Why isn’t bullying an ‘Adverse Childhood Experience’?

As featured by PBS’ Next Avenue: a survey of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) finds that effects of childhood trauma can persist into 50s and beyond.

As a survivor of bullying, I can corroborate that the effect lasts well into adulthood. But ACES focuses exclusively upon trauma committed against children by adults. Systemic ostracism and bullying by a child’s peers can also be devastating, but the questionnaire makes no mention of it.

‘6Rs of Bullying Prevention’

The latest reading in my ongoing focus upon resources to combat bullying is, 6Rs of Bullying Prevention by Michele Borba, Ed.D (Free Spirit Publishing, August 2016).

This book belongs in every school’s staff-resources collection. Its value is incalculable if it spares one child from bullying and years of post-trauma, but I actually believe it has the potential to transform entire schools.

The “6Rs of Bullying Prevention” are:

1. Rules -- Establish an anti-bullying policy and expectations for respect
2. Recognize -- Teach stakeholders how to recognize bullying
3. Report -- Create procedures to report bullying
4. Respond -- Teach student witnesses how to respond to bullying
5. Refuse -- Help targets refuse provocation and cope with victimization, and
6. Replace -- Help students replace aggression with acceptable skills

Borba describes the 6Rs as a “process,” not a “program,” moreover it’s ongoing and involves an entire school community. Because it’s not a program in itself, it can be integrated with programs already in place at the school.

Bullying prevention “aims to change a culture of cruelty to one of kindness” (location 417 in a digital advance reading copy). Success is measured by “positive and lasting change in student behavior and attitude” (417, 418).

As a person bullied in childhood who hopes to spare others from suffering the same trauma, I found much of practical benefit in The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention.

I’m especially grateful for insights it affords in my professional capacity: a school library paraprofessional who works directly with students and hopes to guide and model for them, respectful and inclusive behaviors. I will look with keen interest over this book’s several lists of books at varying levels of readership: great resources in themselves for building a library collection.

Personal reflection in response to this book:
Bullying and ‘zero tolerance’

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinion expressed is my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

‘Talking to Kids About Racism and Justice’

Parents may struggle with how to help children cope with recent incidents of violence, and even more with how to broach sensitive conversations about racism and justice in our society. Here are possible resources.

America’s parents face explaining recent violence

America’s parents face the difficult task of explaining this week’s violence to children — the shooting deaths by police of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile followed by the shooting of a dozen police officers in Dallas. For the Los Angeles Times, Sonali Kohli shares insights offered by Suzanne Silverstein, director of the Cedars-Sinai Psychological Trauma Center, for talking with children about this shocking week of violence. Kohli also shares approaches taken by parents Richard Milner, Antoinette Barrett and Tyrone Howard.

Textbook omits important component of childhood abuse

My reading this week from Contemporary Women’s Health: Issues for Today and The Future (McGraw Hill, 2011) concerns the prevention of abuse. Authors Cheryl Kolander, Danny Ramsey Ballard and Cynthia Kay Chandler cite childhood abuse as “one of the most serious problems in our society (237).”

An important issue absent from their discussion is childhood peer abuse, more commonly referred to as bullying. They speak exclusively in terms of abuse perpetrated by adults.

As a survivor of childhood peer abuse, I consider this omission a serious one. In all other respects, they offer a comprehensive catalog of forms of childhood abuse

According to the authors, “One common result of childhood sexual and physical abuse is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).” I would like to elaborate, incorporating information from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs:

“Dr. Judith Herman of Harvard University suggests that a new diagnosis, Complex PTSD, is needed to describe the symptoms of long-term trauma ... During long-term traumas, the victim is generally held in a state of captivity, physically or emotionally, according to Dr. Herman. In these situations the victim is under the control of the perpetrator and unable to get away from the danger.

Imagine the dread of a child required to attend pre-game assemblies in which members of the student body are permitted to single out classmates for ridicule and abuse. Each week this child wonders if she will be one of those picked. Every week that she is not, grants relief that is only temporary.

Or imagine the ongoing stress of a child who is always chosen last for the team. Who is pushed in the hallway through a gauntlet of students all larger and far more powerful. Who is taunted on the bus or in the classroom.

This was my experience at Calistoga Elementary School and Calistoga Junior/Senior High School. Now imagine as constant backdrop to these incidents of abuse, my awareness that I had no friends. Even when a direct campaign of harassment was not in play, I remained an outcast.

Clearly the text should have acknowledged the severity of peer abuse.

I find much value in the authors’ suggestions for preventing abuse; many of their suggestions at personal and community levels for preventing abuse against women can similarly be applied toward preventing peer abuse.

In the spirit of one suggestion by the textbook authors for preventing abuse, educating girls and boys about the characteristics of healthy relationships (251), I could name several websites of organizations that promote respect. To select one, in an attempt to remain close to the word limit for this assignment:

Safe School Ambassadors, at http://community-matters.org/programs-and-services/safe-school-ambassadors, engages and mobilizes “socially-influential leaders” among the student population. These students receive training to “resolve conflicts, defuse incidents, and support isolated and excluded students.”

Study tracks effects of bullying into early adulthood

A study published in February found that depression and anxiety tied to bullying in childhood persisted at least through people’s mid-20s. As reported by Genevra Pittman for Reuters Health:

“‘It’s obviously very well established how problematic bullying is short-term,’ said William Copeland, a clinical psychologist who led the new study at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

“‘I was surprised that a decade down the road after they’ve been victimized, when they’ve kind of transitioned to adulthood, we would still see these emotional marks for the victims and also the bullies/victims.’”

These findings are significant and reflect my experiences with bullying in Calistoga Joint Unified School District schools: I was physically and verbally abused and ostracized by my schoolmates.

If study authors would examine them, I believe the effects of bullying persist later into adulthood. I  shared my own long-term consequences when discussing the rate that bullying affects children on the autism spectrum and believe them worth restating here.

At more than 40 years old, I find it hard to recognize potential friendships. It is difficult to understand people laughing with me instead of at me and when someone seems upset in my presence, I assume I am the cause.

There are also situations I refuse to place myself in. I object to civic groups publicly fining members for transgressions that seem capricious and invented. To me, this method of raising funds seems a license for humiliation.

Bullying is a documented factor in many young people’s suicides and has also been identified as a contributor to Complex PTSD (that’s post traumatic stress disorder caused by cumulative traumatic events rather than a short-lived trauma).

School shootings: APA suggests ways to help children cope

The situation at work for me today, while producing my regular pages for the Lake County Record-Bee, is to post links to headlines as they become available about a school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The American Psychological Association shared tips for helping children make sense of shootings.

Link verified as of June 6, 2020

School play promotes discussion of uncomfortable reality

A dramatic performance of “Bang, Bang, You’re Dead” by the Calistoga Junior/Senior High School drama department offers much-needed encouragement to talk about violence and bullying in our schools.

Calistoga schools finally discuss bullying

I would like to thank the Calistoga Junior/Senior High School drama class for being willing to address the controversial issue of school bullying. I am a 1986 graduate who was subjected to bullying and ostracism throughout nearly all of my K-12 career in the Calistoga schools.

Whose values will win if school districts consolidate?

If all of our school districts are consolidated into one, I want to know whose values and priorities the “streamlined” model will adopt to deal with student bullying.

Konocti school district deserves support for policies against bullying

The Konocti Unified School District deserves to be commended for including among policies for approval on Wednesday, Dec. 5, an outline of student conduct that specifically prohibits bullying.