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(October 13, 2007) -- While it might not seem like a critical factor when it comes to a child's health, Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield has included bullying, along with nutrition, physical activity, self-esteem and grieving, as one of the top five things that can affect a child's health in its Healthy High 5 program.
Through that program, administrators and teachers from schools across the state took part in a Bullying Prevention Institute held at Hershey last week.
Tom Nadolksi, senior associate with Bell Pottinger, the public relations firm for Highmark, said that every day more than 160,000 students miss school because of the fear of being bullied.
"Studies have shown that 77 percent of students report that they have been bullied mentally, verbally or physically in school," he said. "Bullying is aggressive behavior that is intentional and involves an imbalance of power and strength, and is becoming a serious, national health issue."
Aaron Walton, chairman of the board of the Highmark Foundation, said bullying is a serious public health issue.
"The Highmark Foundation believes it's important to support anti-bullying efforts since bullying is correlated with increased reports of physical illness in children and adolescents," Walton said.
Zachariah Connell Elementary School guidance counselor Torrie Winseck was one of the local educators who attended the two-day institute.
Winseck found out about the event from the Intermediate Unit representative, and since she is involved with the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program locally, she thought it would be something good to attend.
"The biggest thing I took away from it is that the staff's attitude toward bullying makes a huge difference," she said. "Their attitude is contagious. If a kid sees that you're not going to do anything about their bullying, they'll keep doing it."
Winseck learned a lot about cyber-bullying, where children use the Internet or text messaging to spread mean things about an individual.
"The impact of cyber-bullying on a student's life is so much more than just being bullied at school, because that information is out there for the whole world to see, and even if the student moves to another school, they can't get rid of that information that's out there," she said.
Winseck feels the reason bullying has become such an issue among young people today is because of the shows they watch on television.
"Violence is so prevalent in our society today," she said.
She said that while she is an "American Idol" fan, the first several episodes dealing with auditions is basically about getting the opportunity to make fun of someone.
"Those are called reality shows, and the kids bring that attitude to school with them," Winseck said.
When students start feeling like victims because of bullying, some take extreme measures, like the Columbine incident, which involved murder and suicide.
Winseck said there is bullying at the elementary level, but they hope to address bullying and talk about the effects with their students as a way to try and curb the activity as they get older and move on into junior high and high school.
"Bullying is really a learned behavior that is refined as a child gets older," she said. "We really want to promote prevention awareness and problem solving so that it's reduced by the time they move on.
"We're really trying to get kids to recognize what bullying is and empower them to say something when they see it going on," Winseck said.
Source: Tribune Business News
Last updated: 10/07
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