Elizabeth Kandel Englander

Bridgewater State University · Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center

Universities and colleges in the United States have never been under more scrutiny regarding their actions to prevent and respond to student reports of sexual assault. Increasingly, youth today turn to digital technology as their primary source of information. This study sought to evaluate institutions of higher education (IHEs) on the quality of t...

Common Pediatric Diseases: Current Challenges provides an update on different diseases and problems that affect child and adolescent health. The book starts with a quick introduction to challenges in the field of pediatrics and child health. This is followed by chapters on the outcomes of sexting, the integrated care of children with neurodevelopme...

Background: Sexting is sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, images, or videos through electronic means. Research has examined sexting in high school and college students. This study seeks to add to the existing literature by exploring the nature of pressured or problematic sexting in middle school-aged subjects. Methods:...

Early on in the pandemic, research noted rising levels of anxiety and depression in youth. School closings have remained in the news media as a major source of emotional troubles for children. However, relatively little research has considered how classroom teachers, school counselors, and school administrators are weathering this pandemic, despite...

While we know that the pandemic and its social isolation, loss of school experiences, increased screen use, and financial stress have likely had a psychological impact upon children and teens, little research has been done directly with youth to assess social and emotional factors during the pandemic and in its immediate aftermath. In this study, a...

While we know that parents who are violent are more likely to produce violent children, that is very clearly not always the case. This chapter presents a case study of Svetlana, a troubled and non‐violent person and daughter of the most lethal dictator of all time (Josef Stalin). In a 2016 study, it was found that while mothers’ parenting style did...

Stealing takes place both in person and online. In general, though, it is one of those offenses that tend to occur either in person or online but not often simultaneously in both arenas. Is bullying the same type of offense – something that happens either in school or online, but not in both places simultaneously? There are incidents that only happ...

The strength of the connection between anonymity and cyberbullying has led to a general assumption that cyberbullies are cowards who usually hide their identities online. However, evidence contradicts that idea as the recent rise in anonymous apps has not resulted in a corresponding increase in cyberbullying. Additionally, several studies have sugg...

While it may seem as though bullying and cyberbullying inevitably result in very serious outcomes, the truth is more complicated. Some kids can cope well; they are resilient. Others are more vulnerable. Most kids cope with bullying, sometimes unhappily, sometimes with true indifference. Some are truly able to cope well and thrive despite others tar...

When bullying goes online, ignoring a bully can seem even harder for kids. Imaginary audience accounts for the intense need teenagers have for occasional privacy (escaping the ever‐present scrutiny) and their overreaction to small physical imperfections. With certain types of bullying, common sense dictates that indifference would not have an impac...

It is not unusual that the target goes home and tells her parents that bullying happened right in front of the teacher, but the teacher did nothing in response. The teacher's take is that all he saw was some mean giggling, and he is not deliberately covering up anything. If the parent complains, the teacher may view the complaint as a categorical o...

When suicide is associated with cyberbullying, it can feel more like the flu epidemic of 1918. Many parents fear that a well‐adjusted, happy, healthy child or teenager may abruptly self‐injure or even commit suicide because of cyberbullying. Bullying can be scary for the same reason, but digital problems really lend themselves to this type of fear,...

By definition, bullying happens on purpose. Sometimes kids are aware of the hurt they are causing, but they would rather not think about how it feels to be on the receiving end. They would rather focus, instead, on their own feelings. In incidents where the aggressor completely and utterly lacks empathy, the bully has absolutely no internal struggl...

It is now a matter of common knowledge that kids spend too much time with computer or phone screens and too little time on other types of interactions. Anxiety tops the list of mental health problems associated with frequent screen use. And not least of all is cyberbullying, and the very real possibility that a child will have digital encounters th...

Bullying is a behavior we tend to associate with immaturity and thoughtlessness. However, in a 2018 survey, approximately 26% of the college students reported having had an experience with harassment, bullying, cyberbullying, or similar problems with peers while at college. Some problems happen between roommates or classmates, or between young adul...

Learned helplessness can afflict schools, especially when it comes to digital technology. Much of social media and Internet use takes place off campus, or does not use campus equipment, thus limiting the jurisdiction a school has over digital types of misbehavior. Schools are generally viewed as more knowledgeable about cyberbullying and social med...

