The new question of the week is: How can teachers and administrators best address bullying in school?

Today's commentaries on bullying in schools come from Ann Mausbach, Kim Morrison, Signe Whitson, Sandy Harris, Julie Combs, and Stacey Edmonson, Dr. Elizabeth Englander, Tamara Fyke, Stuart Ablon and Alisha Pollastri.

A growing number of students—especially girls—are experiencing bullying online, according to the latest federal data on bullying and crime in schools.

A study of 900 middle schoolers finds that students who report having a sense of belonging both at home and school are less likely to engage in bullying.

Coronavirus-related harassment and other mistreatment of students based on racial or ethnic stereotypes is "never justified," Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kenneth L. Marcus told schools in a letter.

The report found that roughly a third of middle and high schools reported disciplinary problems stemming from cyberbullying at least once a week or daily.

Studies have linked bullying with BMI, with overweight and obese youth vulnerable to bullying and its negative psychological and health consequences. However, there has been little comprehensive assessment of weight-based victimization, especially in weight loss treatment–seeking samples of youth.

WBV is prevalent in treatment-seeking youth, who report victimization from peers (92%), friends (70%), parents (37%), and teachers (27%). Providers should discuss WBV in their assessment and treatment of pediatric patients who are overweight or obese. (Read the full article)

Lifestyle and vulnerability associated with food allergy might predispose affected children to being bullied. Our previous parent survey identified high rates of bullying in this population, but child reports and emotional impact were not assessed.

Bullying was common, often involving threats with food. Bullied food-allergic children, compared with nonbullied, report higher anxiety and lower quality of life. Parental awareness of bullying (~50% of cases) was associated with better social and emotional functioning in the child. (Read the full article)

Bullying involvement is associated with deleterious psychological, educational, and health effects. However, little is known about relations between bullying involvement and sexual risk-taking behaviors or whether similar patterns hold for heterosexual and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning adolescents.

Among adolescents, bullies and bully-victims engaged in more casual sex and sex under the influence than their peers. Controlling for demographic characteristics and other victimization exposures, bully and bully-victim status predicted sexual risk taking but primarily for heterosexual adolescents. (Read the full article)

Overweight and peer victimization are common in childhood and negatively affect health and well-being. Overweight may predispose children to peer victimization, but whether adiposity also increases the risk of bullying perpetration is unclear.

A high BMI at school entry predicts bullying involvement, according to reports of teachers and children themselves. Although trends were visible across the whole BMI spectrum, particularly obese children were victimized and likely to be bully perpetrators. (Read the full article)

Being bullied can lead to adverse physical and mental health outcomes. Individuals who experience a sudden traumatic event often have short-term disturbances in their sleep patterns. Ongoing trauma may result in extended periods of sleep disruption.

Being bullied in elementary school predicts parasomnias, such as nightmares and night terrors, years later. General practitioners, pediatricians, parents, and teachers may consider parasomnias as potential signs of being bullied. (Read the full article)

Recent reviews suggest that children bullied by siblings are at increased risk of internalizing symptoms. It is not known whether being bullied by a sibling increases risk of psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and self-harm.

Using a large, community-based birth cohort, we found that being bullied by a sibling is prospectively associated with a doubling in the odds of both depression and self-harm at 18 years in young adults. (Read the full article)

American Public Health Association reported >3.2 million students in the United States are bullied each year; 160 000 students skip school every day for fear of bullying. Little is known about whether bullying affects health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among college students.

Different types of bullying experiences affected different domains of HRQOL. Precollege bullying had long-term effects on HRQOL. Verbal/relational bullying-victimization experiences, mediated via depression, affected psychological HRQOL. Findings inform preventive and clinical practice to ameliorate the impact of bullying. (Read the full article)

The bill would mandate local bullying policies and require data collection and reporting at the local, state, and federal level.

The forthcoming bullying debate will prompt the first votes on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the right to same-sex marriage.

Ananya Panday joined James McVey to spread awareness against online bullying's detrimental impact

Title: Poor Parenting Styles Linked to Bullying Behavior in Kids
Category: Health News
Created: 4/26/2013 12:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 4/29/2013 12:00:00 AM

Title: Bullying May Take Bigger Toll Than Child Abuse, Neglect
Category: Health News
Created: 4/28/2015 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/28/2015 12:00:00 AM

Legal action has been formally launched against Priti Patel following allegations of bullying from a top civil servant.

Priti Patel has reportedly been cleared of bullying members of staff after an official investigation.

The investigation into bullying accusations against Priti Patel must be released "as soon as possible", Labour has demanded.

Many of the actor's co-stars expressed support for him after the emotional social media post

The Workers Compensation Commission finds in favour of a former House Rules contestant who claimed she was now unemployable because of the negative way she was portrayed on the Channel Seven show.

Since the 1970s, the Degenhardts dreamed of retiring to Gerroa. Their dream became a reality — but retirement got tougher this month when they were told their supposedly guaranteed monthly income would not be paid until July due to coronavirus.

"Our nation’s children deserve a learning environment that allows them to reach their full potential, and no child should be scared to go to school because of bullying," said Associate Attorney General Perrelli.

"We must continue to work because today, somewhere, there’s a child who will feel the sting of a punch because the clothes he’s wearing aren’t cool; who will believe her difference is a detriment as she eats alone in a crowded school cafeteria; who will skip school another day to avoid a terrifying confrontation; or will contemplate suicide because nothing seems like it can hurt more than this moment of humiliation right now," said Acting Associate Attorney General West.

"Together, we can create atmospheres of tolerance, climates of trust, environments both virtual and real where people young and old can feel welcome to be who they truly are," said Assistant Attorney General Perez.

The Justice Department announced Monday that Attorney General Eric Holder has recorded a video message as part of the Cartoon Network’s “I Speak Up” campaign to combat bullying. The project urges young people to speak up in order to help bring bullying situations to an end.

A journey to stop a bully has unintended emotional consequences.