Bullying is a social phenomenon that involves more participants than the bully and the victim. Since the identification of other bullying participant behaviors, endeavors have been made to explore what inclines a person to defend a victim of bullying. With the social cognitive theory in mind, the current study examined whether students' level of…

The purpose of this quasi-experimental, ex post facto correlational study was to determine, within a racially imbalanced educational setting, what impact, if any, a seventh or eighth grade student's race had on their perceived connectedness to school. For this study, perceived connectedness to school was measured by responses to a Likert-like…

Every child has a right to feel safe at school. The highest prevalence of bullying occurred in middle school grades 6 through 8. In a school environment, bullying can inhibit student learning, as it may cause a great deal of pain, anxiety, and stress for the victim. Bullying and aggressive behavior have negative effects on student learning and…

The purpose of this study was to examine an abbreviated model of the Bully Busters Teacher Training Program (grades 6-8), paired with an added module designed to meet the needs of students with disabilities. The participants in this study were 14 teachers at a middle school in the Midwestern part of the United States. With regard to bullying…

Cross-national studies consistently reveal that bullying is a pervasive problem in schools and associated with a multitude of deleterious outcomes. The present dissertation conducted two studies to further provide insight into this complex phenomenon and facilitate the development of effective bullying prevention programs. Youth involved in…

The purpose of this study is to focus on the influence that children's perceptions of their parents' attitudes about bullying has on their own attitudes about bullying and defending victims, as well as their actual defending behavior and general pro-social behavior. This study utilizes data collected for a previous study of the BRAVE bully…

Although bullying is a widely recognized problem among school-aged youth, current research has failed to adequately consider whether ethnicity impacts students' involvement in, and perceptions of, bullying behaviors. This study employed a mixed methodology to examine how an ethnically diverse sample of students in seventh and eighth grade…

The problem of bullying in schools is an issue of national importance. Research points to an abundance of negative impacts on students involved in bullying and require the attention of adults to address and resolve bullying incidents between students. This study, giving credence to the voices of eighth graders in one central Massachusetts middle…

Cyberbullying is a problem among today's adolescents, specifically within the middle school environment. The use of technology to harass and intimidate others could cause adverse psychological, emotional, and social effects, which left school administrators unsure of the proper response to handling student needs as well as left many adults…

Bullying has been recognized as a significant social issue and research has shown that bullying behaviors tend to increase during the middle school years. Research trends indicate that current attention given to bullying has been influenced by public outcry against a growing number of tragic school and community-based events involving youth, many…

This mixed methods research study sought to find if the implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) would reduce incidences of bullying in a suburban Atlanta middle school. Data was collected and compared over a two year period with Year 1 data representing pre-implementation of the OBPP. Discipline records associated with…

This qualitative study explores large, urban, mid-western principal perspectives about cyberbullying and the policy components and practices that they have found effective and ineffective at reducing its occurrence and/or negative effect on their schools' learning environments. More specifically, the researcher was interested in learning more…

The present study investigated the relationship between teachers' ratings of the organizational health of the school and the level of workplace bullying experienced. The relationship between organizational health, bullying, and the staff level factors of gender and age were analyzed. The study examined the survey ratings of 52 teachers from a…

Bullying is a problem that has been studied in schools worldwide, but there is little research on bullying within Christian schools, a dearth which may stem from the assumption that Christian schools teach character traits that are inimical to bullying. Yet understanding the extent and nature of bullying in Christian schools may lead to a better…

This dissertation is comprised of three manuscripts and presents a line of research aimed at improving the measurement of bullying in schools. The first manuscript investigated the impact of an educational video on self-reports of bullying. A sample of 1,283 middle school students in randomly assigned classrooms either watched or did not watch an…