Paper
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Teasing and Bullying Experiences of Elementary School Students
Judith A. Vessey, PhD, MBA, FAAN, June Andrews Horowitz, RN, PhD, CS, FAAN, and Joyce David, MSN. School of Nursing, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
| Learning Objective #1: Describe the teasing and bullying experiences of elementary school students and compare them to teasing and bullying experiences of middle school youths |
| Learning Objective #2: Discuss using the focus group methodology with elementary school populations |
Objective: Chronic teasing/bullying is a problem for 8-14% of students, peaking during early elementary school and again during middle school. Generally, these behaviors occur “below the radar” of adult awareness; the problem coming to light when recipients exhibit distress. The study, “Development of the CATS: Child-Adolescent Teasing Scale” (R01 NR 04838), resulted in a psychometrically defensible scale for identifying at-risk middle school children. However, recent evidence suggests recipient patterns become established in elementary school. Because no valid instrument exists for this population, efforts are underway to extend the CATS. The first phase of the study used focus groups. However, this methodology has not been widely used with elementary school children. The aims are to: 1) ascertain whether focus groups were appropriate for elementary students, 2) identify their teasing/bullying experiences, 3) and compare these experiences with those previously identified by of middle school youths. Design: Focus group, qualitative design. Population, Sample, Setting, Years: Three elementary school focus groups from Maryland and Massachusetts of both genders and from diverse backgrounds. Concepts: Teasing, bullying, focus groups. Methods: Moderators used the CATS semi-structured interview guide to elicit elementary students’ views. Sessions were recorded and transcribed to produce verbatim accounts. Findings: Children were able to follow directions, maintain confidentiality, and provide sufficient information to be useful in instrument development. Using content analysis, researchers reached consensus about major categories of teasing/bullying: appearance, personal behavior, family/environment, and school relations. Findings were remarkably similar to middle school focus group results. However, individual and site-specific characteristics influenced some responses and interpretations. Conclusions: Elementary school students provided vivid descriptions of teasing/bullying. Their descriptions confirmed that experiences were universal and distressing to varying degrees depending on context, frequency, and individually attributed meanings. Implications: Participants’ descriptions of teasing/bullying provide the basis for expanding the CATS to be used with elementary school children.
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