and Juliet who shared that bullying is not easy if you

engage this problem, because you can experience some negative and bad experience

that’s why the best way to do is you can seek advices. Most importantly they asked for

guidance, moral and advices so that the bully victims will be guided, assisted and will be

given good suggestions.

Ask help from relatives

Most answers from IDI and FGD revealed that one of the best ways to cope up

with struggles is depend on the students initiative to avoid this situation (bullying).

Similar experiences shared by Trisha when she was asked the same questions, and she

said:
 “Nagpatabang ko sa akong mga iyaan ug oyuan unya ilaha

kong gitambagan nga dapat mag study jud ko para dili nako

nila bullyhon”.(FGD_1_Trisha)

(I ask help to my auntie and uncle and then they will advise

me that I will study everyday to avoid this situation.)

Jerome also shared:

“Para malikay ko sa gubot kay basin akoa silang

masumbagan kung mawad-an ko ug pasensya magpatabang

nalang ko sa akoang mama ug papa para muhunong na

sila”.(FGD_2_Jerome)

(To prevent from trouble because I don’t know what can I do

maybe I lost my tempered, the best thing is I will ask help from

my mother and my father so that they will stop.)

The respondents said that the best technique to avoid bullying or to stop this

situation is to ask help from relatives.

3. What are the insights of the student who experience bullying?

Table 5 shows insights of the students who experience bullying. There were

Five(5) important themes generated from the statements of the informants during

the in-depth interview and focus group discussion. These were focus on studies,

need to be strong, faith in god, take of myself, have patience. These ideas were
being shared by the participants to enrich and find more strategies and in coping

with struggles.

Table 5

Insights of The students Who Experience Bullying

Essential Theme Thematic Statements

Have Patience  If I will engaging in bullying I

need some patience inorder to

avoid trouble.

Need To Be strong  I need to be strong, so that I can

overcome my problem and so

that I have a better future

someday.

 I need to be strong, so that I am

not a loser to look at, and I am

not affected on what they have

done to me and inorder to finish

my studies.

Faith in God  If I am engaging in bullying I

pray to the Almighty God so that

He can protect me in times of

hardship.
  If am engaging in bullying or

hardship in my life

Nevermind

Have Patience

As we interviewed the informants the most important quality that a students who

experience bullying have patience. They believe that if you engage in this situation you

should have more patience to overcome the struggles and challenges that they

encountered.

A similar response is stated:

“Ang akong nakat-onan nga kinahanglan dili dayun mawad-an ug

pasensya unya kung dili na gyud makaya ug badlong ang mga

estudyanteng hilig manaway ang mas maayo nga isumbong sa

guidance para muhunong na sila”.(IDI_1_Adrean)

(The lessons that I learned from my experience are avoid from being

short temper, and then tell to the guidance counselor so that they

stop from being bully.)

Piolo added:

“Kuan kanang ang mas maayo kung makaagi ka ug bullying nga

kinahanglan dili ka mawad-an ug pasensya kay biseg dili ka

makapugong sa imong gibati imoha palang silang masuklan or ma-

sumbagan na mag gubot na gyud hinuon”.(IDI_2_Piolo)

 (The best thing to do if you engage bullying is you have a patience

or you have a long patience because we don’t know if your temper

was lost maybe you will fight them no matter what happen and then

you will engage in trouble.)

Almost all informants expressed the same answers from the questions asked that

the students who experience should have a patience to avoid from trouble.

Need To Be Strong

In this theme, the informants earnestly answered the question. They said that if

you engage in bullying you need to be strong, and serve us challenge on what they have

done to you to overcome your problem.

Jerome openly shared:

“Dili man gyud lalim nga bullyhon mao nang kinahanglan nga lig-on

ka ug dili mag-paapekto, himua ug inspirasyon dili mag pa huyang-

huyang, ug huna-hunaa nga kini tanan pagsulay

ra”.(FGD_1_Jerome)

(It’s not easy to be bullied, so that you need to strong, and don’t be

affected to this situation. It serve us inspiration, don’t be weak and

think that this is all trials in your life)

Pia said:

“Sakit man kaayo ilang gipambuhat sa akoa, pero wala ko

nadiscouraged sa ilang gipanghimo sa akoa, ang akoa lang gihuna-

huna nga kini tanan mulabay ra mao ng mas malig-on jud ko para
 makahuman ko ug eskwela ug para sa kaugmaon pud

nako”.(FGD_2_Pia)

(It’s really hurt on what they have done to me, but I will never

discouraged, I always think that all of this will past so I need to be

strong so that I can finish my studies for my future.)

According to the respondents that it’s hard to overcome this problem but you need

to be strong and seve as a challenge in your life because this is all trials.

