Young people often ask, “What can I do to help stop bullying?” and “How can I protect myself from harassment?” These are challenging questions, and sometimes parents, teachers, and principals struggle to address them. However, findings from recent studies on new and innovative strategies can help young people protect themselves from harassment. This summary discusses protective factors to prevent bullying and innovative strategies that young people can use to reduce the likelihood of being harassed.
Protective Factors
One of the best ways young people can protect themselves against bullying is by creating healthy friendships and positive relationships with classmates. Numerous studies indicate that having a healthy peer network protects against bullying and helps reduce the negative effects of harassment, such as depression and anxiety. Additionally, positive relationships with peers increase the likelihood that bystanders will intervene and help stop bullying when it occurs.
Research also indicates that having positive relationships with teachers is associated with a lower risk of being harassed, while hostile relationships between teachers and students are associated with higher levels of bullying. Therefore, it is important for young people to seek and maintain healthy relationships with both peers and adults to reduce the likelihood of being harassed.
Furthermore, young people can reduce their exposure to environments where bullying frequently occurs, such as areas of the school with little adult supervision or social media platforms where negative and harmful communication occurs. In these cases, young people should take additional precautions, such as walking between classes with friends or a supportive companion and protecting their online identity and the information they share electronically.
New and Innovative Strategies
Although research on this topic is developing, efforts to deflect bullying can also be effective in some situations. Deflecting means doing something to take power away from bullying and make the behavior less effective. For example, young people with strong social skills can use humor to deflect bullying. One study found that using humor or “telling a joke” was a more effective response to bullying than some of the more typical responses, such as pretending not to be upset, depersonalizing, retaliating, telling the aggressor to stop, appealing to the aggressor’s empathy, walking away, telling an adult at home, telling an adult at school, and telling a friend.
Specific Strategies Young People Can Use to Deal with Bullying
- Seek help from an adult, friend, or classmate when a potentially threatening situation arises.
- Be assertive (not aggressive, do not fight or retaliate) when possible.
- Use humor to deflect a potentially threatening situation.
- Avoid unsafe places or walk away before a bullying encounter occurs.
- Accept or “own” a derogatory comment to defuse it.
- Walk with friends or a small group of friendly peers.
- Use positive self-statements to maintain positive self-esteem during an incident.
- Avoid getting emotionally upset when bullying occurs, as this can embolden the bully.
Strategies Young People Can Use to Prevent Cyberbullying
- Never accept friend or network requests from unknown people.
- Follow the “mom principle”: do not post or share photos or videos you wouldn’t want your mother, father, or another important caregiver to see.
- Follow the “forever principle”: assume that everything you put online will be there forever.
- Follow the “no privacy principle”: assume that everyone can access information about you in cyberspace.
- Follow the “ex principle”: would you be okay with your ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends having access to the content you plan to share?
- Block threatening or questionable people from viewing your profile and personal information.
- Do not post provocative, scandalous, or inflammatory comments online.
- Do not respond or retaliate against incidents of cyberbullying.
- Regularly change passwords for sites and apps, and immediately delete profiles that have been hacked.
- Avoid sites, networks, and apps with poor security, easy access to personal information, or that encourage interactions with strangers.
- Ensure information is approved before being posted or shared socially.
- Limit social media participation to a few familiar sites.
- Avoid joining sites that do not have adequate privacy settings.
- Never participate in sexting (sharing photos or messages containing private sexual content).
By following these protective factors and innovative strategies, young people can better defend themselves against bullying and cyberbullying, creating a safer and more supportive environment for everyone.
