Toxicity of Bullying by Teachers and Other School Staff

• NCJ Number: 252699
• Journal: School Psychology Review Volume: 46 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2017 Pages: 335-348
• Author(s): Pooja Datta; Dewey Cornell; Francis Huang
• Date Published: December 2017
• Length: 14 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2012-JF-FX-0062
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study compared the prevalence and school adjustment of students bullied by teachers/staff, students bullied by peers, and students who were not bullied.

Abstract

The sample consisted of 56,508 students in Grades 7 and 8 who completed a statewide school climate survey. Students were classified into four groups: (a) not bullied (87.2 percent); (b) bullied only by peers (9.3 percent); (c) bullied only by teachers/staff (1.2 percent); and (d) bullied by peers and teachers/staff (1.5 percent). In comparison to students who reported no bullying, students bullied by teachers and other school staff were significantly more likely to report lower school engagement and self-reported grades and more negative perceptions of school climate. Students bullied only by peers reported more distress symptoms than those bullied by teachers and other school staff. These findings call for more attention to the problem of teacher and other school staff bullying. (publisher abstract modified)