Review of \u3ci\u3eA Mind of Its Own. Tourette’s Syndrome: A Story and a Guide\u3c/i\u3e. By R. D. Brunn and B. Brunn. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, 174 pp.

Review of A Mind of Its Own. Tourette’s Syndrome: A Story and a Guide. By R. D. Brunn and B. Brunn. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, 174 pp

Updated Perspectives on Linking School Bullying and Related Youth Violence Research to Effective Prevention Strategies

Bullying, a subset of aggression, has been an international focus of scholarship for several decades and has been declared as public health concern globally (Espelage, 2015; Hymel & Espelage, 2018; Kann et al., 2018). An abstract literature search with the terms “adol*” and “bully*” yielded 382 peer-reviewed journal articles from 2001 through 2010, and an astounding 1585 articles from 2011 through 2020. Within the last decade, there has been a concerted effort among scholars to reach a consensus on how bullying should be defined, operationalized, and assessed, how it differs from other forms of aggression (e.g., dating violence), and how it relates to other forms of violence across early and late adolescence (Rodkin et al., 2015; Volk et al., 2017). In 2011, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) convened a group of international scholars and unanimously agreed that “Bullying is any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths who are not siblings or current dating partners that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated. Bullying may inflict harm or distress on the targeted youth including physical, psy­chological, social, or educational harm” (Gladden et al., 2014, p. 7)

School Violence

A safe school is a school where the educational climate fosters a spirit of acceptance for all children. It is a place where students can learn and teachers can teach in an environment free of intimidation and fear of violence. Over the past decade, school shootings have increased anxieties about the safety of our schools. As a result of highly publicized acts of school violence in the media, national attention has recently focused on violence in public schools. School violence is defined as any action or threat of action resulting in intimidation, coercion, physical harm, or personal injury. While estimates of school violence vary, acts of school violence range from bullying to violent deaths; including self-mutilation, suicide, and homicide. The most prevalent forms of school violence involve verbal and physical harassment, bullying, self-destructive behavior, systemic and structural oppression, and physical fighting. The entry also covers issues such as prevalence, risk factors, gender, the school climate, psychological consequences, and prevention and intervention

Bullying

Defines bullying: Bullying may be the most prevalent type of aggression experienced by school-aged youth. Bullying has been defined as any form of aggression in which one student or group of students repeatedly harasses a target (i.e., victim) verbally or physically. The three key components or characteristics of bullying behaviors are (1) the behavior is intended to harm, (2) the behavior occurs repeatedly over time, and (3) there is an imbalance of power. Discusses prevalence, impact, gender differences, development, and ecological perspectives. Concludes:Bullying is a complex phenomenon, which is adversely affecting the majority of school-aged youth. There are long-term psychological and behavioral consequences associated with involvement in bullying (i.e., suicidal ideation and criminal behavior). While research is still uncovering new facets of the bullying dynamic, it is important to recognize there are multiple roles that students can employ in bullying interactions. In addition, bullying is not only direct, physical aggression; rather it can take the form of direct verbal aggression or indirect harassment. Bullying is not only a problem among boys but is increasingly being recognized as a problem among girls. Finally, if we are to begin understanding bullying behavior, we must consider it from both ecological and developmental perspectives

Bullying and Students with Disabilities: The Untold Narrative

The documentary Bully was released nationwide in theaters in March 2012. Originally titled The Bully Project, the filmmakers followed five families whose lives had been turned upside down by bullying. Two of the families in the movie lost their sons, Tyler and Ty, to suicide, and three of the youth in the movie,Alex, Kelby, and Ja'Meya, were bullied in school and on the school bus. The movie shows the devastating consequences of bullying and the depressingly poor response on the part of adults. What the movie does not address is the mental health history of one of the boys, who commits suicide, as well as the developmental disabilities affecting another boy in the movie, who was born prematurely (Bazelon, 2012). Understandably, this is a difficult narrative. The filmmakers did not want to delve into the complexity of mental health issues and bullying for fear of creating a story line that those who are bullied are obvious victims. However, by not addressing the issues of ADHD, bipolar disorder, Asperger syndrome, and developmental disabilities, an important narrative was missed. Bullying is a complex phenomenon, and both mental health and physical health difficulties play into involvement in bullying. While there is no narrative that those who are bullied somehow deserve such egregious treatment, we shirk our professional responsibilities if we do not shed light on the compelling evidence that youth with disabilities are at great risk for involvement in bullying-both for bullying others and for being bullied (AbilityPath.org, 2011; Rose, Monda-Amaya, & Espelage, 2011). The purpose of this article is to review the research on bullying and students with disabilities and to propose an inclusive narrative: when differences are celebrated rather than used as fuel for maltreatment, a world will be created where bullying is not tolerated. This will be a better world for everyone