Shaking hands is obviously very appropriate in many situations, especially when kids fight; it is an example of reconciliation, and there is a growing movement that emphasizes the value of conciliatory measures as the best way to respond to some types of interpersonal aggression. Schools may use mediation techniques to encourage kids to apologize a...

Bullying typically involves less extreme aggression, but it operates using very similar psychological dynamics. Decades ago, researchers noted that small, weak boys were prime targets of bullying (a fact that every schoolchild also knew). However, bullying has largely shifted to a psychological phenomenon, and this change of weaponry has widened th...

Bullying and cyberbullying remain among the most commonly cited concerns expressed by parents and educators. It is pointless to ignore real social problems, regardless of whether they are more common, less common, fundamentally new and different, or a rehashing of old conflicts and abuses. The key is figuring out how to separate the myths from the...

The younger and more inexperienced one is, the better he/she may do when it comes to learning new technology. When it comes to bullying and cyberbullying, it is how well one can interact socially, considering the consequences, that really counts. Although kids might be superior when it comes to learning how to use a device, adults are usually much...

Zero‐tolerance policies, policies that compel standardized,one‐size‐fits‐all responses to aggressive behaviors, can seem like a very good idea when it comes to problems like bullying. However, in real life these policies in schools do not work well. These inflexible consequences, which were touted as a good way to reduce bullying, ended up being cl...

There is scientific evidence regarding how bullying and cyberbullying are related to homicide or suicide; but the mass media's reporting often seems to inflate our perception of the simplicity, strength, and consistency of that relationship. Bullying and cyberbullying do appear to have a relationship to suicide, but the nature of that relationship...

Confronting an aggressive person is an exceptionally difficult thing to do. Even adults have a hard time with confrontation when aggression or bullying is happening. Asking children to do it is a tall order and might result in kids feeling like failures about their ability to address bullying effectively. Not only is actively and publicly confronti...

The first thing we ask kids when they tell us that someone bullied them, is: what did he/she do to you? Once we know it is not a more extreme situation, how important is it to know if a child rolled his eyes or ignored your son? In such typical cases, what they actually did might not be of paramount importance, but the situation could still be seri...

In the digital realm, it can be tough to fit behaviors into the criteria we set for bullying in person. There is no doubt that a digital rape threat is egregious and repugnant, as well as being potentially an extremely hurtful act. It is important to remember that not everything cruel is bullying, and sometimes exceptionally cruel acts are not bull...

Transient quarrels with friends; offhand or careless hurtful remarks; or being cold‐shouldered by someone who is mad at another individual are a normal part of childhood. Bullying and cyberbullying, on the other hand, are neither transient, thoughtless, unintentional, nor typically accompanied swiftly by regret. These actions are more sustained, an...

This study constructed a structural model which consists of social demographic factors, experience of victimization , opportunity factors, and social context factors to explain the public's fear of crime on social networking sites (SNS). The model is based on the risk interpretation model, which predicts that these factors influence users' fear of...

The concept of bullying is a clinically useful one. When a patient reports that they are being bullied, a practitioner can assess the presence or absence of 3 well-defined criteria: intentional harm, repetitive acts, and a notable power imbalance. Bullying involves a repeated, malicious attack against a less powerful target who, because of this pow...

The articles included in this collection on bullying provide a wide lens through which to view this complexity.

This article reviews cyberbullying and sexting research and presents new research exploring relatively neglected areas of cyberbullying and cell phone ownership among children and outcomes following sexting in college. Two samples are studied: 4584 elementary school children and 1332 college freshman. Findings include: owning a cell phone increased...

Sexting, an activity in which an individual uses digital technology to send nude or sexualized photos, videos, and/or text to peers, has demonstrated a unique ability to catalyze adult anxiety when children and adolescents engage in it. Yet there is not a great deal of research examining sexting, its prevalence, its causes, and its repercussions. A...

Is cyberbullying essentially the same as bullying, or is it a qualitatively different activity? The lack of a consensual, nuanced definition has limited the field's ability to examine these issues. Evidence suggests that being a perpetrator of one is related to being a perpetrator of the other; furthermore, strong relationships can also be noted be...

The Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center is an academic center located on a public university campus and staffed by faculty and students. The Center provides high-quality, evidence-based programming for students, educators, and other community members involved in K-12 education. The focus is on understanding and preventing social problems amon...

Pressured Sexting and Revenge Porn in a sample of Massachusetts Adolescents Elizabeth Kandel Englander Bridgewater State University Meghan McCoy Bridgewater State University ABSTRACT Digital communications are largely used for positive interactions but can also be a vehicle for harassment. Previous research has made is clear that sexting occurs, at...

Research examining sexualized digital behaviors and digital forms of dating abuse among adolescents is only emerging. Digital technology and social media have become primary methods of communication between youth, and heavy digital use is found among all social classes. Digital communications are largely used for positive interactions but are also,...

Like many educators, perhaps you still feel frustrated with a problem that seems to defy a tsunami of opinions, discussions, stories, and proposed solutions. Anyone working in schools knows very well how serious bullying can be; on the other hand, it’s not uncommon to hear even mild slights characterized as bullying. We want to help children who ar...

Question: In spite of a handful of highly publicized criminalized cases, research examining sexualized digital behaviors and relationship dynamics among adolescents is only beginning. Problems include using relentless social pressure, empty promises, coercion, or bullying to obtain nude photos; releasing nude photos following the end of a relations...

This brochure describes research findings on sleep and the use of digital devices in everyday language.

This study attempts to address the dearth of information about child sexual abuse (CSA) and psychological functioning in Korean children by measuring the psychological impact of sexual abuse on children in South Korea. The original data were collected on 92 sexually abused children (age 13 or younger) who underwent medical forensic interviews and p...

While it may be tempting to ignore social media issues in less structured settings, such as at camp, it's no longer possible to do so. The presentation reports on an ongoing survey of approximately 50,000 children aged 8-18; data was gathered between 2010 and 2015. Social media no longer affects the social behaviors of only teens; younger children...

An independent evaluator spent an academic year evaluating a unique bullying and cyberbullying prevention program in Massachusetts: an academic Center utilizing students and faculty to bring high-quality, no-cost programming to primary and secondary education. Quantitative and qualitative findings suggest that the program’s elements that are most e...

This study examined and compared adolescents who engaged in sexting behaviors. "Sexters" who reported doing so entirely of their own volition were compared to sexters who reported pressure with positive feelings ("happy-pressured") and with sexters who reported feeling negative about being pressured to sext ("unhappy-pressured"). The "Unhappy-press...

Research finds that approximately 10 to 30 percent of youth admit to having sexted, with numbers for teens ages 16 and older hovering around the 25 to 40 percent range. Research conducted at the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center has found that sexting is not the only means by which digital forms of sexual harassment may be proliferating amo...

Up to 20% of college-going females may be sexually assaulted while in college, and 25-40% of students experience cyberbullying victimization. Preliminary data found that university websites are a primary source for information for victims and bystanders of sexual assault and cyberbullying cases. Because teens and young adults use digital informatio...

The myth has been shattered. The college campus, it turns out, is not always a sheltered sanctuary of peaceful, rolling green lawns and ivy-covered brick. The reality of sexual assault at college has been brought home by recent investigations by the Office for Civil Rights of no fewer than 85 universities in the US for their handling (or lack of ha...

When trying to understand social conflict and abuse that occurs in digital realms, we’ve largely attempted to simply force digital behaviors into the rubrics formed to understand more traditional interactions. Certainly the behaviors lumped under the category of “cyberbullying” may be much more varied and may involve many more different motives tha...

This article is the second in a three-part series reporting on a study of 421 teens in Massachusetts. This study examined “sexting” (defined as electronically sending an entirely nude picture of oneself) that occurs under pressure or coercion, and compared it with sexting reported by teens who felt they had sexted voluntarily. It found that 27% of...

This chapter reviews research findings from a 2013-2014 study of 642 college freshman recruited from the University’s Subject Pool. This study surveyed subjects about many digital behaviors, including how sexting can occur because of digital sexual harassment, or how it can actually contribute to cases of digital sexual harassment. A phenomenon tha...

