UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — High school and middle school students in remote learning environments are more likely to be exposed to identity-based harassment, and have a greater likelihood of reporting the behavior, according to researchers. The findings suggest that employing transparency, streamlined reporting processes and restorative practices could help educators combat this type of bullying, which has been increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic caused many schools to adopt remote learning modalities.
Witnessing and experiencing bias-based bullying (BBB) — or bullying that targets a person based on their “perceived membership to a historically marginalized group, including race/ethnicity, sexual or gender identity, or immigrant status” — impacts students’ perceptions of safety, said Seria Chatters, assistant vice provost for Educational Equity and adjunct teaching professor of education (counselor education) at Penn State.
“I think schools could recognize they could get a big bang for their buck if they are educating students to be able to recognize these situations, respond to them and give students an in-depth understanding of the reporting system," she said.
"We believe this is one of the first studies that examined how remote learning during the pandemic affected witnessing and reporting of BBB,” said lead author Isak Kim, an assistant professor in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at the University of Nebraska – Omaha, who received a doctorate in counselor education from Penn State in 2021.
In their study, published in the Journal of School Heath, the researchers collected a data sample of middle- and high-school students in a school district in the eastern United States as part of the No Place For Hate (NPFH) project — a holistic, schoolwide approach to improving school climate administered by ADL Education.”
In the study, participants were asked to answer sociodemographic questions, including grade, gender, race/ethnicity and disability status. The students also were asked questions to identify their learning modality (in-person versus remote learning), their experiences of witnessing BBB and harassment, and their perceptions of school fairness. In addition, students were asked how likely they'd be to report an act of bias or hate if they were personally witnessed by the student, or committed by a peer (student), teacher or administrator to assess their likelihood of reporting.
The researchers' findings suggest that, overall, students who attended school virtually during the pandemic reported higher levels of witnessing BBB, greater likelihood of reporting BBB, and lower ratings for school fairness when compared to students who opted for traditional in-person learning. Still, the researchers also found that, among those students who reported BBB, perceived school fairness was positively associated with likelihood of reporting BBB, even when considering the influences of sociodemographic characteristics, learning modality and experience of witnessing BBB. According to the researchers, the increased prevalence of cyber-bullying behaviors among youth populations may help to explain the relationship between learning modality and witnessing/reporting BBB. They also cited research that suggests that when adolescents assume equal treatment and equitable application of rules, they are more likely to follow school policies.
“What we saw was students were taking more liberties in bullying students both in-person and online but because when everything shifted to online, it provided more opportunities to happen in an online space,” said Deanna Burgess, an assistant professor in the DePaul College of Education, who received her doctorate in counselor education and supervision from Penn State, is the paper’s second co-author.
Negative effects of BBB include increased feelings of sadness, decreased self-esteem, loss of friends and limited sense of school belonging and safety as well as possibly higher rates of suicidality, particularly among LGBTQ and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) populations.
A barrier in counteracting cyberbullying, Kim said, is that it tends to be less visible due to the inherent constraints of online spaces and BBB also can be less visible than other forms of bullying.
“The intersection of the two forms contributes to less visibility and prevention efforts,” said Kim.
An additional complication, said Chatters, is that schools have limited jurisdictions when it comes to cyberbullying.
There are a number of reasons why students who witness BBB may not report, Burgess said, including fear of retaliation by peers, doubt that there will be appropriate disciplinary consequences for the bully or concerns that school personnel would minimize the victimization experience.
“Youth commonly report that their experience isn't taken seriously when reported to school personnel who do not hold historically minoritized identities, personnel who also hold biased attitudes or beliefs, or when the action is presented as peer-to-peer banter, such as racial jokes,” she said. “Students are also likely to not report BBB offenses when they share a relationship or an affinity with the perpetrator.”
According to Chatters, educators “often look at perpetrators more from a disciplinary than an educational lens.” However, she said, research has shown many bullies have experienced bullying in the past so she recommends looking at restorative ways of repairing harmful behaviors, such as adopting schoolwide initiatives that foster prosocial values and morals.
Kim emphasized the importance of perception of school fairness, as well as awareness of a safe, anonymous way to report BBB.
“If students feel like nothing will change, they are less likely to report BBB,” Kim said.
“It is important to ensure that all school personnel have been trained in intervention actions and that reporting protocols are clearly communicated to all members of the school community,” Burgess added.