Does the Spiritual Values/Religion Subscale of the Self-Description Questionnaire III Function Differentially Across Heterosexual and Non-Heterosexual Young Adults? A Measurement Invariance Study

We evaluated the dimensionality and measurement invariance of the Spiritual Values/Religion (SVR) subscale from the Self-Description Questionnaire III across heterosexual and non-heterosexual young adults. We found a one-factor model provided adequate fit to the data for each group, with the SVR items exhibiting configural, metric, and scalar invariance across the two groups. Given that we established measurement invariance, we examined the latent mean difference on the construct and found the heterosexual group reported significantly higher levels of spiritual value/ religion than the non-heterosexual group. Our results provided empirical support for the theorized factor structure of the SVR items and the use of the SVR subscale across heterosexual and non-heterosexual young adults, making the scale a viable option for researchers studying religiosity in these specific subpopulations

Bullying Intervention in Adolescence: The Intersection of Legislation, Policies, and Behavioral Change

This article reviews current research on bullying during adolescence. The complexity of bullying behaviors during the adolescent time period are discussed and a review of the developmental literature on adolescence provides suggestions for why current bullying prevention and intervention programs are less effective for this age group. Current anti-bullying policies and legislation are reviewed under a framework of adolescent brain development and the development of consequential thinking. Suggestions for implementing social-emotional learning programming during the adolescent period are provided and a novel approach using social media is presented. In order to effectively combat bullying during this developmental period, programming must focus of positive behavioral development and restorative practices

Bullying Intervention in Adolescence: The Intersection of Legislation, Policies, and Behavioral Change

This article reviews current research on bullying during adolescence. The complexity of bullying behaviors during the adolescent time period are discussed and a review of the developmental literature on adolescence provides suggestions for why current bullying prevention and intervention programs are less effective for this age group. Current anti-bullying policies and legislation are reviewed under a framework of adolescent brain development and the development of consequential thinking. Suggestions for implementing social-emotional learning programming during the adolescent period are provided and a novel approach using social media is presented. In order to effectively combat bullying during this developmental period, programming must focus of positive behavioral development and restorative practices

Longitudinal Model Building Using Latent Transition Analysis: An Example Using School Bullying Data

Applications of latent transition analysis (LTA) have emerged since the early 1990s, with numerous scientific findings being published in many areas, including social and behavioral sciences, education, and public health. Although LTA is effective as a statistical analytic tool for a person-centered model using longitudinal data, model building in LTA has often been subjective and confusing for applied researchers. To fill this gap in the literature, we review the components of LTA, recommend a framework of fitting LTA, and summarize what acceptable model evaluation tools should be used in practice. The proposed framework of fitting LTA consists of six steps depicted in Figure 1 from step 0 (exploring data) to step 5 (fitting distal variables). We also illustrate the framework of fitting LTA with data on concerns about school bullying from a sample of 1,180 students ranging from 5th to 9th grade (mean age = 12.2 years, SD = 1.29 years at Time 1) over three semesters. We identified four groups of students with distinct patterns of bullying concerns, and found that their concerns about bullying decreased and narrowed to specific concerns about rumors, gossip, and social exclusion over time. The data and command (syntax) files needed for reproducing the results using SAS PROC LCA and PROC LTA (Version 1.3.2) (2015) and Mplus 7.4 (Muthén and Muthén, 1998–2015) are provided as online supplementary materials

You\u27re So Gay! : Do Different Forms of Bullying Matter for Adolescent Males?

This study examined effects of adolescent males\u27 perceptions of being bullied because of verbal taunts related to gender nonconformity (i.e., They say I\u27m gay ). Participants included 251 ninth- (n = 77), tenth- (n = 96), and eleventh- (n = 78) grade students in a private, all-male college preparatory school. Participants were divided into two groups based on whether they were bullied by being called gay. Out of the 251 participants, 121 (48%) reported having been bullied and 127 (50%) stated that they had not been bullied during the past year (2% did not report). Of the 121 participants who had been bullied, 32 (26%) reported that they had been bullied because others called them gay (Group 1) and 89 (74%) reported that they had been bullied for other reasons, exclusive of being called gay (Group 2). Consistent with predictions, the boys who were bullied because they were called gay experienced greater psychological distress, greater verbal and physical bullying, and more negative perceptions of their school experiences than boys who were bullied for other reasons. Implications for school-based intervention services for bullying are discussed