Faith in God

As I interviewed the informants the most important quality that a students should

have faith in God because God can protect us in times of hardship of our life. They

believed that if you engage in the problem you should have more faith to overcome the

struggles and challenges that they encountered.

Informants revealed some negative experiences that they encountered in bullying.

One responsed of the participant stated that:

“Ang akong natun-an sa akong naa-gian nga ang kalibutan puno jud

sa kahilayan pareha anang bullying kabalo ko nga gi-testingan ko sa

ginoo kung huyang ba ko o dili maunang dapat dili gyud ta

magpadala ana nga sitawasyon, kinahanglan nga dili magpatintal ug

musalig sa kinatas-an. Kay kung magpatintal ka dili nimo makab-ot

ang imong gipangandoy para sa imong kaugmaon”.(IDI_1_Anna)

(The lessons that I learned from my experience that we need to avoid

temptation, like the bullying this is just a trial and the lord test me if I

am easy person, and then pray to the almighty God. We already

 know that this world is full of trials and struggles, if we carried away

we are failed to achieve our goal in life.)

Another similar responsed shared by Clister Mike when he was asked the same

question, and he replied:

“ Ang akong natun-an sa akoang naagian nga kinahanglan dako ang

akong pag-salig sa akong kaugalingon nga ang tanan kaya ra nako

kay tungod naa ang ginoo nagtan-aw ug naga protekta sa akoa.

Walay mipuyo diri sa kalibutan nga dili kaagi ug

pagsulay”.(IDI_2_Clister Mike)

(The lessons that I learned from my experiences that the best thing

to do is I need to trust myself that I carry my problem and I can do

all the things because God can see and protect me. There is no

people living in this world cannot experience hardship or trials.)

This showed that some of the students who experience bullying have faith in God

because they believed that God can protect us in times of hardship.

Nevermind

Both informants and participants in in-depth interview and focus group discussion

shared same experiences about the hardship of engaging in bullying. In engaging bullying

it so very hard to overcome because of their aggressive and repetition behavior that’s

why the respondents has a technique that if you are a bully victims nevermind it.

One of the informant stated that:

 “Sa mga estudyante nga nakaagi ug bullying, ayaw huna-hunaa ang

ilang nega nga komento ug think positive lang jud. Pero kung

kinahanglan nga ipaglaban ug protektahan ang imong kaugalingon,

buhata tungod kay tao rapod ta pareha nila”.(FGD_1_Gerald)

(To my fellow student who experience bullying, nevermeind it to their

negative comments and always think positive. But if you need to fiht

and protect yourself, just do it because you are a person like them.)

Jolo asserted by saying:

“Ayaw mo paminaw sa mga estudyanteng hilig mang bully , ug ayaw

huna-hunaa ang ilang lain nga batasan kay wala sila kabalo kung

kinsa ka. Ug ipakita sa ilaha nga lig-on ka bisan pa sa tanan nilang

lain nga komento”.(FGD_2_Jolo)

(Don’t listen to the students who will like to bully with you and don’t

mind their bad attitude , because they don’t know who you are, and

prove them that you are strong beside of their bad comments.)

The FGD participants had realized how difficult in engaging the bullying that’s why

they don’t mind the students who will bully to them.

Chapter Summary

From the results of the study taken by from the responses of both the in-depth

interviews and the FGD participants, most of them experienced struggles and challenges

in experiencing in bullying. With all these burdens the bully victims are still hoping to

achieve their goal and aspirations to give mercy from the parents, friends, and relatives

and also from their teachers. Most of them experienced same agony such as: lack of
interest to go to school, verbal abuse, physical abuse and etc. The bully victims fail their

grades and has a low academic achievement and performances. Despite from the

hardships, they will also sad or lonely to their undesirable experience that they think that

they have no value in the community or in the school and they have low self esteem that

they think that there life was a miserable. It can include verbal harassment, physical

assault or coercion and maybe directed repeatedly towards particularly victims, perhaps

on the ground of the race, religion, gender, sexuality or ability.

When a child is being bullied and there are no consequences for that student

exhibiting the bullying behavior, there is a resentment that starts to build up and the child

being bullied starts to resort to bullying others (www.bullyonline.org). The responsible

adult in their life is either not witnessing the act and does not think there is bullying

occurring, or they are not sure how to handle it when they find out their child is being

bullied.

It is very stereotypical to assume that if a child is getting into trouble at school their

parents are not as involved as they should be or doesn’t care about the problems at

school, but that may not always be the case. In some cases parents have had bad

experiences with schools when they were younger, or have never learned the correct

behavior when they were growing up.

