Bullies are often motivated by a desire to increase their social standing and to get people to notice them. So when friends or bystanders laugh or cheer, bullies’ harmful behaviors are reinforced or encouraged. But when people who see the bullying support or defend the target of the bullying, the bully no longer experiences those “benefits” – this is the strongest form of bullying prevention.
Undermining Bullies’ Motivation
So when students see bullying taking place, four responses can make a big difference in preventing future bullying:
Breaking the Code of Silence
Most young people want to respond positively when their friends make risky choices or intend to do something harmful or dangerous. However, they prefer taking their own action, talking directly to their friend rather than getting an adult involved. Some youth worry that telling an adult may get their friends or themselves into trouble or have other negative consequences. So simple messages to “ask an adult for help” or “tell an adult” often go unheeded. What makes it more likely that young people will turn to an adult to intervene? Several factors can make a difference:
Creating a school climate where students experience these positive interactions is foundational, then, to ensuring that students will ask for help in serious situations, particularly when lives are at stake.
Shifts in Peer Influence
An important way peers influence each other is through what they model or do. That can include their engagement in school, helping others or participating in high-risk behaviors. Most students have “best friends” who model doing well in school through middle and high school, according to Search Institute surveys of about 90,000 students. However, the proportion who say most or all of their friends use alcohol or illegal drugs increases substantially through these years.
Jostens partnered with Search Institute to provide research-based data and advice for dealing with common school challenges. Over the past 30 years, Search Institute has studied the strengths and difficulties in the lives of more than five million middle and high school youth across the country and around the world to understand what kids need in order to succeed. Like Jostens Renaissance, Search Institute focuses on young people’s strengths, rather than emphasizing their problems or deficiencies. Visit SearchInstitute.org to learn more.
Click the button to download a PDF with class activities, statistics, research and references around peer pressure and bullying.
WANT TO USE JOSTENS RENAISSANCE?
If you are a Jostens customer and you need a login to access all the resources on JostensRenaissance.com, email your rep or click here.
If you don’t currently partner with Jostens for yearbooks or graduation regalia or other celebratory products, you can learn more here.