About three years ago, a teenage girl was talking with me and other students about using her cell phone late at night. She told us how she waited until her parents were asleep, then spent at least four hours every night texting with her friends. Her parents thought she was asleep in bed. “I’d sleep a few hours, then get up at 6am,” she told me. “My...

Sexual harassment, an age-old problem, has now moved online. This presentation examined new research, conducted on approximately two thousand teenagers in New England, on three phenomena: coerced or pressured sexting; slut-shaming; and revenge porn. Exploratory research on these phenomena, the impact on victims, and harassers' motivations, will be...

Stories of teens taking and sending a naked picture of themselves with their phones have been all over the news media in recent years. The outcome? Shocking, according to reports which have suggested that humiliation and sometimes even suicide can follow. But what is the reality? Sexting is often seen as a dicey electronic version of “I’ll show you...

Abstract: Prior to the turn of the century, digital communications may have played a secondary role in peer aggression, but in 2014, digital technology—such as text messaging, social networking, digital pictures, etc.—has become the primary method of communication between youth. This article surveys the current state of digital communications among...

This Clinical Perspectives provides a broad discussion about >>bullying from multiple perspectives, from original research, to clinical >>practice, to a youth perspective. Methods: Research conducted by Englander and McCoy will be presented and clinical expertise will be shared from Decker, Kataoka, and Veronesi from the National Child Traumatic St...

Prior to the turn of the century, digital communications (text messaging, social networking, digital pictures, etc.) may have played a secondary role in peer aggression, but in 2014, digital technology has become a primary method of communication between youth. A Pew study released in 2011 found that almost all teens use the Internet, and 78% own a...

"Bullying" is a term that’s being, well, bullied. It’s been rendered essentially powerless by being constantly kicked around,” writes nationally recognized bullying expert Elizabeth Kandel Englander. In this practical and insightful book, Englander dispels pervasive myths and misconceptions about peer cruelty, bullying, and cyberbullying. Drawing o...

Strong evidence exists to support the theory that individual differences can affect a person's risk for developing chronically violent behavior. These risks appear to interact with psychosocially learned factors, and may differ significantly from individual to individual. The mechanism by which these associated risk factors contribute to violence i...

Bullying is physical and or psychological abuse perpetuated by one powerful child upon another, with the intention to harm or dominate. Bullying and aggression in schools has reached epidemic proportions. Abusive bullying behaviors begin in elementary school, peak during middle school, and begin to subside in high school. Bullying behaviors are ass...

This report describes research conducted in 2011 and 2012 on 617 subjects, 10% of whom reported self-cyberbullying. The report details the frequency of self-cyberbullying in boys versus girls (17% versus 8%) and the frequency of the incidents in questions. The data also reveals some of the characteristics of self-cyberbullies, their motivations for...

This article reviews current research on the causes of violence. Genetic, biological, and environmental influences are reviewed, along with the concept of resiliency and vulnerability. Specific findings reviewed include the influence of factors such as brain tumors, minor physical anomalies, head injuries, neurotransmitters, and hormones. Twin stud...

The Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) is an academic Center at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. By running a training program for graduate and undergraduate students in higher education, MARC offers free research, programs and services to K-12 schools in Massachusetts. Everyone benefits: future educators receive unique...

These statistics were gleaned from two 2010-­‐2011 studiesthrough the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Centerat Bridgewater State Universityin Bridgewater, Massachusetts.1•In-­‐depth survey of 617 college freshman•Survey of 21,000 children in grades 3-­‐12 ina variety of communities acrossMassachusetts. PLEASE NOTE: more detailedreports, papers,...

The Sample: 617 College freshman, studied over a 6 month period in 2010-­‐2011 Predominately white Predominately 18–19 years old Parents tend to be high working class, low middle class, or middle class Studied for: rates of behavior; risk factors & their relationship to bullying and cyberbullying; and many other social, family, and school factors

Self-­‐report survey of 20,766 children ingrades 3-­‐12 in Massachusetts (see Appendix ifor Towns Participating)50.5% were male.49.5% were female.7,418 were in Grades 3-­‐5.7,080 were in Grades 6-­‐8.6,268 were in Grades 9-­‐12.