The students who experienced bullying tried and gave their best to cope or

overcome with the struggles and challenges they experience. They never stop to find

solutions and ways to cope with the struggles just to find a technique. In line with these

coping mechanisms, they manifested cooperation with their co-bully victims student in

dealing with the struggles of bullying. They sought for companionship from the collegues
whenever they are lonely they will ask help from their parents, friends and relatives. The

victim has a strenght.Strengthening victim is an approach that designed to give equalize

power for the student who is being bullied, and can be effective if executed in the correct

manner. This approach is to have the victim confront bullying attempts with a direct and

obvious response. It is designed to help them annoy the bully in some way and to have

the bully stop the behavior.

In order to overcome their problem the participants wanted their teachers to stop

the bullying immediately when it happened. One girl said that the teachers made big

things small, and she said: ‘The teacher talks to the bully, but it does not help very much.

They make it seem small, so if we tell the teacher about it and they don’t care so much

about it, it becomes worse.’ Another girl said: ‘I think it is very bad that the teacher doesn’t

do anything when I complain about being bullied. The teacher should talk seriously about

it to the class.’ ‘They don’t care, I feel unsafe and they bully even more,’ the girl

complained.

In engaging bullying there are other student was discouraging and cannot

accept the challenges that await them but there are also bully victims takes a wide range

of patience inorder to avoid from trouble. That’s why we need to hear the voice of pitiful

victims of bullying so that they will incourage. They need some friends to help them in

times of hardship or in engaging in bullying. Participants said that their friends had been

helpful when they had been bullied. Only a few said that they had no friends or that their

friends could not do anything to help them. Some of them said that their family could help

them.
 Chapter5

Discussion and Conclusion

This study examines the negative influence bullying has on high school students

and the negative impact it has on their social lives even up to young adulthood. Some

people look at bullying as just another form of teasing. I totally disagree. Teasing is an

occasional comment or gesture made towards an individual or group to basically irk

someone’s nerves. The teasing may be hurtful to the individuals, but it is for the most part

harmless. Bullying, on the other hand, can be just as harmful, depending on which side

you are on, or it can be brutal. Bullying is when you deliberately and maliciously continue

to berate, torment, or cause physical harm to someone on a consistent basis for reasons

sometimes only known to the bully/bullies, or for no real reason at all.

Many victims subjected to hazing or bullying may at some point suffer from post-traumatic

stress disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder in which the

individual’s ability to function is impaired by the emotional responses to a memory of a

traumatic event (Yehuda,2006).

As I sit here writing this, I pick up my cell phone and notice that there is a new

email alert. The title reads, “14 year old commits suicide after being bullied because he

was gay.” I only wonder to myself, how many more children have to die because of the

nonsense of their peers. It was reported that some of the blogs that the young man

received were sent to him anonymously and stated things like, “You were not born that

way, in fact you should not have been born at all. You should go ahead and kill yourself!”

What the hell would make one human being say this to another? These young

children/young adults are supposed to be our future.

The only ones who seem to be suffering any consequences by the bullies and their

actions are the victims, their friends, and families. I am curious to know how much longer

it will take Congress and other law and federal officials to finally put their foot down and

take a stand in making those who make it their business to bully others legally responsible

for their actions. I guess the sad answer to this question would be: after many more have

died, or after one of their own has to succumb to such abuse.

I remember being a teen growing up and how it felt to be teased. I can’t imagine the

frustration and the pain and anguish of being a teen today and having to deal with bullying

consistently on an everyday basis. As an adult, if someone acts stupid towards me or has

something to say about me, I simply roll my eyes, keep my head up, and keep walking.

But that’s me. I happen to be a strong0minded individual and know that the words and

actions of others are not what define me and I couldn’t really care less. This, of course,

comes with years of experience and maturity. Now ask a ten- or sixteen-year-old to do

the same thing. If it was all that simple, then I guess I wouldn’t be writing this paper.

Effects of bullying

Participants in this study expressed the many different social-psychological effects

the bullying had on them. Some of the effects were feelings of isolation and depression,

difficulty making friends, difficulty trusting people, staying in abusive relationships, and

suicidal thoughts and attempts. As with my study here, other studies such as Roth, et al

(2002), has found that students who attend universities and who recalled their own stories

of being bullied showed an increased risk of suffering from both depression and anxiety.

A more recent study conducted by Lund, et al., showed that bullying in the adolescent
years of men has been associated with prevalence for depression symptoms even up to

some twenty years after leaving school.

Each one of the participants suffered some sort of effect in their social lives

because of the bullying they experienced. A few suffered and still suffer from depression.

This depression consisted of prolonged sadness that would cause a decline in their

cognitive ability and learning. This depression would also affect their grades such that

they could not effectively concentrate on schoolwork and, instead, lived in constant fear

of what their interaction with the bully would be like the following day at school. Because

the fear was so great, the participants and other victims alike would fake getting sick or

become sick for real and would avoid going to school if at all possible. Some participants

had difficulty making friends and trusting people. Some of the participants stated that they

would spend a portion of their high school life almost in total.

The Bystander

What many studies seem to be neglecting is the study of how bystanders are

affected by witnessing acts of bullying being carried out by the bullies on the victims.

Bystanders either get caught up in the cross fire and grow up to become desensitized to

the violence, or they are ridden with guilt that they did nothing to help the victim.

Bystanders may also actively engage in the bullying activities with the bully by engaging

them and therefore causing more stress or distress to the victim being targeted (Holt &

Espelage, 2007). The bystanders also suffer from anxiety and depression. They are afraid

of getting hurt and becoming the new target for the bully. Many feel that if they intervene

when the bullying is taking place, they will make the situation worse, and some just don’t
know what to do. The lack of skills and fears can then turn into apathy (Holt & Espelage,

2007).

Many bystanders can also become bullies themselves. Those who do not speak

out or react don’t do so because the bully is either their friend, feel it’s not their problem,

feel the victim is not their friend, or that the victim is a loser. They may also feel that the

victim may deserve to be bullied. The bystanders who do not speak up may also not do

so for the fear of being called snitches. And to many, it is better to be in the “in” group

than to take the side of the victim who is considered to be a social outcast (Holt &

Espelage, 2007).

The secondary goal of every school district in the country should be to give their

students the best education possible. If there are barriers to providing that education a

plan needs to be put into place to eliminate those barriers, so that educational time can

be maximized. Bullying can be classified as one of those barriers, and the following may

be some ways to reduce the barrier of bullying.

Emotional Consequences for the Students Who are Being Bullied.

The emotional consequences are a serious problem that can only be fixed by

creating a program that fixes the problem before the bullying occurs. Depression and

anxiety as well as several other short and long term problems can occur for the students

that are being bullied. The most important role for a school to play is that of preventing

the action the best they can.

Emotional Consequences for the Students Who are Bullying

While there may be fewer emotional consequences for students who bully others

than there are for students who get bullied, there is usually some connection between the
bullying behavior and long-term mental problems such as schizophrenia, or bi-polar

disorder. Students that both bully and get bullied, are also far more likely to develop long

term emotional problems.

Causes of Bullying Behavior

The causes of bullying can often be identified at an early age and most often stem

from problems at home, such as no adult role model, neglect, falling in with the wrong

crowd, or just having a poor role model to follow. Schools need to identify these causes

and identify the behaviors at a young age, so they are able to eliminate the bullying

behavior at school.

Effective Approaches to Handling Bullying After it has Occurred

Some of the leading experts on this subject agree that there are a variety of ways

to remedy bullying, and all can be successful or unsuccessful depending on the situation.

These include a traditional disciplinarian approach, mediation, strengthening the victim,

support groups, restorative practices and shared concern. Depending on the

circumstances surrounding the incident any of the preceding may be the most

appropriate.

Effective Programs and Methods for Prevention of Bullying

Identification of an appropriate in-school anti-bullying program is critical for

success. There are many approaches designed to handle bullying after it has occurred,

but I would like to focus on a program to prevent the act of bullying.

 Almost all education professionals agree that bullying is a complex and significant

problem in schools today. There are two different programs that I would recommend for

a school trying to eliminate bullying: 1) The Olweus Program, and 2) The state of Michigan

anti-bullying policy. Since the Olweus program has cost associated with it, I will outline

the state of Michigan Program, which is very similar to the Olweus program, but free of

charge.

The state of Michigan has developed a list of what is considered to be bullying

behavior and what is harassing behavior (Appendix 1). In my opinion, is the first step in

an effective anti-bullying program is defining the meaning of bullying. Subsequent steps

include:

• Printing the definitions of bullying and discussing them with both parents and

students at the beginning of each school year;

• Ensuring that students, teachers, administrators, and parents are all in agreement

and understand bullying behaviors.

IDENTIFICATION AND PREVENTION OF BULLYING

• Implementing consistent consequences for similar offenses. Some of the

examples of the acceptable punishments for the first violation would be: removal of the

classroom, loss of some privileges, or even in or out of school suspension just to name a

few. If students are also on board and understand the program and consequences they

can assist in enforcing it as well. If the program is effective, parents understand the

consequences when their child demonstrates this negative behavior and is able in

conjunction with the school effectively deal with their child. As time passes and all
stakeholders can properly identify bullying behavior, the task of enforcement will also

become easier. As a school is able to get the students looking out for that bullying

behavior, and assisting in pointing out the students that are demonstrating the negative

behavior the school becomes a more pleasant place to attend, therefore making

education the top priority and all students are able to learn equally, which should be the

number one goal of all school district.

• I would also suggest that students hand out a school climate survey at the

beginning of the program to help the students understand that there is bullying and

harassing going on in their school, and ask what they can do to help.